Posted on: July 3, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The Christine Spero Group – My Spanish Dream / 2007 Self / 9 Tracks / http://cdbaby.com/cd/christinespero2 /

One of the first things that is heard at the beginning of “My Spanish Dream” has to be the entirety of The Christine Spero Group weaving their instruments together to come up with a coherent and cohesive sound. Hints of Latin arrangements and jazz spontaneity immediately confront listeners during the disc’s first track, “My Spanish Dream”. The tango-like arrangements that end the chorus provide a form of onomatopoeia to this track that is simply to die for. “Don’t Say No” builds off of “My Spanish Dream” due primarily to the piano arrangements of Christine Spero. The smooth compositions in “Don’t Say No”, coupled with the vocals of Spero, elicits comparisons to Gloria Estefan and the talented musicians in the Miami Sound Machine.

While it is true that The Christine Spero Group tends to go towards the slower, more lounge-worthy tracks rather than the dance-fests that were often present during Estefan’s work, the talent exhibited by the bands and the distinctive vocals of the singers are similar. “Caribbean Nights” builds off of “Don’t Say No”, in that the set of influences influential in the creation of the track are the same between the tracks, giving each of the two songs a very early eighties feel.

However, at no point during “My Spanish Dream” does The Christine Spero Group sound dated in the least. One of the strong suits of The Christine Spero Group during this album has to be their ability to use older styles and couch it in a way that will entice listeners in the current
period to pick up the album.

Listeners will be enticed by the instrumental interplay present during “Just So You Know”, which brings the ropier sound of the bass into direct conflict with the twinkling high end of the track. Instead of creating dissonance during this track, the struggle for dominance between these two pieces of the band makes each side work harder and their efforts all the more impressive. The Christine Spero Group was only able to react in this way due to their amazing ability as musicians and the fact that Christine eirself has been working in creating these types of songs for well over a half decade. The tropical rhythms present on “My Spanish Dream” increase the replay value of this album, and ensures that listeners will be able to play the disc until that time
when The Christine Spero Group releases their next album.

Top Track: Don’t Say No, The Festival

Rating: 6.5/10

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