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"Tiempos"
On first hearing, Ruben Blades in 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 his
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 his decrying
exclusionary immigration policies ("Puente del Mundo")
and commemorating the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama ("20
de Diciembre"). Ruben Blades's commitment to challenging
listeners rings throughout. --Rickey Wright |
