Canción Animal

Canción Animal (pronounced [kanˈsjon aniˈmal]; transl. Animal Song) is the fifth studio album by the Argentine rock band Soda Stereo. Released on 7 August 1990, the album features a rock sound, a change from the band's previous new wave and funk albums.

To create Canción Animal, the band drew inspiration primarily from the sound of Argentine rock bands from the 1970s that they had listened to during their adolescence, such as Pescado Rabioso, Vox Dei, and Color Humano. Apart from the alternative and hard rock from the album, Canción Animal features country, folk, psychadelic, and acoustic songs.

The album was recorded in Criteria Studios in Miami between June and July 1990. The demos of the album were recorded by Soda Stereo in Gustavo Cerati's flat in Buenos Aires, and the album featured the help of singer Daniel Melero, who collaborated in the writing of the tracks in the album with Cerati. Melero wrote the track "Canción Animal" as a request by Cerati to describe his relationship with his girlfriend Paola Antonucci. Other guests were present, like Tweety Gonzalez, who played the keyboard in songs like "Un Millón de Años Luz" (lit. 'A Million Light Years'), and the acoustic guitar in "Hombre al Agua" (lit. 'Man Overboard'). The sound engineers were Mariano López and Adrian Taverna.

In 2006, Canción Animal ranked second on Al Borde's list of the 250 best Ibero-American rock albums, and it ranked ninth on Rolling Stone Argentina's list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of National Rock" in 2007. The album sold in total 500,000 copies in Argentina. In 2024, it was ranked 21st on the "Los 600 de Latinoamérica" list compiled by music journalists several from countries of the Americas, curating the top 600 Latin American albums from 1920 to 2022.

After the recording of Doble Vida in 1988, Soda Stereo went on a tour throughout the Americas with 25 shows in 40 days. After coming to Argentina, they received two Plate Discs from CBS Records International after reaching 1 million copies sold on the album Signos in 6 months and Ruido Blanco in 2 months. In the later half of the year, the band went on another tour, but this time throughout Argentina, promoting their new album,^[2][3] the tour lasted 61 days with 25 shows and a total of 250 thousand spectators.^[4] Soda Stereo had just separated from their long-time manager Alberto Ohanian and formed their own agency.^[5] In late 1989, Soda Stereo went on a tour throughout North America and Central America, to promote the extended play Languis, with it ending in Argentina, in one of rehearsal sessions in Mexico, the first version of "De Música Ligera" would be made after an improvisation in the sound test by Gustavo Cerati,^[6][7][8] the final two shows in North America were made in the USA in the Hollywood Palace nightclub, where after returning from the second show to their hotel, they realised that they have been robbed.^[6][9] At this point, the band was tired of touring and felt that they needed a break.^[10] Cerati met Paola Antonucci, a 19-year old fine arts student, who would become her girlfriend and have a great influence on the songs in Canción Animal.^[11][12] Cerati had recently divorced his wife Belén Edwards, before meeting Antonucci.^[10][11]

Cerati was already starting to develop demos for the album in his new flat located in Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, Buenos Aires, recording the demos TASCAM 388 portastudio and an Akai MPC, bassist Zeta Bosio had regularly come to Cerati's flat to try and develop new ideas,^[13][14][15] Bosio and Cerati wanted to give the band a new sound, replacing the groove and funk from Doble Vida with a rock sound.^[12][14] This sound was inspired by 70's Argentine rock bands like: Pescado Rabioso, Color Humano y Vox Dei.^[12] Charly Alberti was also invited to these sessions to add the drums to the demo.^[16] Soda Stereo flew to the Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida on 9 June 1990 with the ten demos of the songs in the album, the band rented a flat to live near Route 95.^[12][17] In order to record in the Criteria Studios, Cerati had to convince CBS as they didn't want to pay for the costs.^[18] The chosen producer was Carlos Alomar, a guitarist who had previously worked with David Bowie and Mick Jagger.^[19] Furthermore, Mariano López would be the main sound engineer with Adrian Taverna as the second sound engineer.^[20] Daniel Melero, "Tweety" González, Andrea Álvarez and Pedro Aznar were also involved in the production, Aznar collaborated in the vocal arrangements, however Aznar couldn't travel to Miami due to a budget cut by CBS and stayed in Buenos Aires, because of this he had to send his arrangements to Miami, Melero collaborated the songwriting and composition, and the rest had a minor collaboration in the production of the album.^{[20][21][22][23]} The guitars were recorded by Taverna with a VOX AC-50 guitar amplifier with Marshall baffles, as the VOX AC-50 did not have baffles. Three guitars were used in total, with little overdubs but a lot of doubling according to Cerati.^[24][25] Recording and production ended in July 1990.^[12]

