Pesado Presente Futuro is Worth its Weight in Silver
Written: Apr 15 '02
Product Rating:
Pros: Great norteño tunes infused with jazz, blues, rock, and more...
Cons: A bit slow in places
The Bottom Line: Any serious norteño fan MUST knows Pesado. This CD is a great cross-cut of the dynamic sound that makes Pesado a real heavyweight in today's tejano/norteño market.
mrkstvns's Full Review: Pesado, Presente, Futuro by Pesado
A younger me once raved about Bruce Springsteen and Little Feat as if they were God's gift of music to the grateful ears of a generation. For some reason though, I never did handstands over Jackson Browne or Supertramp, even though I liked their stuff and would buy their albums.
I bring you this nostalgic view through the Wayback Machine(tm) because it reminds me of how I feel today about groups like Pesado and La Mafia. Good solid groups whose work I like but whose CDs I really want to listen to only once or twice a week -- not every day.
Still, there's a heck of a lot of stuff to like about Pesado if you're a serious tejano and norteņo fan...
High Points... Mitad y Mitad is Pesado's big hit off this CD. I hear it all the time in Houston and points south. I love Beto's heartfelt vocals and zippy accordian work, and I love the plodding gentle hollow percussion beat that works its way through every bar. The song actually sounds a bit like some of Intocable's best stuff -- which is a good thing -- a very good thing.
I love the opening accordian solo on Si Pudiera Olvidarte -- it's a fast paced finger-snapping rhythm that I think could really make this song if it just showed up a little more and dominated the overall sound of the song. I kind of understand that the slower mood is more appropriate for a "she dumped my fuzzy butt" kind of song, but I can't help but think that the opening held so much promise -- too bad it was a promise not kept. I can't forget that.
Ramiro Burr, author of The Billboard Guide to Tejano and Regional Mexican Music, writes a weekly music column in The San Antonio Express-News. This past week he talked a bit about Pesado (which is what inspired me to slap this disc in the CD changer). In his column, Burr mentioned that No Puede is a "vallenato-norteno" fusion. I'm glad Burr put a label to this tune, because it definitely sounds different from the rest of the CD, but I didn't know why. I really like the song's lively beat and I absolutely love the accordian and soft percussions that dominate the last minute or so of the tune, but I would never have guessed that I was hearing vallenato influences -- I just don't listen to any vallenato artists so I can't lock in on the sound.
Pesado really tries to pull together some disparate influences in their music. It's not just the vallenato sound they use. Other tunes pull in some mournful blues, a hard-edged rock beat with some distorted guitars, a touch of fresh salsa, a dash of hot reggae, and even some cool blue jazz riffs (which might account for the oddly out of place jazz music that plays when you enter the groups' web page, ww.grupopesado.com). Then of course there is the huge country music influence...
In some of my earlier reviews of tejano groups I compared the tejano and norteno sound to America's country music genre. I think Pesado Presente Futuro is the CD that vindicates that view -- in spades! Just the themes do the trick. Eight of the twelve tracks are "she left me and done me wrong" heartbreakers. Listen to tunes like Lagrimas Amargas and just tell me you don't hear country music! It's as clear as a cow bell! If it weren't for the spanish lyrics and the accordian riffs, you might be forgiven for thinking you'd gotten off the senior citizen bus in Branson!
Makin' Tracks...
So what does Pesado give you for your music buck?12 tunes, 44+ minutes of great norteno:
1. Arrancame (Jerk Me)
2. Para Que Seguir (To Be Followed)
3. Lagrimas Amargas (Bitter Tears)
4. Si Puediera Olvidarte (If I Could Forget You)
5. Mitad y Mitad (Half and Half)
6. Lastima Me Das (Pity's What You Give Me)
7. Jamas Regresaras (Never Return)
8. Una Parte de Mi (A Part of Me)
9. Deja de Llorar (Let Yourself Cry)
10. Casi Muerto (Almost Dead)
11. No Puedo (I Can't)
12. Con un Beso (With a Kiss)
About Pesado and Pesado Presente Futuro...
A couple years ago it seemed to me like every time I turned on the radio, I got a blast of Intocable tunes. These days it seems like Pesado has taken over the top spot on more than a couple tejano radio stations.
Since their debut in 1993 with Ayudame a Olvidar, the group has been nothing if not prolific: Pesado Presente Futuro is their ninth studio album in eight years, plus they have a few "greatest hits" collections out there to boot. A good latin music store will probably have a dozen or more Grupo Pesado titles. Just a note on the label: although epinions says this CD is on the WEA label, my CD has the MCM label (but I bought it in Mexico).
Grupo Pesado is a quintet based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Beto Zapata is lead singer and accordianist, with Pepe Elizondo on bajo sexto, Tono Segundo on bass, Luis Mario Garza (formerly with Intocable) on drums, and Julio Tamez doing percussions.
The title of this CD is a word play on the common saying "pasado, presente, futuro" (past, present and future), which by the way, is also the title of a fairly popular CD from La Tropa F. I don't know if the guys in Pesado were just being clever with words, or if they really intended to dig on the F troop just a little bit. I kind of suspect the latter -- it's the conspirator in me.
Whatever the reasoning is behind the title, this CD is certainly doing well for Grupo Pesado -- a group that is probably not well known outside Mexican communities. But in those communities, Pesado is a household name. Last week, this album was in the number 13 slot on Billboard's Hot Latin Albums chart.
Should You Buy This CD?
Yeah, I like Pesado, and I really like their latest release, Pesado Presente Futuro. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is one of Pesado's strongest albums to date. Yet, for all its strengths, I think it is a little slower paced than I'd like and the themes are too predictable, with far too much reliance on the typical audience-pleasing "somebody done somebody wrong" heartbreakers.
A four-star album in my book.
Buy it if you're seriously into Pesado, or if you're looking for a good album that really represents the group's strengths in spades. Not on my daily play list, but a solid CD nonetheless.
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