Needles & Grooves AoTM /// Vol. 4 - October 2019 /// Camarón de la isla - La leyenda del tiempo

Yep, same here :( - I’m holding out hope that just the limited color vinyl was deleted. They already have the plates - hopefully they press more on black vinyl.
This is my hope. It's true that it was reissued 5 years ago, but it was an expensive anniversary boxset, and was one of the only two Camarón records to be reissue in the recent past. Like @Skalap said, his whole discography has been reissued this time around, so my hope is they have seen how profitable his catalog is, and will be repressing the most demanded titles in an attempt to squeeze every penny out of his fans. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a repress in the near future.
 
It's sad that this record didn't end up working the way we all expected it to
It really is, and again, I apologize for the situation. But please, stream this album even if you weren't able to get it on vinyl, after all, this club is about the music and not the object that holds it. I invite you all to stream the record and share your thoughts. Hell, if you're feeling adventurous, I suggest "swapping" for another Camarón record, or even Rosalía's album.

Expanding my collection with new discoveries is just half of this club's experience for me, the other half is the discussion that takes place in this forum.
 
It really is, and again, I apologize for the situation. But please, stream this album even if you weren't able to get it on vinyl, after all, this club is about the music and not the object that holds it. I invite you all to stream the record and share your thoughts. Hell, if you're feeling adventurous, I suggest "swapping" for another Camarón record, or even Rosalía's album.

Expanding my collection with new discoveries is just half of this club's experience for me, the other half is the discussion that takes place in this forum.


Don't stress too much about that man, we all know the game by now. It will eventually reappear. :geek:
 
It really is, and again, I apologize for the situation. But please, stream this album even if you weren't able to get it on vinyl, after all, this club is about the music and not the object that holds it. I invite you all to stream the record and share your thoughts. Hell, if you're feeling adventurous, I suggest "swapping" for another Camarón record, or even Rosalía's album.

Expanding my collection with new discoveries is just half of this club's experience for me, the other half is the discussion that takes place in this forum.
Which of these would you suggest as a direct swap?
 
Which of these would you suggest as a direct swap?
This:

Como El Agua is great, and features Paco de Lucia & Tomatito on guitars. both Rosalia's album are gorgeous, but El Mal Querer is the most modern take on flamenco of the two. Don't think twice, it's alright to order them all.

It depends on what you want from the record, but if were to suggest the closest to my original pick, I would say Como el agua. I posted a link to buy it somewhere.
 
Como El Agua is great, and features Paco de Lucia & Tomatito on guitars. both Rosalia's album are gorgeous, but El Mal Querer is the most modern take on flamenco of the two. Don't think twice, it's alright to order them all.
Exactly this! Both albums are stunning and are musically unique and adventurous! I love both albums so much. Get both of them @Dark Star Boogie !

Rosalia’s El Mal Querer is everything!!! It’s so edgy, elegant, sexy, cinematic, and reminds me of the Mediterranean a lot as well! You must get this album! Please, you have to get it! And the packaging for this album is stunning. The gatefold looks great as it suits the album art perfectly. Also, on one side of the jacket is the single LP of course, but the other side contains an amazing A4 kinda size booklet which has amazing pictures of Rosalìa. The pressing sounds great too! One of the best new release pressings I’ve heard!

JUST PLEASE, buy Rosalìa’s El Mal Querer!!!
 
Ok I’ve listened to la leyenda del tiempo eight or nine times now. However, I usually played it as background music while doing other stuff. This morning, I gave it my first ACTIVE listen, paying only attention to the music and lyric book. I need to do that two more times to really nail down my thoughts, but my initial notes are (and keep in mind this is all still fresh and after only one real listen, so all of this is probably wrong):

The Legend of Time: it comes fast and intense, with a shifting time signature, then the singer’s voice is isolated, then after another “wall of sound”, there’s a guitar solo that’s 🔥. The song gives me an almost 60s psych vibe, with some wild...is that an organ? Keyboard?...playing. The dreamy lyrics, instrument combos, sudden changes in tempo, all add up to a pretty wild ride. It’s a faster, upbeat song that I would enjoy listening to while sitting around a fire on a cool evening.

The Bitter One’s Romance: Slower and darker than the first song. The singer’s voice is soooo intense, as if his voice is pure emotion. The clapping speed changes throughout the song, highlighting the emotions.

Homage to Federico: there is so much beautiful, poetic, colorful imagery: the orange tree, green eyes, violet voice. And the ending! So unexpected. The music changes and really punctuates the abrupt change in the last few lines.

