Impressive.
Wisin & Yandel's long slow climb to the top of the reggaeton world is impressive. Their ability to pack in tens of thousands of fans as seen on their 2007 production
Tomando Control is impressive. Their list of guest artists is impressive. On Machete Music's
Tomando Control: Live,
Wisin & Yandel perform two marathon sets of their most popular material, showcased on both an audio CD and live DVD. Reggaeton heavyweights
Tony Dize,
Don Omar,
Fonsi, and others take the stage alongside reggaeton's original duo. Backed by a live band and surrounded by gyrating dancers,
Wisin & Yandel sweat and spit lyrics totaling a whopping 18 tracks. Less impressive than all of those factors is the sound quality. The live band (which is drowned out completely by the canned rhythm tracks heard on their records) is set so far back in the mix that they only color the overall sound. Both
Wisin and
Yandel, when singing with their own backing tracks, sound pitchy and inaccurate. The balance between voices and backing tracks is off enough that the music sounds neutered rather than bumping. All of these weaker points are less noticeable on the DVD, when there's more to focus on. On the disc they're harder to ignore. That said, it's exciting to hear the crowd of several thousand strong screaming at the top of their lungs for reggaeton's most accomplished duo. The genre is new to the live concert CD format, making
Wisin & Yandel pioneers once again. That is both
Tomando Control's strength and weakness. [This edition of
Tomando Control: Live features the CD but not the accompanying DVD.] ~ Evan C. Gutierrez