As some of you may now, my back looks about as roasted as a pork rind. This has been since Saturday on a joyous day at Rockaway Beach. Thankfully, at day 3, recovery is beginning to show and hopefully by Thursday night I should be back to work at the gym. As it is, my lower back is feeling good. My shoulders are loosening. Blisters are all over my back and the middle of my back still feels scrunched up and gives me difficulty to stand straight. Putting on a shirt is a pain in my arse. On the other hand, fish oil, multivitamins and water are helping and the waking up with absolute dehydration is slowly wearing off. Just keep me in your prayers folks.
Meanwhile, I've been sitting down and listening to music from artists that started off pretty good, hit a good note and suddenly in their latter work, kind of jumped the shark. It is true when they say that music isn't what it used to be. There used to be a sense of soul within a new album that is put out and sense of effort when putting out a new album even under pressure. Some still do but others, not so much.
I sat down, listening to Jesus Adrian Romero's latest album El Brillo de Mis Ojos and honestly, it's letdown number three. You see, his last two albums were his initial studio albums whereas his very first five albums were all live but all new material. Guess what? He's better live than in the studio. From De Hombre a Hombre all the way to Te Dare Lo Mejor, there was always a sense of diversity, style, soul and life. Since El Aire De Tu Casa, Romero's become almost as monotonous as AC/DC! EBTMO has some nice moments of which make some progression to a more pop/rock or folksy/blues tone but it is as though he's trying to hard to appeal to people that have nothing better to do than mop and clean their house.
Meanwhile, Rene Gonzalez happens to maintain a sense of strength in his songwriting. I've reviewed Otra Decada in the past and mentioned how he managed to once again never make a cheap greatest hits compilation but rather make an excellent re-mastering and re-mixing of past hits. I'm listening to his last official studio album, Mi Senor y Yo and I find it yet another good pop album that has its diverse moments with touches of rock, gospel, jazz and some folksy sensibility.
This kind of reminds me of Skillet's little sidestep. Up to Comatose, they got progressively better while still making some good hits and songs even old school Skillet fans appreciate. Soon as Awake came out, all I was able to say was "sell-out". Half the album was all ballads and less guitar solos than Comatose. I was expecting these guys to explode with stronger lyrics and musicianship but I guess they have fallen to the new singles-based schematics of today's music industry.
Red, on the other hand, surprised me. Even though Innocence and Instinct had, in essence, the same format in terms of dynamics, they managed to strengthen it. I didn't care much about their End of Silence album (except for the singles Lost and Breathe into Me) but I loved Innocence and Instinct (I liked over half the album, 'nuff said). Let's hope they don't pull a B4MV and make a disastrous third album (the thought of Fever sickens me).
This year I'm just anticipating albums from Black Label Society, In This Moment, The Showdown, Alter Bridge and Disciple-- all of which made pretty good albums the past year or so. I hear Red and Decyfer Down are also working on their third this year so I'm counting on them too since they're on the list of artists whose last album was better than the previous album.
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