Spanish Model

エルヴィス・コステロ&ジ・アトラクションズの1978年アルバム『This Years Model』とスペイン語ヴォーカル・トラックをマッシュ・アップしたスーパー・コラボレーション・アルバム!

■LP仕様

コステロの長年の盟友であるSebastian Krysのプロデュースの元、トップ・ラテン・アーティスト19組が集結。コステロの傑作アルバム『This Year's Model』収録16曲のバック・トラックと、スペイン語で歌唱したヴォーカルとのニュー・ミックスで新規制作したユニークな作品。
Cami、Draco Rosa、Fito Paez、Francisca Valenzuela & Luis Humberto Navejas (from Enjambre)、Gian Marco & Nicole Zignago、Jesse & Joy、Jorge Drexler、Juanes、La Marisoul、Luis Fonsi、Morat、Nina Diaz、Pablo Lopez、Raquel Sofia & Fuego、Sebastian Yatra、Vegaが参加。

On the face of it, Spanish Model seems destined to be a curiosity: it features the original Attractions backing tracks from Elvis Costellos classic 1978 album This Years Model with new vocal overdubs by contemporary Latin artists. Costello came up with the idea after revisiting the original session tapes for This Years Model in 2018 -- he and his co-producer Sebastian Krys were turning This Years Girl into a duet featuring Natalie Bergman -- and finding the band sounded powerful in their own right with his lead vocals stripped away. He soon came up with the idea of recording a Spanish-language version of the album, recruiting musicians from around the globe -- including Juanes, Nina Diaz, Jesse & Joy, Luis Fonsi, Fito Paez, and La Marisoul -- to help translate and shape the original material into something fresh. Far from being an intellectual exercise, the resulting Spanish Model retains the vigor of the Attractions yet sounds brighter and openhearted in the hands of Latin singers. Some of the change in tenor is certainly due to the absence of a vitriolic young Costello. Back in 1978, he sang in a furious rush, spitting out insults and paranoia. The singers here take their time with the melody and the words, a shift that helps pull the compositions into sharp relief; they sound more pop and less punk in this incarnation. Even if the melodies feel more pronounced on Spanish Model, the barbed humor and spiky politics remain -- Night Rally, performed here by Jorge Drexler, sounds prescient about 21st century fascism -- and the decision to widen the net to include such non-LP songs as Big Tears, Radio, Radio, Crawling to the USA, and Running Out of Angels (all included as bonus cuts on subsequent reissues; Radio Radio was on the original U.S. version of the LP) helps broaden the musical and emotional palette of the album. The end result winds up not as a curiosity but rather a small wonder, revealing new dimensions of the original recording while opening up these songs for new audiences. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine