Four years ago, on December 2002, I came across a review on Santo Pecado. It was written by an English-speaking person. He put it like this:

"Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona capped off the year with his release of Santo Pecado. I'm very impressed with what I've heard off this CD so far. It strikes me as closer in tone to earlier releases like Si El Norte Fuerte El Sur. I'm not wild about some of his soft ballads, but I can't help but be impressed by songs like the new Minutos. Good stuff!"

And another one had written something on this two months earlier (Oct. 2002). It read:

"Whenever I hear so much as a mention of soft folksy pop icon, Harry Chapin, my thoughts immediately drift off to picturing a small, cozy, bar in the basement of a brownstone in an upscale part of an east coast city. A place that's comfortable, just a bit smoky, and with the obligatory small stage tucked into a too-tight corner, with little more space than a lone guitarist or keyboard player would need to perch on his stool, crooning his heart-tugging musical tales...

That's sort of the same impression I have of Guatemalan folk rock icon, Ricardo Arjona. While the guy has an image and style that's more like U2's Bono, his musical style is firmly in the folk camp that gave the rock world such gifts as Neil Young or Bob Dylan.

Normally, I like hard driving rock and roll, but every now and then, I really prefer a softer, gentler sound with a more cerebral, thoughtful lyrical message...I prefer something like the sound of Ricardo Arjona.

But enough glittering generalities, let's slide Arjona's CD, Santopecado into the changer and give it a listen...then we'll see how it stacks up against some of his earlier works.

Biggest, Boldest, Brightest...
El Problema is unquestionably the red hot hit of this album. It's got double-barrelled power and impact coming from both the lyrical and the musical sides of the equation.

The lyrics pack their punch by relentlessly pummelling the listener with stacatto delivery of a wash list of things that "the problem" is and isn't. It's like reading a marketing guy's 20-point Power Point slide versus reading one of my overly long reviews. The song has a certain imperitive urgency about it. An urgency that's made all the more convincing with the sharp, quick, strums of the guitar.

Musically, El Problema starts off with a mellow folk rock mood, sounding like something that you'd almost expect to hear from a storytelling songster -- like Harry Chapin -- but the tempo picks up, the mood shifts like dark clouds blowing in at the front of a storm, and the strumming guitars give way to keyboards, percussions, and a background chorus, giving the song depth and emotive power.

The wash list of observations is a technique that Arjona often uses, sometimes providing fodder for his detractors who claim that his lyrics show all the poetic genius of a Bell Telephone book listing. Sometimes it's true -- El Problema works for Arjona, primarily because it sounds really cool with his quick-tempo delivery. But the words themselves get power only from their prima facie meaning -- not from any subtle uses of delicate rhyming or connotation.

Same thing on Quesos, Cosas, Casas -- lyrically, the song is essentially a washlist. Okay, the rich have their diets and the poor have their hunger. That's poignant on the face of it, but no, it's not songwriting sublimity. That's not to say it doesn't work -- lots of artists with a folk bent have used the washlist technique (or a variation on it). It's always worked for Arjona, but it works because he does innovative things with the musical accompaniment, so the songs never end up getting derailed. In the case of Quesos, Cosas, Casas, he's got a wonderful blend of woodwinds with a haunting flute solo. The song takes a mystic flavor that's mellow and reflective. No, not a lyrical masterpiece, but a very nice track, nonetheless.

That's not to say Arjona can't write lyrics -- he sure as heck can, and he's done it on a hundred tracks over his career. He can bend and blend words right alongside the best of 'em, intertwining poetry of language with the symphonic poetry of his complex, but mellow sounding modern folk rock sound.

I liked the tune Vivir Sin Ti Es Posible (living without you is possible) because it's sort of the flip side of the typical mindless pop anthem of total love, oh I can't live without you, gag me with a shovel.

In Vivir Sin Ti Es Posible, Arjona says "living without you is possible, it's not even very hard, I live because it's so easy to breathe (air), I live because I still have my name, blah, blah, blah..." Okay, so I take some liberties with the translations -- you get the gist anyway. It's not a hugely profound thing, it's just a one of a hundred things that separate the true talents of the musical world from silly little talentless pop twits.

[Don't get mad on me R. Martin!]

But I'm getting off track, which is supposed to be the hottest tracks...tracks like Santo Pecado.
I like Santo Pecado for one simple reason: of all the tracks on this CD, Santo Pecado is the one that truly rocks and truly rolls, right from the first searing guitar lick. Big vocal delivery, especially in the chorus, coupled with a bold beat of drums and cymbals make this a winner. Add in the depth that an occasional violin accompaniment brings, and you've got a track with all the complexity and boldness of a bona fide reputation maker.

Arjona's emphasis on social conscious is never far from center stage, and you find it on this disc with songs like La Nena, which is a troubling account of the social turmoil that roils much of Latin America, and indeed, the rest of the world -- problems that are going to be aggravated in the long run if injustices like the currently proposed World Trade Treaties gets shoved down the collective throats of nations that are already choking on economic disparity. Unfortunately, most Americans don't seem to understand (and don't really care) why riots break out everywhere the trade talks take place, or why the treaty is such a cruel, inhuman hoax to play on human beings.

Of the remaining tracks on this disc, some typify Arjona's folksy, mellow, soft rock sound. Most are allegorical. None are what I consider true standouts. Good, basic, general listening tracks, but not big standouts in my book...

Bottom Line...
There's some good stuff here, and it's a solid piece of work, overall. I'm impressed with Santo Pecado, and I absolutely love El Problema. This is a better disc than Arjona's earlier Galería Caribe release, but it lacks the depth and insight of Si El Norte Fuera El Sur. By the numbers: 2 standout tracks, about 5 that are very good, and 7 that are good and that are typical of Arjona's sound, but not particularly remarkable. Thankfully, no real hose baggers.

A solid 4-star piece of work, but minus one star for ticking me off with the stupid VCD. Let's call it 3 stars, but I recommend buying only the version without the bonus video disc."

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