My Way; Another Day in Paradise; Chiquitita; Time To Say Goodbye ( Con Te Partiro); Velvet Mornings; Imagine; Pretty Woman ; Nikita; Flor De Luna; Bridge Over Troubled Water; Samba Pa Ti; Say You Say Me ;Boabi; The Way We Were ( Memory) ;Tears in Heaven .
Chico Garcia (and various unnamed accompanists)
Mediterraneo Music S.L. – M.O. 146D
This is a very ‘poppy sort of sound from the start. My Way begins with this very, almost Latin accompaniment full of percussion, bass, and another guitarist, before the actual melody appears, just like you would recognize it, but in this very upbeat and rhythmic way. There is also a fair portion of apparently improvisational work that Chico Garcia plays in between the melody portions.
Another Day in Paradise is nicely done, with a slightly less frenetic accompaniment, while Chiquitita is pleasant and very Spanish /Latin in its arrangement. The guitarist tends to be playing single notes throughout this album, and relies on the rest of the players to provide any harmonic variation. Time to Say Goodbye , starts very slowly, but then after a momentary pause reverts to the same sort of arrangement as the others, with a very rhythmic accompaniment.
This pretty much describes the entire album, namely the odd melody such as Bridge Over Troubled Water in a relaxed performance and the majority of the rest with an upbeat backing whilst Chico Garcia plays the melody, sometimes varying it with an almost jazz – like feel at time. So this is definitely not an album for the traditional classical guitarist lover, but more for the listeners who like friendly but undemanding music that doesn’t task them much.
Chris Dumigan
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