Jon Secada-The Gift (2001)

"The Gift" is the first of three holiday albums recorded by Jon Secada, although the next two after this one are essentially the same (one is recorded in English while the other is translated into Spanish). It's been a long time since I've played it all the way through, but if you listen to 1995's "Amor" and then listen to "The Gift" quickly right after, it'll sound like you're playing an extended version of the other in no particular order, because they both sound equally alike. This one, therefore, is also for the classical musical lovers. "The Gift" begins with a lovely instrumental overture and segues gracefully into the first track, "Cradle In Bethelem". And from then on, the symphony guides you through the rest of the album, creating a lovely backdrop on every subsequent piece. But Jon Secada is the main event here.....and it's a more humble, more spiritual sounding Jon Secada than you may be used to hearing on all of his other albums. I like his version of "Silent Night" the best--one listen is all it takes to instantly get you into the holiday cheer:

1. Overture/Cradle In Bethelem
2. O Come All Ye Faithful
3. Silent Night
4. Joy To The World
5. The Christmas Song
6. When I Miss You Most
7. The Christmas Gift I Want
8. O Holy Night
9. Cuando El Tiempo Nos Castiga
10. Noche De Paz

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Jon Secada-Better Part Of Me (2000)

Oh, this is a fantastic album! "Heart, Mind & Soul" may be my favorite Jon Secada album, but this one probably comes a very close second. For the longest time, I kept playing the same five songs from this album over and over (as if they alone comprised their own album within the album) without listening to any of the others: the very first track, "Stop", the high-energy dance tune, "Better Part Of Me" (I'd really love to hear him do more songs like that one), "There's No Sunshine Anymore" (boy, that one sounds so nice and it sounds so much like ALL-4-ONE's "I Can Love You Like That"), the peaceful guitar melody, "Lost Inside Of You", and my favorite, "Break The Walls", with its the haunting, echoing vocals (I've often featured this song in the Nexus Radio at the bottom of this blog). I wonder if I even added any of the other songs into my iTunes library..... So, I was listening to this CD again while making this post, and I got hooked on "You Should Be Mine" (hmm...strange that I don't remember this song). So now I've got no choice but to include the whole album the next time I include Jon Secada on my megamix playlist, because there's probably some other great songs here that I skimmed over by accident:

1. Stop
2. Love's About To Change My Mind
3. Break The Walls
4. Better Part Of Me
5. There's No Sunshine Anymore
6. You Should Be Mine
7. Papi
8. When You're Gone
9. Speak To The Wind
10. Lost Inside Of You
11. Asi
12. Papi [Tropical Mix]
13. Dentro De Ti

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Jon Secada-Greatest Hits (1999)

This is the first of Jon Secada's compilation albums and the only one (that I know of) that contains songs that were recorded predominately or entirely in English. It spans the period from 1992 until 1997, which is when he released his first three English albums: his self-titled debut, "Heart, Soul & A Voice" and "Secada". Although some artists include a new song or two on their compilations to commemorate the fact that they've reached a new milestone in their music careers, Secada elected not to put any on this one, but fans of his singing will not be disappointed with the twelve hits that he put together here whatsoever:

1. Just Another Day
2. Do You Believe In Us?
3. Angel
4. I'm Free
5. If You Go
6. Whipped
7. Mental Picture
8. Where Do I Go From You?
9. Take Me
10. If I Never Knew You
11. Too Late, Too Soon
12. Believe

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Jon Secada-Amor (1995)

If my memory serves me right, 1995's "Amor" ("Love") is the second full-length Spanish album released by Jon Secada. "Amor" is definitely one for the classical music lovers, because you can really hear the violins, the horns, the harps and the other stringed instruments accompanying the light piano playing throughout, giving it that starry, romantic jazz feel to it (just the way I like it). My current Spanish instructor at school has often mentioned that Spanish is indeed a romantic language, and this album is pure evidence to prove that fact. Jon's voice complements all of the music perfectly--it just pours over the lyrics so beautifully. I'm still learning, but I think I understood most of what Secada was singing about--especially since most of the songs are ballads and the slower tempo allows me to better hear the words as they're being sung; if nothing else, I can easily translate the titles to each of the eleven songs to get at least a general gist of the messages that Secada is trying to portray to his listeners:

1. Como Un Milagro
2. Castigo
3. Es Por Ti
4. Por Fin
5. Alma Con Alma
6. Senora Vida
7. Dime Que Sientes
8. Estoy Tranquilo
9. No Hay Nada Que Perder
10. Entre Cuatro Paredes
11. Si No Te Conociera

