2010-2011 Minnesota Timberwolves Preview: All You Need Is...? :: Around the Association

but I’ve really been venturing in to the 60s Pop/Rock scene myself in the last year. In that time, I’ve come to absolutely adore The Beatles (my favorite in the short time I’ve been a fan, has always been Paul McCartney), and I was lucky enough to get the recently released box set of their 13 studo albums (plus the double-disc Past Masters collection) digitally remastered (in stereo) as a Christmas gift last year. This was at the peak of my Beatles-loving craze- a personal phase which I really credit with opening my mind to great all-around music… The Beatles were a very complete/all-around band.

Anyway, in recent months I’ve progressed to the Stones, with the double-disc Hot Rocks and More Hot Rocks collections, The Beach Boys, with Pet Sounds and their comprehensive career-spanning Good Vibrations set, and The Who, with their Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy hits set. I now love these three bands as well, and feel that of these three, The Who most resemble The Beatles in talent for crafting brilliantly catchy melodies. Having said that, I’ve recently come to feel that Brian Wilson was on a whole ‘nother level in this decade (the 60s, particularly from ’61-’66), and The Beach Boys have recently solidified their mark (in my mind) as the “other” greatest band of that era (besides The Beatles). Although, to be honest, I don’t think The Beatles ever recorded a record as simultaneously poignant and technically awe-inspiring as Pet Sounds… indeed, this is high-up on my favorite-albums-of-all-time list. Revolver, Help and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band are also on that list.

If you want some music recommendations, Tears for Fears are my all-time favorite Pop/Rock band and they always will be. They turned me on to rock music in general, with the album The Seeds of Love (to this day, my favorite pop album of all-time, in any genre of music). I also ADORE Rock En Espanol (Spanish Rock), and listen to it as much as I do Rock. In case you’re a little shy about venturing to listen to music whose lyrics you might not understand, you should be comforted by the fact that the music itself is pure Rock. And hence, since The Rock En Espanol movement really emerged in Latin America- in the early-mid 80s- all Rock En Espanol groups have shared the same exact influences (British and American) and styles/trends as their Enligh-language contemporaries. And so, I actually refer to Rock En Espanol, simply as Rock (when I categorize the genre on the Rock En Espanol albums of my iTunes library). Of these spanish rock bands, my all-time favorite is Soda Stereo. They’re one of the greatest New Wave bands (they emerged in the mid-80s) EVER, and undoubtedly the most important as well. They really are Spanish Rock’s equivalent of The Beatles. Like the Fab Four, their sound matured and evolved significantly on every successive album release until the time of their dissolution in ’97.

I’m also getting into Jazz music. I’m currently listening to an album called The Very Best of Chris Botti, which I highly recommend as well, if you like really chill, mind-expanding music. And speaking of Jazz and mind-expanding music, oh man, Sleepy, if you haven’t already done so, do yourself a humongous favor, and get on to Juan Luis Guerra. He is arguably the greatest Latin music (traditional caribbean, not rock) artist of all-time. And I’m not saying that because I’m Dominican (which he is as well). The guy is purely a genius. Simply put, he made typical Dominican/Caribbean music (Merengue and Bachata, to be exact) mainstream. I mean, he GLOBALIZED a genre of music. And one that, to this day (Latin music), normally has very little crossover-market appeal. I mean, it’s very ethnocentric music (when’s the last time you heard a Merengue or Salsa, or a Bolero on the most popular pop music stations?). Well, if you do, it’s likely a Juan Luis Guerra.

A composer, producer, arranger, and singer, Juan Luis actually studied Jazz composition here in the states (at the Berklee Conservatory of Music in Boston) and after graduating, he returned to his native land (the Dominican Republic), where he released his debut album with his band (called 4.40, named after the standard music pitch A440)- in which he incorporated the Jazz rhythms and Afro-pop music sensibilities he studied at Berklee- which flopped. Then he decided to do what no other Latin-American artist (that I know of) had ever done (or has since), and he decided to go back to his roots and make music from his island (Merengue and Bachata, which originate in the Dominican Republic), which he would fuse with the more worldy sensibilities of the music from where he got his masters degree- Jazz. And the result? Brilliant Pop music.

I could actually go on and on about Juan Luis. He’s the one music artist I’ve (constantly) singled out as my favorite in the near-3 years since I became a fan, when I talk to people about music. The thing is, what he’s accomplished with the inventiveness of his music, is a feat that’s never been accomplished by any other (typical) Latin music artist. Hey, I love a classically Dominican Bachata or Merengue as much as the next Latin American does. But the difference between that kind of music (conventional) and what Juan Luis does with his Merengues and Bachatas (and Salsas) is like the difference between what the Neo-Classicists and Shakespeare did (with Drama), what 50s-early 80s bball players and Michael Jordan did (with basketball), and what 50s-early 60s Pop/Rock bands and The Beatles did (with pop music). I mean, it’s almost night and day.

So, Sleepy, what I’m trying to tell you is, listen to Juan Luis Guerra. Get the album Bachata Rose, by Juan Luis Guerra Y 4.40. Don’t download it. Buy it. It’s the album for which Juan Luis won his first Grammy award (in 1990), and is the one in which his globalization of Merengue and Bachata music is most glaringly inherent. Indeed, during the touring of the multi-platinum album, Juan Luis sold out stadiums in locations as distant as Japan, as well as ones across the Americas (including a 200,000 seat stadium in Mexico). Simply put, that album is the reason Merengue and Bachata (and probably Salsa, which originated in Puerto Rico, but which Juan Luis also does better than anyone else) has a following in Europe and Asia. Heck, he named one of his recent songs (another hit single) Bachata En Fukouka because of how moved he was by the Japanese audiences’ overwhelming response to his music.

But with Juan Luis, you have to start with Bachata Rosa, even though his new album, A Son De Guerra, is phenomenal (best pop album of the year in my opinion, tied with Eminem’s Recovery). If you listen to Bachata Rosa, I’m positive everything I’m saying about Juan Luis converting Latin music into mainstream pop will be put into perspective for you. The production values of the songs, the catchiness of the hooks, the beatiful bridges, the soulfulness of the singing, the Spanish ballads (Boleros), it’s all there. His influence on the music of Latin America… He enhanced it… I still cry when listening to the Bachatas on that album. It’s the album where it all started, really. Where he crossed over from the Latin America market (after crossing over from the Dominican Republic market to the rest of Latin America only a year earlier with the classic album Ojala Que Llueve Cafe) to the rest of the world. The one where the world was introduced to Dominican music (albeit, with the distinct Juan Luis-style flavor). And to the poetry of the lyrics (he’s been likened to a Latin John Lennon, or the great poet Pablo Neruda). But I won’t dwell any further on the sophistication of the man.

But please, buy Juan Luis Guerra’s Bachata Rosa, for your family. Discover the man. There’s Latin music, and then there’s Juan Luis Guerra. :D