CD Review: Obie Bermudez - Todo El Ano

Puerto Rico born, New Jersey native Obie Bermudez’ third album, Todo el Ano (All Year Long) is a pleasant Latin pop CD with few surprises. Nominated for the 2005 Latin Grammy’s Album of the Year, Song of the Year (“Todo el Ano”), and Best Male Pop Vocal, the album is not as interesting as 2003’s Confesiones, but if you’re an Obie fan, you won’t be disappointed.

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Bermudez was disappointed last year to lose the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist to Brazilian Maria Rita. This year should have more than made up for the slight as he took home the Best Male Pop Vocal award for Todo El Ano, especially as he was competing against his hero Marc Anthony, not to mention Alejandro Fernandez and Marco Antonio Solis.

Todo el Ano opens with “Celos”, an upbeat tune with great guitar styling and the help of rapper Mickey Perfecto. The romantic ballad “Todo el Ano” is typical Bermudez fare, with noticeable solo sax riffs. I especially liked “El Recuerdo” (Memory), co-written with Gian Marco and the salsa version of “Todo El Ano” which adds violin and strong brass to the mix. The 11-track CD ends with two more salsa numbers, one of them a spiced-up reprisal of “Antes” from Confesiones.

The premium edition adds a DVD with videos of “Antes”, “Me Canse de Ti”, “4:30” and “Todo el Ano”, along with a photo gallery (of one picture) and biography. The “4:30” video has no theme, but is rather a video of the musicians simply singing/playing the music and is most effective in that the natural setting underscores the virtuosity of the musicians and let’s us focus on the music, rather than the emotion behind the music.

By the way, I couldn’t help noticing that Bermudez wears a cap or hat in three of the four videos. No doubt in my mind, he’s trying to cover up his unfortunate conehead hairstyle.