Canción Animal changed the sound of the band: Journalist Carlos Prat of Todo Noticias writes that it permitted the band to show a direct and crude side, while AllMusic reviewer Iván Adaime writes that Canción Animal features an "elegant fury".^[12][27] MusicHound described it as an Alternative rock album mixed with pop-psychedelica.^[28] Furthermore, Marcelo Rey of La Opinión compared the sound of the album to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and the Doors.^[29] Music critics have noticed that lyrics Canción Animal are romantic and sexual.^[30][31]

The opening track of the album, "(En) el Séptimo Día" (lit. '(On) the Seventh Day'), starts with a riff driven by Charly Alberti's syncopated drumming and Zeta Bosio's pumping bass;^[32][1] author Ariel Olvero writes that the track shows Canción Animal's aggressive sound.^[30] The song is played in a ⁷
₈ time signature, an irregular time signature more commonly found in progressive rock.^[32][1] The lyrics of the song include references to the bible.^[33]

The second track, "Un Millón de Años Luz" (lit. 'A Million Light Years'), was based around the bass line of the song "Tempted" by Squeeze, It had a pumping base, to which Cerati added a mix of guitar chords with an accordion-like sound with a keyboard played by "Tweety" Gonzalez and lyrics that spoke of a cosmic love inspired by his fights and reconciliations with Paola Antonucci.^[15][27]

The title track and third track, "Canción Animal", was composed by Cerati; however, the lyrics were written by Daniel Melero in a request by Cerati to make a song that would describe his relationship with his girlfriend, Paola Antonucci.^[34] For the writing, Melero took various lyrics from a song he had written called "Fragancia" (lit. 'Fragrance') and was inspired by a monologue that he saw on a pornographic film called "Café Flesh".^[35] The fourth track, "1990", differs from the other songs in the album, containing a sound influenced by the '60s and '70s with likes of Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. According to MariskalRock.com, the sound on the track is mix of country music and folk music. Pedro Aznar participated as a special guest and arranged the vocals, the backing vocals are shared between Daniel Melero, percussionist Andrea Álvarez, and Cerati.^[24][1] The fifth track, "Sueles Dejarme Solo" (lit. 'You Tend to Leave Me Alone'), has a "grunge like sound" according to MariskalRock.com. The song revolves around three main guitar chords, E, C and D, which give it an "aggressive energy" according to MariskalRock.com, with also Charly Alberti playing the drums in a stronger and more forceful way.^[1]

The opening track of Side B, "De Música Ligera" (lit. 'Of Lightweight Music'), uses only four guitar chords, G minor, G, D and A, and features cryptic lyrics of just eight verses.^[1][36] The title of the song comes from a vinyl box called Clásicos ligeros de todos los tiempos, owned by Cerati's parents.^[12] Two different versions were recorded based off the sound test made in Mexico; one was the final one and another was the one played in Soda Stereo's last concert in 1997.^[7] Cerati deemed the song too simplistic and wanted to leave out of the album.^[37] The seventh track, "Hombre al Agua" (lit. 'Man Overboard'), has its lyrics talk about both sailing and leaving a relationship behind. It features a basic drum beat that accompanies a keyboard played by Daniel Melero, the guitars played by Cerati and "Tweety" Gonzalez (acoustic), and a catchy bass line and rock solo played by Cerati.^[1] The eighth track, "Entre Canibales" (lit. 'Between Cannibals'), was described as a "neo-psychedelic sound mixed with an alternative rock sound" by journalist Ariel Olivero.^[30] The track starts with acoustic guitar strokes, chords and drums. The song is starts being played in A minor but later changes to G minor.^[30][1] The ninth track, "Té para 3" (lit. 'Tea for 3'), was written by Gustavo Cerati as a song dedicated to dying father, Juan José Cerati, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. The title comes from Gustavo Cerati's visits to his father's house along with his mother, to drink tea with him in the afternoons. The song is played in ³
₄ time signature. The lyric, Te vi que llorabas, te vi que llorabas. Por él (I saw you crying, I saw you crying. For him.) is written by Gustavo Cerati in his sadness of seeing his mother cry for his father. Juan José Cerati would end up dying on 3 January 1992.^[1][38] The final track of Canción Animal, "Cae el Sol" (lit. 'The Sun Sets'), composed by Cerati and Daniel Melero.^[1] In the coda of the song, the chords from Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun" can be heard.^[33]