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SON BY 4-Purest Of Pain (2000)

Just as the recent request for some albums by Jon Secada comes while I'm currently going through some of my Spanish music collection, the timing of the request for SON BY FOUR's "Purest Of Pain" album is just as precise. I believe I first discovered SON BY 4 a few years back while casually researching Latin artists that had crossover success recording bilingual albums in English as well as in Spanish. Ricky Martin, if I remember correctly, was at the forefront of the list, which also included MENUDO (of which Ricky Martin was once a member of), Marc Anthony, and the Latin dance group, NO MERCY, whom, strangely enough, I discovered by accident one day by browsing around for music by the short-lived dance-pop duo, MILLI VANILLI (that's a long story). I haven't yet listened to SON BY 4's Spanish albums as much as I've listened to the Spanish releases of more popular artists like Jon Secada, Gloria Estefan and Enrique Iglesias, but I'll get to that point eventually.....probably sooner than later. "Purest Of Pain", therefore, is the only album of theirs that I've listened to whole-heartedly. And since the majority of the songs are either entirely or predominately sung in English, it's real easy for non-Spanish speakers to follow along and get into. There's a trio of songs that appear on this album back-to-back-to-back that I can get into myself: "Vida Mia (You're My Life)", "Where Did Our Love Go?" and "Can Someone Tell Me?". And I'd completely forgotten that SON BY 4 had done a cover of "You Are So Beautiful"; it sounds really nice. The last track on this album, "With You", is amazing and it's by far my favorite song; it's a fusion of Americanized r&b/pop grooves with a lovely Latin instrumental interlude that grabs you by surprise midway through:

1. All I Ever Wanted
2. You Are So Beautiful
3. Two To Tango
4. Y
5. Miss Me So Bad
6. Purest Of Pain
7. Sofia
8. Hard To Say
9. Vida Mia (You're My Life)
10. Where Did Our Love Go?
11. Can Someone Tell Me?
12. Cuando Seas Mia
13. With You

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Roachford-Word Of Mouth (2006)

Roachford fronted the British rock band by the same name for more than a decade before launching a solo career of his own with his first studio project, 2003's "Heart Of The Matter". I don't have that album yet, but I would like to get that one sometime in the near future. In the meantime, though, I have his second one called "Word Of Mouth", which was requested in the Nexus Com-Link. This one apparently has been released in both a 12-track format and a 14-track format, but I have the latter of the two, which includes a groovy remix of the dance jam, "River Of Love" (which was also released as a single). Another song I love is the pleasant, day-dreamy melody, "Together"; I like how it begins and ends with the sounding of distant chimes and keeps playing off and on in-between as the primary instrumental backdrop to the beat of the song, making it sound like a faster-tempo version of something like the ART OF NOISE's 1983 hit, "Moments In Love". And I really love the other cool song advertised on this album's cover--"Pop Muzak" (I like the creative, intentional misspelling of 'music'). And I almost forgot to give mention to another one of my favorites--"Rock You". I thought it was "Rock With You" (as in the hit song from Michael Jackson's 1979 album, "Off The Wall") the very first time I saw it on this album's track listing. It would've been interesting hearing Roachford do a cover of that classic.....but no such luck this time, eh?

1. Open Road
2. Tomorrow
3. Rock You
4. Run Away
5. River Of Love
6. Way To My Heart
7. Together
8. Crazy Love
9. Work It Out
10. Pop Muzak
11. Everything
12. It's Alright
13. Shake It!
14. River Of Love [Full Intention Radio Mix]

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E-17 - Resurrection (1998)

Jon Secada will be returning in a little while. In the meantime, I'm shifting gears for a second to put up some albums that have been requested by my blog visitors, beginning with E-17's much sought-after "Resurrection" album. I just received it from my good friend Frank and got a chance to listen to it this morning before making my usual Friday afternoon rounds. I still haven't really gotten used to calling this English boyband E-17 (it sounds like the classification of a fleet of military fighter jets or starships on some sci-fi television series). I still remember them by their former name, EAST 17. But for the sake of organization and proper identification of this particular album (and any future subsequent EAST 17 posts), I'll be calling them E-17, even though the band has since split apart. If 1998's "Resurrection" was meant to be a 'resurrection' of sorts, then I can't see what possibly could have gone wrong here, because I think this album is terrific ("Sleeping In My Head", "Tell Me What You Want", and "Falling In Love Again" just became some of my favorites). I've also included a killer house remix of the band's last single, "Each Time", as an added bonus:

