It's been two years since
the Gipsy Kings' masterpiece
Roots, an album where they kissed big, extravagant production, as well as big drums and keyboards, goodbye. Apparently old habits are hard to break. On the cover of 2007's
Pasajero, the
Kings look back to the natural thang. They are posed on a picnic table in the middle of some wild grass and trees, playing together, laughing, and singing. Covers can be deceiving, and this is one of them.
Pasajero is a big return to glossy sound, extravagant production, big drums, dub bass, and electronic programming and percussion. There's no problem if you dig your
Kings that way, of course. The group lays down impeccable nuevo flamenco fusion with all sorts of world traditions, such as reggae on "Pueblos," with a splashy horn section playing in fine dub-cum-mariachi style and a bubbling bassline over the drums. The Reyes family knows what it wants, apparently, as the horns and keyboards dig deeper into both reggae and son grooves on "Mira la Chica." Not only do they not give up their danceable edge, they seem intent on making it so pronounced that it overrules everything else. The raw vocals are there, but they seem at odds with the sheen of the production by
Philippe Eidel and the
Kings.