Camarón, complete discography
by José Manuel Gamboa

After another pause of two years the album "Te lo dice Camarón" is released. By then the artist had been on the frontpage of the weekly supplement of the "El País" newspaper, where Maite Contreras makes a write-up on him that is fundamental to understanding his situation at the time. The prodigy; who had just lost his mother, was passing through difficult times. He was also bothered by his decayed teeth, and "three university professors" -quoting "El País"- "and a dentist from Barcelona performed a painstaking and complicated rebuilding of his mouth in order not to alter the way he vocalizes". This factor would explain the different sound of his voice in the new album. "Seeing him was not easy" goes the article of Maite Contreras- "(...) flanked by the record company, the lyricist Antonio Humanes, Gonzalo Torrente Malvido and other acolytes (...) "Weare waiting for his dental work to be finished. He has a lot of work and his schedule will have to be adjusted. We'll see what will be best for him"... This was how Torrente and Humanes carried on in their ostentatious new role of agents. But José Monje was never a phlegmatic person -just listen to the following exchange:

-"A lot of friends must have suddenly appeared from under the rocks".

-"I choose my friends. There are very few. I had two or three, but now it's more like one or two." Nevertheless, the album "Te lo dice Camarón" (Camarón tells you so) could very well have been titled "Te lo dice Humanes" (Humanes tell you so)

-Humanes having co-authored with José all the cuts. The lyrics revolve around Camarón, his surroundings, history, family, teachers, etc., and the album is aimed at gypsy listeners. But the choruses repeated throughout the album and the chosen literary themes show the unmistakable influence of Humanes.

The front jacket cover shows and old photo by Lamarca, and Camarón's appearance at the time was not shown on the album. The "cantaor" took care of the music, while Humanes took care of the production. Although up to the last moment the participation of Paco de Lucía was expected, at the end only Tomatito played.

"Pistola and cuchillo", a "bulería" beginning with the guitar of Tomatito and a background created by the keyboards, shows us a slightly "worn" Camarón in comparison with his previous two albums. "Tu mare Rosa" -"alegrías" with repetitive chorus- is dedicated to the "Perla de Cádiz". In "Otra galaxia", a basic "bulería" without guitar nor chorus, brings us back to the forger's beginnings of the child Camarón. "Te lo dice Camarón" is supposedly a "rumba salsera" beat, induding the appropriate chorus in which latin percussion arrangements, bass, strings and wind instruments are heard. The credits on the LP do not tell of its author, but the CD version specifies that it was by Albert Arnargós. The string arrangements and chorus of the tango "Vente conmigo" are also by Amargós. "Bórrame de tu memoria" is a natural fandango with touches of Camas and Calza. "Homenaje a Chaqueta", performed without guitar and with rhythmical tapping on a table, is the most flamenco cut. Here José sings "por solea'" of Cadiz and Triana in memory of a long-time artist who, in general, remained unnoticed and ignored by critics. But, this being Spain, instead of thanking him for the gesture he was criticized. "Now he talks to us of Chaqueta! Why didn't be do it before?" The album ends with the "bulería" "Los inmortales", with its "Tin, tin, tiri, tiri, tirititando de frío".

We must point out the inferior production of the album, which is fill of blatant blunders, tonal changes in the mixing and poor sound quality in general. I seem to remember that Camarón chose to reduce once again his number of friends.