My girl went to the sea: I feel like there may be a deeper political or social meaning to the lyrics of this song I don’t have the historical or cultural knowledge to fully appreciate. The music itself feels very...how to phrase this....when I think of medieval “Spanish music” (warped as though those thoughts may be by Renaissance fairies and movies), this is the kind of music I think of.

The Tarara: this song starts kind of sexy/poppy. The guitar is awesome! And is there kind of a funky thing happening in the back third of the song? At the end, I feel like the keyboard picks up where the singer’s voice leaves off, as if his soul is going higher and wilder, and the singer’s body is left spent.

Flying I Go: I thought “hey this song sounds tropical.” And then I read the lyrics and thought “yep!” Is that a freaking flute? What’s especially neat is the little hint of darkness in what otherwise could be a light party song. “It’s don’t know who I am nor do I intend to” feels like there’s a recognition that something is missing but he will continue to ignore that and indulge in pleasure. Also the guitar is again 🔥.

Cadiz Bay: Flying I Go mentions Cadiz, so I applaud the album composition. I like it when songs flow into each other. This song starts happy and...proud..,but it feels like by the end it has rolled up its sleeves and has gotten serious.

Old World: it feels like the beginning to this song and the first one are similar, but I’ll have to check that out on a relisten. I really dug the lyrics to this song. Lyrics-wise, it was probably my favorite.

Tangos of the Sultana: this might be the most intense, complicated song (on the surface) about “stop teasing me” that I’ve ever heard.

Big Horse Lullaby: this song has the most Middle Eastern/Indian sounds on the record. There are some heavy, heavy organ (?) tones throughout the song. Unlike the other songs, the tempo doesn’t change. It just all feels oppressive! To end the album with such a dark song and the line “the horse begins to cry” is bold!

I’m so glad this was a selection of the month and I look forward to giving the album many more listens. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of this album. And it’s made me aware of a genre I want to explore more!
 
Ok I’ve listened to la leyenda del tiempo eight or nine times now. However, I usually played it as background music while doing other stuff. This morning, I gave it my first ACTIVE listen, paying only attention to the music and lyric book. I need to do that two more times to really nail down my thoughts, but my initial notes are (and keep in mind this is all still fresh and after only one real listen, so all of this is probably wrong):

The Legend of Time: it comes fast and intense, with a shifting time signature, then the singer’s voice is isolated, then after another “wall of sound”, there’s a guitar solo that’s 🔥. The song gives me an almost 60s psych vibe, with some wild...is that an organ? Keyboard?...playing. The dreamy lyrics, instrument combos, sudden changes in tempo, all add up to a pretty wild ride. It’s a faster, upbeat song that I would enjoy listening to while sitting around a fire on a cool evening.

The Bitter One’s Romance: Slower and darker than the first song. The singer’s voice is soooo intense, as if his voice is pure emotion. The clapping speed changes throughout the song, highlighting the emotions.

Homage to Federico: there is so much beautiful, poetic, colorful imagery: the orange tree, green eyes, violet voice. And the ending! So unexpected. The music changes and really punctuates the abrupt change in the last few lines.

My girl went to the sea: I feel like there may be a deeper political or social meaning to the lyrics of this song I don’t have the historical or cultural knowledge to fully appreciate. The music itself feels very...how to phrase this....when I think of medieval “Spanish music” (warped as though those thoughts may be by Renaissance fairies and movies), this is the kind of music I think of.

The Tarara: this song starts kind of sexy/poppy. The guitar is awesome! And is there kind of a funky thing happening in the back third of the song? At the end, I feel like the keyboard picks up where the singer’s voice leaves off, as if his soul is going higher and wilder, and the singer’s body is left spent.

Flying I Go: I thought “hey this song sounds tropical.” And then I read the lyrics and thought “yep!” Is that a freaking flute? What’s especially neat is the little hint of darkness in what otherwise could be a light party song. “It’s don’t know who I am nor do I intend to” feels like there’s a recognition that something is missing but he will continue to ignore that and indulge in pleasure. Also the guitar is again 🔥.

Cadiz Bay: Flying I Go mentions Cadiz, so I applaud the album composition. I like it when songs flow into each other. This song starts happy and...proud..,but it feels like by the end it has rolled up its sleeves and has gotten serious.

Old World: it feels like the beginning to this song and the first one are similar, but I’ll have to check that out on a relisten. I really dug the lyrics to this song. Lyrics-wise, it was probably my favorite.

Tangos of the Sultana: this might be the most intense, complicated song (on the surface) about “stop teasing me” that I’ve ever heard.

Big Horse Lullaby: this song has the most Middle Eastern/Indian sounds on the record. There are some heavy, heavy organ (?) tones throughout the song. Unlike the other songs, the tempo doesn’t change. It just all feels oppressive! To end the album with such a dark song and the line “the horse begins to cry” is bold!

