He's in the list because... Rolling Stone magazine thinks "El sitio de mi recreo" is the 15th best Spanish pop song.
Antonio Vega's place in history is assured by his stint as co-leader of Nacha Pop, more on which later. The curious thing is that, if critics and radio playlists are to be believed, his biggest solo hit was a demo included in a compilation album, but he did some crafty enjoyable records until his death in 2009.
During his stint in Nacha Pop, Antonio had made himself a name as the more intimist and personal half of the group, as opposed to the more straightforward approach of co-leader and cousin Nacho García Vega, and while not an entirely household name he was well respected among his peers. With that baggage he recorded his first solo album, No me iré mañana (1991), from which the famous song is this one, in the style he's remembered for, introspective acoustic ballads. Antonio himself admitted that its lyrics contain an allusion to his heroin addiction.
He still knew how to be an enjoyable electric guitarist, however, even when penning breakup songs. "Lo mejor de nuestra vida", the clip below, is probably the most commercial of the album's rockers, but it has short bursts of his famously melodic lead guitar. From this album I also like "Esperando Nada", with an excellent guitar solo, and which was covered later by the Chilean singer Nicole.
And now we get to one of those cosmic coincidences nobody expects. While busy preparing his second album, the compilation El sitio de mi recreo (1992) hits the market. The album collects some of his best Nacha Pop songs with a couple of the highlights of his previous album and two unreleased songs. One of them being the title track - which was a demo, as the song was intended to be released in his next album. But it's thrown into the album as bait and played on radio - and it, and the compilation, became a big success, to the point that although the finished song was eventually released, the demo version is the one that everybody remembers. Here Antonio plays the song live. (Personal trivia: I have always found that the slowing guitar phrase in the intro reminds me of Queen's "Is this the world we created?")
The success renews the interest in Antonio Vega, and his record company records a tribute album, Ese chico triste y solitario. Naturally the release in such a short time of a career-encompassing compilation and a tribute album (titled "That sad and lonesome boy" no less) spark all kind of rumours about the state of Vega's health. But he was not sick - he was in London, recording Océano de sol with the production duties handled by Phil Manzanera. Antonio was not ultimately satisfied, calling the result "overproduced", as do several critics. Personally I think that the thing is, having just had a big hit with a sparse, intimist recording in a compilation of mostly low key efforts, the public was maybe not ready to embrace him in a full production effort. Here's the title track.
Anatomía de una ola (1998), De un lugar perdido (2001) and 3000 noches con Marga (2005) comprise the rest of his original albums, but his activities do not slow down as much as it might seem. Being well respected and connected, he becomes a frequent composer for other artists and a fixture in tribute albums, so much as to fill a whole album, Escapadas, with such covers and collaborations. Also, he releases a couple of live albums and participates in a Nacha Pop reunion tour. However, all this activity could not win against the lung cancer he had developed, and a bout of neumonia makes him cancel his 2009 tour. He died shortly after.
My verdict: Well worth investigating, but I would start the exploration with his Nacha Pop output before diving into his "mature" output. His special sensitiveness will always find a place in the heart of many music lovers, though, and even with his reputation of being personal and introspective, his pop background ensures that his albums are always enjoyable and don't fall prey to the "endless 50 minute song" syndrome.
No comments:
Post a Comment