
Michelle sent me the liner notes.........
1. "Arrasando" letra y musica Juan and Samuel Formell
2. "Si no te quieres tu" letra Jorge Diaz musica Roberto Carlos Rodriguez
3. "Tu a lo tuyo, yo a lo mío" letra y musica Juan Formell
4. "Me trajo dos" letra y musica Samuel Formell
5. "Que no te dé por eso" letra y musica Roberto Hernandez
6. "La rumba no" letra y musica Juan Formell
7. "Este amor que se muere" letra y musica Juan Formell
8. "Me mantengo" letra Jorge Diaz musica Roberto Carlos Rodriguez
9. "Dame la luz" letra y musica Samuel Formell
10. "Mi Songo" letra y musica Samuel Formell
11. "Un tumbao pá los dos" letra Kelvis Ochoa musica Samuel Formell
12. "Olaya" letra y musica Ruben Blades
13. "El trasvesti" letra Jorge Diaz musica Roberto Carlos Rodriguez
Production General Juan Formell
Direccion Musical Samuel Formell
Arreglos
- Juan Formell (3, 6)
- Samuel Formell y Boris Luna (1, 4)
- Samuel Formell (9, 10, 11)
- Roberto Carlos Rodriguez (2, 8, 13)
- Boris Luna (5)
- Jorge Leliebre (7, 12)
I'm pretty familiar with Arrasando now, having played out four or five tunes to the dancers at Lula Lounge and Babaluu. My favorite songs are Samuel Formell's 'Mi Songo' and the title song 'Arrasando'', which I am using to open my sets at Babaluu. The single released last year called 'Me Mantango' is classic Van Van and I also really like the Mayito vocal 'Si No Te Quieres Tu'. Doubtless there are songs on the album that I am not 'hearing' now that I will discover later on. This always happens.
In it's musical themes and textures, Arrasando feels like a continuation of
the previous album Chapeando, but it's a much better recording
technically with a much stronger overall direction in the material and
the production. Some of the continuity would naturally come from Van
Van's stable line-up of vocalists (Lele Yeni, Roberton and Mayito) and with
Samuell Formel listed as the music director, Arrasando sure
feels like an album with some one firmly in charge.
It does seem clear that with this new album, Formell senior has passed the leadership of Van Van on to his son Samuel. Of the thirteen songs, there are only three Juan Formell compositions, (plus a co-write with Samuel), and only two of his music arrangements. The bulk of the rest of the material and the arrangements come from Samuel and Roberto Carlos Rodriguez (Cucuruchu). Keyboardist Boris Luna played an important role in the arrangements as well.
What is so sonically distinctive about Arrasando is the prominence of the string arrangements. Occasionally, as on the Roberton's vocal 'Dame La Luz', it's a bit too much for me, but at other times - on the Mayito vocal 'Si No Te Quieres Tu' - it feels like Van Van have decided to expand their overall sound in a way they haven't had the opportunity to do before. Los Van Van, after all, is an orchestra.
Meanwhile, VanVaneros will argue that the 90's - when Pedrito, Mayito and Roberton were the vocalists and Pupy was still the pianist - was Van Van's golden period. It's an argument I don't necessarily disagree with.
But still, here Los Van Van are, some 10 to 15 years later, intact, dominant, and still exploring and expanding the genre of 'musica bailable that they helped to create, making interesting records that will leave us with three or four new songs to add to the list of Van Van's greatest hits.
It's quite an achievement