Naturaleza Sangre

Naturaleza Sangre marks a return of Fito Paez to the musical format of his early and classic albums El Amor Despues del Amor and Tercer Mundo. This provoked some criticism from people who wanted to hear something completely new and accused Paez of merely recycling his old material. This kind of critique, however, was largely unfair as Naturaleza Sangre contains several very strong and fresh sounding tracks with an overall production that is very different from the '80s inspired sound of Paez's early-'90s output. For instance, the addition and focus on electric guitars as the lead instrument makes the music much more rock oriented. Roughly half of the album consists of guitar driven songs of which the opening track "Nuevo" is perhaps the most interesting. The other half of the album is a quite inspired mixture of several styles, including the semi-acoustic staccato music on "Insoportable," the bossa nova on "Ojos Rojos" and the very sweet and beautiful "Bello Abril," performed together with Luis Alberto Spinetta. Charly García also makes a guest appearance. The last track of the album, "Musica Para Camaleones" is driven by a rather surprising electronic disco inspired beat. In short, Naturaleza Sangre is a solid album with a couple of really memorable moments making it one of Paez's best releases. ~ Philip Jandovsky