The name of the album was originally supposed to be Tensión e integridad (transl. Tension and Integrity), ⁣but Cerati came up with the name Canción Animal minutes before boarding the plane to Miami,^[12] which came from the third track.^[39] The album cover was made by Cerati and his girlfriend Paola Antonucci, on an orange poster board featuring a weather vane bought in Venice Beach, a tensegrid made out wooden sticks and a photo of two lions copulating, the image was taken from the Enciclopedia del Mundo Animal.^[40][41] This led to the album cover being censored in various countries, for example the USA, with the album cover being changed to a photo of the band members in a blue background.^[41] The original concept was made by Alfredo Lois. However Cerati and Daniel Melero rejected it.^[42]

The song "De Música Ligera" was released as promotional single for the album,^[43] with releases in the US having "Té para 3" as the B side.^[44] The first one mentioned received gold certifications in Mexico and Spain.^[45][46] A music video was recorded on September 1990 for the single, it was recorded in the studio Del Picadero and was directed by Alfredo Lois. For the recording, Soda Stereo playbacked in a blue screen room to then project images into the footage with a chroma key.^[47] Also released as singles in Argentina were "(En) el Séptimo Día"^[48] and "Un Millón de Años Luz" with "Hombre al Agua" as the B side.^[49]

In 26 October 1990 the Gira Animal (lit. 'Animal Tour') was started in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina.^[50] In 1990, the shows where only played in Argentina except for one that was played in Paraguay.^[50] 30 shows where played in Argentina in total, the biggest since 1980 when Almendra toured with 34 shows.^[50][51] In 1991, the tour expanded internationally with shows being played throughout the Americas, starting with Uruguay in Punta del Este.^[52] Shows where also played in the USA and Spain.^[52] A free show was organized in December of that year in the Avenida 9 de Julio, Buenos Aires, with an attendance of 250 thousand people, with the crowd expanding the length of 20 streets. The free show was televised by El Trece and organized by the city government as a part of the program "Mi Buenos Aires Querido".^[53] The tour closed off in 1992 with the last show being played in the city of Mar del Plata.^[53] The shows where recorded for a live album called Rex Mix with it also featuring remixes, the album was released in September 1991.^[54]

Canción Animal released on 7 August 1990,^[42] with it receiving praise from some music critics for its "intense and crude" sound.^[30][37][56] Several reviewers considered the song "De Música Ligera" an anthem of latin rock and rock en español,^[12][30][1] with the track being ranked number one as the best song of Ibero-American rock by magazine Al Borde in 2006.^[8] It was also Soda Stereo's most listened song on Spotify with more than 302 million streams as of 2024.^[8] In 1991, Canción Animal was one of the three most sold discs in Venezuela.^[57] Rolling Stone Argentina journalist Juan Morris wrote that Canción Animal became the landmark for an entire generation of Latin-American artists.^[58] Al Borde ranked Canción Animal number two on its list of 250 best Ibero-American rock albums in 2006,^[59] while Rolling Stone Argentina ranked it ninth on its list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of National Rock" a year later.^[60] In 2024, it was ranked 21st on the "Los 600 de Latinoamérica" list compiled by music journalists from several countries of the Americas, curating the top 600 Latin American albums from 1920 to 2022.^[61] Canción Animal sold around 500,000 copies in Argentina.^[62][10] It also received diamond, platinum, and gold discs in various Latin-American countries.^[63]

Soda Stereo

• Gustavo Cerati – lead vocals, guitars
• Zeta Bosio – bass guitar, backing vocals, Chapman Stick on "Canción Animal"^[24]
• Charly Alberti – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

All credited in the inside of the packaging of the album on vinyl.^[67][27]

• Alfredo Lois – art direction
• Mariano Lopez – engineer / mixing
• Pedro Aznar – vocal arrangement
• Daniel Melero – keyboards and arrangements
• Tweety González – keyboards
• Andrea Álvarez – percussion
• Peter Baleani – production coordination
• Roger Hughes – assistant engineer
• Vanessa Eckstem – assistant
• Adrian Taverna – band assistant and engineer^[20]
• Caito Lorenzo & Alfredo Lois – photography

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• Canción Animal at Discogs
• Canción Animal at AllMusic