RubA©n Blades - Tiempos

On first hearing, Ruben Blades's Grammy-winning Tiempos seems far too laid-back, its soft guitars and trilling saxophones edging dangerously close to smooth jazz. Listen longer, though, and the music's backbone reveals itself in a series of supple rhythms. This is far from the ear-expanding salsa of Blades's early recordings, and even from the Anglocized rock of Nothing but the Truth. The angry, mournful social and political comment of that record carries over to Tiempos, though, with Blades decrying exclusionary immigration policies ("Puente del Mundo") and commemorating the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama ("20 de Diciembre"). His commitment to challenging listeners rings throughout. --Rickey Wright Amazon.com

Wow...............just the best!

Wonderful compilation........complex, challanging, emotional, Blades at his best. I have always thought Ruben Blades work was great, but this is just amazing. I listen to it over and over. October 14, 2008

Genius

This is his best album EVER. I didn't expect the sounds when I first heard it, but his poetic and musical genius is most showcased and inspiring in this disc. He is absolutely incredible. It may sound weird, but I wish he could live forever so he could make music forever. The gravity of the lyrics and the power of the arrangements are transcending. October 22, 2007

Masterpiece for the happy bleeding-heart liberals

This is a must for anyone who loves music with meaning, and certainly anyone who is even a passing Ruben Blades fan. Even my father-in-law, a famous classical music figure (who speaks about two words of Spanish) instantly fell in love with the music and voice on this album.

Sadly, for those of us who are Spanish-handicapped, there are no English translations for the songs, but trust me, the lyrics are reason enough to learn some Spanish. In fact, the song "Vida" was my first introduction to Ruben Blades, a lesson in a Spanish class I took. And, as I have learned, it is a quintessentially "Rubenesque" song, blending emotionally moving lyrics with physically moving music.

The title song "Tiempos" is also genius without parellel. One has no other desire than to dance to this song of times to laugh, to cry, to die and to be born. To hell with the depressing songs of Euro deep thinking, we can all think deeply and still want to live and carry on and do something better with our lives when we listen to and take to heart what Ruben sings to us.


August 4, 2007

Great job Editus !

This album might not have been the same if it weren't because of Editus, these guys rock! (Excelente muchachos!) Ruben and Editus make such a great fusion that it all seems they were meant to produce together. The melody is so exquisite that I just can't get enough of listening to this album. I particularly love 'Sicarios' myself, but every other piece in it is just a masterpiece by itself. April 17, 2004

From a Non-Salsa Fan

I was not particularly familiar with Salsa music and I had never heard any music by Ruben Blades. A friend purchased a concert ticket for me to see him at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. I was so impressed by the live music I heard, much of which was from this CD, that I went directly to the music shop and purchased this CD the same night. That was 2 years ago, and this remains one of my most favourite CD's. It's absolutely beautiful!!! I have since become a die hard fan and I have all of his CDs in my music collection now. April 11, 2003

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