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Friday, June 17, 2005

 

Review: Music: Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 [DualDisc] (Shakira)

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Originially posted on Amazon.com and Epinions.com (different versions).

Artist: Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, of Columbia (born Feb. 2, 1977).
Album: Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 (Oral Fixation Vol. 1; the DVD/CD version)
Note: The Oral Fixation or Fijacion Oral album has been split in two, with the Spanish version appearing first on June 7, 2005 (and called Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1; and about seven years after her last all-new exclusively Spanish music cd). Oral Fixation Vol. 2 will be released November 2005 and apparently will be entirely in English.

Fijacion Oral, Volume 1: Music:

1. En Tus Pupilas (In Your Eyes?): Words by Shakira; Music by Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa Review: Nice soft song, good background music (instruments), good backing singing. This is a good song with good backing instruments. Different sounding than her famous hard-charging rock songs. The song grows on you, and seems to be better after returning to it after hearing the rest of the album. Run Time: 4:20 Rating: 4.36

2. La Pared (The Wall): words by Shakira; Music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Good background music, & singing; interesting song but seems to lack something (or, due to listening to the other version, it seems to have added too much electronic noise). If at first you don’t find a particular song to be as good as you remember Shakira can be, give the song some additional runs through the playing cycle. This particular one, after returning to it several times, seems better than I had originally thought. Run time: 3:17 Rating: 4.33

3. La Tortura (The Torture): with guest artist Alejandro Sanz; words by Shakira & Sanz; Music by Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa & Sanz
Review: Stronger song. Definitely different sounding from first two. Good beat to the music. This backing music to this song seems to sound closer to earlier Shakira rock work. There is certainly a rap-like quality to Sanz parts of the song. Run Time: 3:33 Rating: 4.27

4. Obtener Un Si (Get a Yes?/To Obtain If?): words by Shakira & Music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Interesting change from last song (as in, surprising). Softer overall feel to the song. Good backing instrument work. I believe this song might be better enjoyed during the first hearing, as subsequent hearings remind the listener how different this song (softer, more jazzy than rock) is than other of her work. Still, a rather good song (and the only one of two songs that did not have its initial rating changed). Run Time: 3:17 Rating: 4.35

5. Dia Especial (Special Day): with guest artist Gustavo Cerati; words by Gustavo Cerati & Music by Cerati, Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa
Review: Great strong song, good instrument work. Another song that is better after repeated trips through the play list (especially when that electronic wave starts up). Run Time: 4:20 Rating: 4.33

6. Escondite Ingles: Music by Shakira
Review: Good instrument work, but still a little too repetitive. Singing seemed shaky (odd, after further listening, I’m beginning to think that shakiness came from the poor CD player than the singer). Run Time: 3:10 Rating: 4.23

7. No: with guest artist Gustavo Cerati; words by Shakira & music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Slow song, but picks up nicely near the end. Good, interesting song, not much to say other than this is the second song that didn’t have its initial rating change. Run Time: 4:46 Rating: 4.34

8. Las De La Intuicion (Those Of The Intuition): words by Shakira; music by Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa
Review: Good opening beat, stronger singing on this song. Better with repeated listening (and it was the highest rated after first listening to this cd). Run Time: 3:39 Rating: 4.55

9. Dia De Enero (A day in January): music by Shakira
Review: Interesting, opening singing without background instruments, then instruments start (actually, after further trips through the play list, I notice that the opening does include some instrument work, but harder to hear than normal). Run Time: 2:55 Rating: 4.27

10. Lo Imprescindible (The Essential Thing): words by Shakira; music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Somewhat disco-like opening (continues, somewhat, throughout). Interesting song, somewhat different from the others, due to that opening. A rather good song, just gets better as it turns up on the playing list. Run Time: 3:55 Rating: 4.50

11. La Pared (Acoustic version) Review: Interesting version. This version seems to sound better without all that electronic noise in the way the first time I listened to it, then the version on track 2 seemed better. Both are good songs. Run Time: 2:33 Rating: 4.27

12. La Tortura (Shaketon Remix) Review: Ok, this time they’ve added more electronic noise. Oddly enough, I think I like this version better. There’s a certain beat that’s quite addictive. Run Time: 3:12 Rating: 4.38

Overall runtime: 43:38 (which includes some seconds of blank air that I didn’t include above)

Overall, I would rate the songs: 4.348

Fijacion Oral, Volume 1: CD:
Great packaging for the CD/DVD version of the album. The inside contains one disc (“This Side Up” is the CD with the DVD material on the back). The reading material includes a poster of her, and the lyrics to the songs (in Spanish). Overall I would rate the packaging: 4.80

Fijacion Oral, Volume 1: DVD:
DVD included a great music video of “La Tortura” an interview with Alejandro Sanz (guest artist on “La Tortura” and co-writer of the song) and a making of feature. Overall, I would rate the DVD: 4.34

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