Entre el Amor y Yo is yet another excellent disc from
Vicente Fernández that risks getting lost amid the myriad of his other equally excellent disks. The arrangements, mostly by
Pedro Ramírez, are sumptuous. The production is immaculate. The strings seem to echo from desert mountains. All this is merely background for "
La Voz," who is in fine form. The most memorable moments are, typically, front-loaded. The double-tracked suspension/resolution harmony of the line "...es conocer la Gloria" in the title track lingers into the arrangement longer than expected, a goosebump-inducing double dose of
Fernández's acerbic vibrato floating over a churning waltz. The maneuvers from vulnerable baritone to powerhouse braggadocio during "No Lo Puedo Creer" are
Fernández's trademark, but one never gets tired of hearing them. In "Bohemio de Afición," he sings "I take off my shirt for a good friend/Today, a millionaire, tomorrow a beggar," and you feel like you are in a Hemingway novel. One could argue that the remaining songs (including "Golondrina Sin Nido," a duet with son
Alejandro) suffer from a certain sameness, musically at least, but if so, it's only due to the high bar that the standout tracks set. ~ J. Chandler