I’m so glad this was a selection of the month and I look forward to giving the album many more listens. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of this album. And it’s made me aware of a genre I want to explore more!
Wow, that's a pretty solid analysis! A lot of interesting thoughts here, some of which had never occurred to me. I'm with you about "Volando voy", it may seem like a very shallow song due to its tropical feel and light-headed lyrics, but I find it to be a very genuine reflection on the nature of life and a sort of coming-to-terms with it. Lyrics like "In love with life even though it hurts sometimes" or the one you pointed ("I don't know who I am nor do I intend to") show me someone who has had his share of tough times, but has decided to be happy in spite of all of it. Its hard to pick a favorite song on this album, but there are times this song is a strong contender for me.

Also, I hadn't noticed the lyrical connection between Volando voy and Bahía de Cadiz, good catch! I have a theory that Bahia de Cadiz is then connected to the remaining three songs on side B, something I detailed on a previous post:
@Skalap commented on the dark and bright contrast throughout this album, and I wanted to share something I found when translating the lyrics. It's only a theory I built out of my personal interpretation, but I found it pretty intriguing nevertheless:

You may have noticed that Side B has an overall darker feel than Side A, even though it opens with the most upbeat song in the album. I blame that, in part, to the last 3 tracks, which are some of the darkest both in their themes and sound. "Bahía de Cádiz" is the last "happy" song on the album, and it is followed by 3 tracks that I found to share one thing in common: a prominent Middle Eastern influence. "Viejo Mundo" -the song @Skalap mentioned as having his favorite lyrics on the album- is an adaptation of a poem by Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet and mathematician who lived in the 11th and 12th centuries. I think the Middle Eastern elements on "Tangos de la sultana" are pretty evident in its titles and lyrics, and "Nana del caballo grande" features a sitar that serves as a beautiful background for Camarón's voice. With all this, one could say that the last 3 songs show the "Moor" side of Andalusia after showing the Romani and Spaniard sides before that. All of this comes right after the last words on "Bahía de Cádiz"(again, the last "happy" and Romani/Spaniard song on the album): Island of the Guadalquivir, where all the moors who wouldn't leave went, openings the door for what comes next. I don't know if this was some sort of concept that Camarón and his producer thought about, and I have never read about this theory/interpretation, but I find it hard to believe that it could all be a coincidence.
 
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One of the things I thought was interesting was....hmmm, my lack of knowledge of singing/music terminology is making this hard to explain....you know in that Whitney Houston song when she goes “and Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii will always love yooooooouuuuu” ? Well, I feel like that kind of ... thing... would be placed throughout these songs, on words I wouldn’t think were that consequential, like “de” would be sung like “deeeeeeeeeuuueahaeeeeee”

Is there a reason for that? Showing off his lungs? Is there a language reason? Is that the style of flamenco singing and it’s not for a stress, it’s more like a Islamic prayer call and those words make better sounds? Am I just being weird? Any enlightenment is appreciated!!
 
One of the things I thought was interesting was....hmmm, my lack of knowledge of singing/music terminology is making this hard to explain....you know in that Whitney Houston song when she goes “and Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii will always love yooooooouuuuu” ? Well, I feel like that kind of ... thing... would be placed throughout these songs, on words I wouldn’t think were that consequential, like “de” would be sung like “deeeeeeeeeuuueahaeeeeee”

Is there a reason for that? Showing off his lungs? Is there a language reason? Is that the style of flamenco singing and it’s not for a stress, it’s more like a Islamic prayer call and those words make better sounds? Am I just being weird? Any enlightenment is appreciated!!
So those long, sustained cries with varying pitch are very common in flamenco. I'm sure there must be some sort of fancy explanation to them, but I think they are both a display of technique and emotion. Sometimes those cries won't even have lyrics, they are just wordless laments that are still able (in my view) to convey a world of emotion. It is one of the most distinctive features of flamenco singing, even though some singers do it more prominently than others. They display not only an outstanding control of their breathing, but also very precise pitch tuning. Those cries tend to shift pitch microtonaly, that is, the fluctuations in pitch not always adhere to Western musical scales, which contributes to the exotic and eerie feel of the singing.
 
I wanted to share with you this young guitar prodigy I've been listening to during the last couple of weeks:



He seems to be almost unanimously heralded as the best flamenco guitar player of the new generation, and it's easy to see why. He has a sense of refinement and nuance that I had only seen Paco de Lucía achieve, while still bringing a bunch of personal elements that make his playing highly unique. I'm excited to see where he goes from here. Flamenco is a genre deeply rooted in tradition, but there are a ton of tiny personal variations that artists bring to the table, contrubuing to the growth of the genre.
 
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