Mana: MTV Unplugged

I had never heard any of Mana's music before(I live in WI & there are no Spanish music stations here; I know, it's a bummer). I bought this CD after listening to Santana's latest. My favorite song on that CD is "Corazon Espinado" w/Fher on vocals. I figured I should expand my musical collection to include not just salsa, merengue, and hip hop. I put it in my car & wanted to take the long way home. It has been the best "let's see if this is any good" CD I've ever gotten. Since then I've gotten their "Mana Live" & "Donde Jugaran Los Niños?" They're all good, but I have to agree that this one is great. Add this to your collection a.s.a.p.. You don't even need to know Spanish. You'll enjoy it no matter what language you speak.

MANA MTV Unplugged sin duda sobrepaso muchas espectativas. Me parece que es un CD muy bien estructurado musicalmente. Las nuevas versiones de canciones ya conocidas como "Se me olvido otra vez" tienen un toque de naturalidad y juventud. Sin duda, la mejor cancion en este CD es ANA, en la cual Sergio Vallin demuestra su excelente abilidad con la guitarra. Con todo, MANA sigue consagrandose como el mejor grupo de rock en espa~nol. Sin embargo, habra que ver su proximo CD, el cual debe ser el mejor hasta la fecha. Espero que MANA siga progresando...y que no se quede estancado como otros grupos que no desean salir de la monotonia.... Como fan de MANA , este CD me gusta mucho. Pero tambien como fan, se que MANA necesita experimentar y hacer que su musica madure y crezca.

I'm listening to this disc as I write. I remember the first time I heard/saw it: wandering through a Sanborn's store in Mexico City -- I stopped cold and viewed the DVD on an instore TV for ten or fifteen minutes, absolutely captivated. Shortly thereafter, it was mine, as was the DVD (which adds a whole other dimension). I would put "Mana Unplugged" in my top twenty discs of all time. The group is the Mexican Beatles: writers of exquisite pop songs with heart, beautifully crafted, played with vigour and a little rock-n-roll swagger, and also a progressive political bent that comes through on songs like "Ana" and their terrific cover of Ruben Blades' "Desapariciones." The love songs, from "Vivir Sin Aire" to "El Muelle de San Blas" to "Rayando El Sol," are among the few that consistently bring tears to my eyes. And the playing has the attention to technique and subtlety that characterizes Latin music more than its North American or Western European equivalent. As an advantage for the...Read more