Cuatro Caminos (album)
Cuatro Caminos (English: Four Roads) is the fifth album by Mexican rock band Café Tacuba, released in 2003.
| Cuatro Caminos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1, 2003 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 53:13 | |||
| Label | Universal Music Mexico | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Café Tacuba chronology | ||||
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Background
Cuatro Caminos was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla, Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Weezer) and Andrew Weiss (Ween).
The title Cuatro Caminos references the name of a major road intersection and metro station in Mexico City. The album is marked by wordplay, as in the song titles "Hoy Es" (sounds like "Oyes", meaning "You're Listening"), "Soy o Estoy", and "Hola Adiós" (sounds like "Hola a Dios", meaning "Hello to God"). Lead singer Rubén Albarrán was credited on this album as "Élfego Buendía". This was the first Café Tacuba album to use live drums instead of drum machines.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [1] |
| The Austin Chronicle |  [2] |
| Blender | [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[4] |
| Los Angeles Times | [5] |
| Mojo | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 8.7/10[7] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [8] |
| Spin | A[9] |
Cuatro Caminos was featured on year-end lists of the best albums of 2003 by several publications, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Blender. In 2004, it won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album and two Latin Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Album and Best Rock Song for "Eres". Music website Club Fonograma named Cuatro Caminos the best album of the decade.[10]
The song "Eo" appears in the soundtrack to the soccer video game FIFA Football 2004.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Café Tacuba
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Cero y Uno" ("Zero and One") | 3:52 |
| 2. | "Eo" (aka "Eo (El sonidero)"; "Eo (The Disc Jockey") | 2:14 |
| 3. | "Mediodía" ("Midday") | 3:56 |
| 4. | "¿Qué Pasará?" ("What Will Happen?") | 2:20 |
| 5. | "Camino y Vereda" ("Path and Sidewalk") | 4:05 |
| 6. | "Eres" ("You Are") | 4:28 |
| 7. | "Soy o Estoy" ("Am I (in essence) or Am I (in state)") | 2:48 |
| 8. | "Encantamiento Inútil" ("Useless Enchantment") | 6:29 |
| 9. | "Recuerdo Prestado" ("Borrowed Memory") | 3:30 |
| 10. | "Puntos Cardinales" ("Cardinal Points") | 4:43 |
| 11. | "Desperté" ("I Woke Up") | 3:09 |
| 12. | "Tomar el Fresco" ("To Take Fresh Air") | 2:57 |
| 13. | "Hoy Es" ("Today Is") | 5:01 |
| 14. | "Hola Adiós" ("Hello Goodbye") | 3:41 |
Personnel
- Elfego Buendía (Rubén Albarrán) – vocals, guitar
- Emmanuel del Real – keyboards, acoustic guitar, piano, programming, vocals, melodeon
- Joselo Rangel – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
- Quique Rangel – bass guitar, electric upright bass, vocals
Guest Musicians
- Victor Indrizzo - drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13)
- Joey Waronker - drums (tracks 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11)
- Alejandro Flores - acoustic guitar, violin (track 13), jarana (track 4)
- Dave Fridmann - ensemble (track 14)
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico (AMPROFON)[11] | Gold | 50,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
- Jurek, Thom. "Cuatro Caminos – Café Tacuba". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Hernandez, Raoul (19 September 2003). "Cafe Tacuba: Cuatro Caminos (MCA)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Lavin, Enrique. "Café Tacuba: Cuatro Caminos". Blender. Archived from the original on 13 June 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Futterman, Steve (15 August 2003). "Cuatro Caminos". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Gurza, Agustin (29 June 2003). "They rock or, at least they did". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- "Café Tacuba: Cuatro Caminos". Mojo. 2003. p. 106.
[I]t's immediately accessible and wears its discontent in a convincing snarl.
- Linhardt, Alexander Lloyd (16 October 2003). "Café Tacuba: Cuatro Caminos". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Kemp, Mark (2004). "Café Tacuba". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 129–30. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- "Breakdown". Spin. Vol. 19, no. 11. November 2003. p. 117. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- Club Fonograma's Best Albums of the Decade. 2000-2009 Archived 2012-08-27 at the Wayback Machine.
- "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Type Tacvba in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Cuatro Caminos in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.