1. Each Time
2. Sleeping In My Head
3. Tell Me What You Want
4. Betcha Can't Wait
5. Anything [Interlude]
6. Daddy's Gonna Love You
7. I'm Here For You
8. Ain't No Stoppin'
9. Falling In Love Again
10. Whatever You Need
11. Coming Home [Interlude]
12. I Miss You
13. Another Time
14. Lately

*****BONUS TRACK*****

15. Each Time [Sunship Vocal Mix]

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Jon Secada-Secada (1997)

I was about to log off of my computer to go visit a friend and share a trance mix with him when I realized I was still in the process of ripping this album. So, while I had a few more minutes to spare, I thought I'd upload it after it finished ripping, then post it here, too. I knew there would be some requests for the English version to 1997's "Secada" as soon as I started posting his discography, because it seems to be a pretty rare album. But any visitor to The Music Nexus should know that they're in good hands; rare albums are one of my specialties, and I'm more than happy to be sharing this one. I really love it when Jon performs dance jams like "Too Late, Too Soon" (the 'Crossover' remix is even better!), "It's Enough" and the jazzed-up hit, "After All Is Said And Done", but it's even more wonderful hearing his voice when he cools it down on songs like "Believe", "Who Will Take Care Of Me?" and "I Live For You". I don't have the Spanish version to this album yet, but I don't think anyone will be complaining too much about the one I've posted here:

1. Too Late, Too Soon
2. Heaven Is You
3. Believe
4. Get Me Over You
5. It's Enough
6. Ready For Love
7. I Live For You
8. Who Will Take Care Of Me?
9. After All Is Said Is Done
10. Forever (Is As Long As It Takes)
11. Too Late, Too Soon [Crossover Edit]

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Jon Secada-Heart, Soul And A Voice (1994)

Este es un álbum de fantásticas (This is a fantastic album)! Okay, I cheated a bit and peeked in my little handy Spanish dictionary to look up the word 'album' since I wasn't sure how to say it (turns out it's exactly the same in both languages with the only difference being the stressing of the 'a'), but I wanted to begin this post by getting right to the point. As soon as I heard "If You Go" on the radio one night at my job, I had to get this album, and I've been hooked on it ever since, although with all of the new artists I'm always checking out, I hadn't listened to it much recently up until now. This is my favorite Jon Secada album--but barely, because I love all of his music. I've said it once and I'm going to say it again--Jon Secada has a beautiful voice, and I'm still amazed at how he can reach the higher octaves of his vocal range on songs like "Good Feelings". "Fat Chance" and the first song, "Whipped", are awesome jams, but they both have an unusual fusion of beats and an unorthodox rhythm that takes some getting used to; to this day, I still haven't remembered all of the lyrics to either by memory yet, but I'm working on it. "Don't Be Silly" has a quieter, late-night, smooth jazz/retro-disco vibe that's real easy to get into. And Jon really shows off his voice on the beautiful ballad, "Eyes Of A Fool", which is the final English song he performs before you're treated to Spanish translations of the second and third tracks:

1. Whipped
2. Take Me
3. If You Go
4. Good Feelings
5. Where Do I Go From You?
6. Fat Chance
7. Mental Picture
8. Stay
9. La La La
10. Don't Be Silly
11. Eyes Of A Fool
12. Si Te Vas (If You Go)
13. Tuyo (Take Me)

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Jon Secada-Otro Dia Mas Sin Verte (1992)

A cool thing I like about Spanish language albums is the fun little game I like to play of trying to translate all of the song titles and the lyrics to each and every one. I've done it many times before with other albums by Gloria Estefan, Enrique Iglesias, Selena, Ricky Martin, and most recently, C-NOTE and the BARRIO BOYZZ. Well, in this case, "Otro Dia mas Sin Verte" (translated to "Another Day Without You") is the Spanish version to his English debut album, so I already knew what Jon was singing about prior to listening to this album, even if I wasn't totally prolific in Spanish. However, my favorite tune from the English release, "Misunderstood", unfortunately, isn't here in its Spanish form, because "Incomprendido" (which is 'Misunderstood' in Spanish) would've been part of the track listing. And another note--this album's title track also appears on the English version, so I'm not exactly sure if that one was released before this one, but I would seem to think Jon would have recorded an album in his native language before releasing it in English:

1. Otro Dia Mas Sin Verte
2. Como En Un Sueño
3. Tu Mejor Amigo
4. Cree En Nuestro Amor
5. Tu Amor Es Mi Libertad
6. Angel
7. Enseñame
8. Tiempo Al Tiempo
9. Sentir
10. Perdoname Conciencia

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