Gilberto Santa Rosa/Directo al Corazón
(Sony/BMG)

In Directo al Corazón, El Caballero de la Salsa combines his two musical passions: baladas and salsa. The album opens with a salsa track (“Locura de Amor”) and is followed by a balada (“Hablando Claro”). That format (one salsa, one balada) carries on until the end of the album, in a way that all odd-numbered songs are salsa and all even-numbered tracks are baladas. Although there are a few excellent tracks here (particularly "Locura de Amor" and “Por la Herida de un Amor,” this last one written by the talented Jandy Feliz) the switching back and forth was a grand mistake since the listener can never get comfortable in one genre before being taken back to the other. Nevertheless, Santa Rosa is still Santa Rosa, a classic sonero, and you’ll never waste your money on one of his CDs. (MPS)