This is the Spanish band La Fase that released a very stylish pure AOR album back in 1995. Here they are in 2020.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: La Fase
ALBUM: Reset
LABEL: Rock CD Records
SERIAL: RCDR3703
YEAR: 2020
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Spain
LINEUP: Javier Garcia Uriarte – vocals, guitar * Jesus Herrera Vera – keyboards, backing vocals * Rafael Andreu Sabariego – drums, backing vocals * Gonzalo Sanchez – bass, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Música Eres * 02 Secreto De Amor * 03 Pierdo El Control * 04 Cuando No Estés * 05 Divina & Fatal * 06 Sin Corazón * 07 Fuego En Tu Mirar * 08 Tuyo Siempre * 09 Que Fácil Es * 10 Dime * 11 Más De Ti * 12 Zarpando
RATING: 75/100
WEBLINK: FB Page
Background
This is the Spanish band La Fase that released a very stylish pure AOR album back in 1995. As expected because of the timeframe, the album flew under everybody’s radar back then, not really coming to notice until we hit the internet era a decade later. Our review of that 1995 album is in the Glory Daze database, click the tag below.
La Fase (The Phase) broke up in 1997 but reformed in 2012 and continue on to this day. They’ve released two albums, ‘Enfasis’ in 2017 and ’95-18′,which is the debut album re-recorded. ‘Reset’ is the third and latest installment released a few weeks ago. The lineup is fairly stable, with three of the four original members still there, apart from the bassist Gonzalo Sanchez.
The Songs
La Fase is all about keyboards as they were two decades ago, and I completely ignored the fact that the album was sung in the Kings Spanish and instead focused on Korg, Tama and Gibson, all played in the Universal Language of Music.
It’s the music that matters with any act that sings in a language other than English. Tracks like the opening pairing of ‘Música Eres’ and ‘Secreto De Amor’ showcase the bands preference for an ambient style of AOR, ‘Cuando No Estés’ lifting the tempo and energy quite noticeably. ‘Fuego En Tu Mirar’ is another track that follows suit.
In Summary
‘Reset’ has a few midtempo tracks that touch on ballads, La Fase could’ve dropped a couple and replaced them with some racier ones to even up the score. An album worth hearing, particularly if you are from a Spanish speaking country.
Video
Secret de Amor
Música Eres
[DaveT] La Fase used to sing in English before their 1995 debut when they were called EverLevel (it’s not a typo). The record label pressure determined their name change and the fact they switched to Spanish lyrics
That debut is a classic to these ears , Miguel Angel Collado (Santa) had plenty of input on the arrangements back then, while this album sounds good to me.
About the language barrier, a non-Spanish speaker should consider vocals just as another instrument IMO, so I fully agree with George’s approach.
As a Spanish speaker myself, as far as I can remember I listened to English-sung vocals on the radio even before those in my native tongue, and it wasn’t an issue whatsoever, quite the opposite, I was lucky enough to discover some great music.
On a funny note, one of the most meaningless lyrics in my book are from one of my favorite songs ever, Kiss’s ‘Deuce’. The vocal line ‘Get up and get your grandma outta here’ is hilarious.