Influence (album)

Influencia is the tenth solo studio album by Argentine musician Charly García. It was released in 2002 and marks the rebirth of his career, since the time of Say no More in 1996, since it obtained good reviews from the media and an excellent reception from the public, which took him again to lead the charts and make successful tours, which even took him to the Viña del Mar Song Festival, an important competition for Latin America that takes place in Chile, in its 2003 edition.

Background and recording

On a vacation in London in 2001, Charly meets the blues guitarist Tony Sheridan, who was related to the early stage of The Beatles. Sheridan became fascinated by Charly after a couple of jams and decided to accept the invitation to add some guitars and backing vocals to a song. Like Influencia, a song that, in addition to being catchy rock and roll, has some pretty interesting self-referential quotes (although Charly didn't write the song, the lyrics apply very well). As the years go by, an idea that was born crude is refined. There were people who found Say no More shocking (although today it is considered a cult album) and yet they liked Influence. The thing is that although it preserves the essence of the recording form of Say no More, it is a more wordy album, from the cover art to the conception of the work. Love Waits was premiered by Charly in a recital at Obras in April 2000, with a string ensemble behind the stage. One of the phrases in the song belongs to the song Sing this all together by The Rolling Stones.

The presentation of the album took place over 3 dates at the Luna Park stadium. The release cuts of the album were Tu vice, I'm not in love, Influencia and Mi nena. The video clip for Influencia is remembered to this day for its colorful and snobbish nature (Charly appeared in a red jacket and shirt and striped pants), while the video for Mi nena caused some controversy over the appearance of naked models in lesbian attitudes.

In the 2002 edition of the Gardel Music Awards, he won Best Rock Artist Album, Best Performance of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year, plus the Gardel de Oro, being the first artist to receives this distinction in two consecutive editions.

The album has three new versions of songs already released: Encuentro con el diablo by Serú Girán (Bicicleta, 1980), Demasiado ego (released as One to one on the previous album El Aguante) and Happy and real, from the album Tango 4 (1991). Regarding this, it is interesting to note that only six original songs on this album are composed entirely by Charly, given that the other two are the aforementioned versions, Influencia is a Spanish version of Influenza by Todd Rundgren and the other four songs are a gospel version of Tu vice, a piano version of Influenza and two versions for I' I'm not in love. It should be noted that García takes a literary concession in the translation of it into Spanish since Influenza in English means flu and not Influence .

Part of the arrangements of the melody of Influencia belong to the song Transatlántico art decó from the soundtrack Pubis angelical (1982) and the song Telepaticamente from the album Si - Behind the Walls (2001) by Sui Generis.

It should be noted that on the cover Charly reused the logo that he had used fifteen years earlier, in Parte de la religion (1987).

Song list

All songs written and composed by Charly García, except where indicated. My baby is a version of A new kind of love, by The Dave Clark Five.

Musicians

• Charly García: Piano Acoustic, Piano Clavinet, Wurlitzer, Guitars, Netherlands, Synthesizers, Mellotrón, Battery, String Machine, Flanger, Vocoder & Voices.
• Tony Sheridan: Guitar and Voices in I'm not in love.
• Mario Serra: Battery in I'm not in love and Love awaits.
• Maria Gabriela Epumer: Coros en Your Way, Love awaits, Your vice (gospel) and I'm not in love (acoustic). And Guitars in Love awaits and Too much ego (One to one).
• Mariela Chintalo: Coros en Your Way, Love awaits and I'm not in love (acoustic)
• Diego Dubarry: Hammond and Battery Love awaits.
• Ana Álvarez de Toledo: Coros en Love awaits.
• Diego Blanco: Hammond en Influence and Low and Synthesizer Meeting with the devil.
• Laura Casarino: Coros en Your vice (Gospel)

Technical sheet

• Marvelization: Charly García and Marcos Sanz, with Gafin, Melli, Maxi, Gonzalo and Diego Blanco.
• Sound: Marcos Sanz.
• Tapa: Charly García, Andy Cherniavsky and Macky.
• Paintings: Charly García.
• Photos: Andy Cherniavsky.
• Graphics: Macky.