Mecano - Descanso Dominical

Reissue of the Original Album from Famous Spanish Pop Band. Album Details

Almost The Best

"Descanso" is the second best album this group produced, the best being "Entre El Cielo y el Suelo". What is significant in this album is the realization that of the two brothers, José Ma. is the better composer, and his songs dominate this recond. His songs "Mujer Contra Mujer" and "Dalí" are vastly superior to anything Nacho ever wrote and released with Mecano. These two songs, more than any other, offer the best qualities of Mecano. The beautiful melodies, the witty lyrics, the tasteful arrangements and Ms. Torroja's stylings. Beautiful.
None of this is meant to denigrate Nacho Cano's work. "Nueva York", "Un Año Más" and "Sol/Luna" show that he is still the group's more adventurous arranger and a talent to be reckoned with, but the quality of his songs here do not match his brother's or even his own in "Entre el Cielo y el Suelo". That lack of balance is what makes "Descanso Dominical" inferior to "Cielo/Suelo" November 24, 2005

Best Spanish '80s pop

Way back then, I think I was the only one in my school in East London fanatical about Mecano - never mind to have heard about them. Oh boy, did everyone else miss out.

I was delighted to see that Anne Dudley did some arrangements and even played (?) on Descanso Dominical - such was Mecano's calibre by the time this album was released. 'La fuerza del destino' starts out as a straight synthy-pop song but hiding some delicious twists and turns, it still bowls me over. 'Laika' pre-dates Bjork's epic sounds by quite a while. And 'Heroes de la antartida' despite its perky beat has some truly chilling lyrics (no pun intended). Most of the tracks are very strong and DD will always be in my collection - 1980s tag or not! August 26, 2005

Mecano at its peak performance...

It is very hard to say wich of all of Mecano's album is better, because they all are great. But if I had to choose one this would definitely be. At the time of the launch of this album (1988) Mecano was a well knowned worldwide pop (synth pop) group and now after many years the band was enyoing great success. Nevertheless, that success didn't affect their creativity, they were even more creative and maybe a fact of that were that they were now famous and wealthy enough to worry about other things. This album contains the classic "La Fuerza del Destino" wich is a song with such a magic melody and rhythm you never get tired of hearing it and if it was to be released today it would again be a hit. Then you have other great melodies in "Laika" and a very "synth poppy" song with a great bassline and beat called "Los Heros de la Antartida". "Eungenio Salvador Dali" has a great chorus and "Un ano mas" has a very catchy chorus and a feeling of celebration as it was supposed to be (is a new years eve song). Well, what else can I say? Almost all the songs have a distinctive great melody that would not bore you. Try findind this characteristics on an album... not many albums do this, so that's a sign that you just can't be wrong about buying this album.
January 21, 2005

Spanish Rock at its finest

If I had to choose THE Spanish Rock group of the 80's , it would have to be Mecano, Spain's darlings.

Mecano brings back fun memories of living in the Dominican Republic...I had moved there with my parents ( I was born in NYC), and remember sunny afternoons listening to the radio. I had never heard rock/pop music in Spanish--I didn't even think it existed! There were many artists I listened to: Miguel Bose, Los Inhumanos, Enanitos Verdes, Cahobazul (they were a Dominican group)...but hands down, Mecano was IT.

Mecano made an art of their music. I don't know how, but they managed to bring out the best in every grnre they tried" jazz, rock, pop, latino rythym, hearfelt ballads...all with the ethereal vocals of Ana Torroja. The lyrics at times were downright quirky, but at other times they expressed the romantic and political frustrations of their generation.

If I had to pick my favorite from this album, it would have to be "Un Año Mas" (One More Year)...it talks about the final moments on New Year's Eve, as celebrated in Spain, as well as the hope of better things in the coming year. Second fave would be "Me Cuesta Tanto Olvidarte" ("It's so hard for me to forget you"). I think the title says it all. For ANYONE who's gone through a breakup, this would be THE song to listen to...or NOT listen to, depending on how long to decide to sulk about your lost love!
August 1, 2004

Masterpiece from the masters!

This is the best Mecano album hands down. 'Aidalai' and 'Entre el cielo y el suelo' come close, but this baby tops them both.

If you've already heard Mecano, you know how lovely Ana Torroja's voice is. It can be lyrical and grand, but it can also be playful and childish when necessary. As for the song writing, it's the usual Nacho and José Mari mix of all their records, basically each one writes half of the songs in the album.

As for the tracks, standouts are 'Mujer contra mujer' (a gorgeous song about love between two women), 'La fuerza del destino' (a quirky love song suppossedly written by Nacho for his then girlfriend and now Ms. Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz), 'Quédate en Madrid', '"Eungenio" Salvador Dalí" (as José Mari tells it, he is a great fan of Dalí's work and when he learned that the great painter was sick he wrote him a letter telling him how much he admired his work, well, after a while Dalí passed away while Mecano was on tour, and upon returning home, José Mari found a package in his mail that had a book of Dali's paintings dedicated by the master himself! He had signed it only days before leaving this earth!), "Un año más" and "Hermano sol, hermana luna". May 20, 2003

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