''Abre'' (English: ''Open'') is the eight solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

and tenth overall by Argentine singer

Fito Páez Rodolfo Páez Ávalos, popularly known as Fito Páez (; born 13 March 1963), is an Argentine popular rock and roll pianist, lyricist, singer-songwriter and film director. Biography Early career Paez was born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province; ...

, released on July 27, 1999, through Warner Music Argentina. It was produced by

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...

. At the

1st Annual Latin Grammy Awards The 1st Annual Latin Grammy Awards were held in Los Angeles at the Staples Center on Wednesday, September 13, 2000. The big winners were Luis Miguel, Santana and Maná with 3 awards; Juan Luis Guerra, Shakira, Fito Páez and Emilio Estefan Jr. r ...

, the album was nominated for

Best Rock Album The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sev ...

while the song "Al Lado del Camino" was nominated for Song of the Year and won

Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance,

Frank Filipetti Frank Filipetti is an American record producer, audio engineer and mixer, who was born in Bristol, Connecticut, United States. Filipetti has seven Grammy Awards and ten nominations for his work on ''The Color Purple'', ''The Book of Mormon'', ''W ...

also received a nomination for Best Engineered Album for his work as engineer and mixer in the album. Additionally, the album was nominated for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album at the

43rd Annual Grammy Awards The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Several artists earned three awards on the night. Steely Dan's haul included Album of the Year for ''Two Against Nature''. U2 took ...

, being Páez first

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination, and only until his win for ''

La Conquista del Espacio ''La Conquista del Espacio'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by Argentine singer Fito Páez, released on March 13, 2020, by Sony Music Argentina. The album was produced entirely by Páez, Diego Olivero and Gustavo Borner. The album features gu ...

'' in 2021 in the same category. ''Abre'' was also nominated for Album of the Year at the

Premios Gardel The Premios Gardel a la Música (originally called Premios Carlos Gardel), or just Premios Gardel (in English, the Gardel Awards), is an award presented by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers (CAPIF) to recognize the best ...

in 2000 while

was nominated for Producer of the Year for his work in the album. The album was certified platinum in Argentina in 2000 after selling over 40,000 copies.

Background

The album was recorded at Circo Beat Studios and was the first solo album by Páez since '' Circo Beat'', released in 1994, prior to ''Abre'', Páez worked in ''Enemigos Íntimos'', a collaborative album with Spanish musician

Joaquín Sabina Joaquín Ramón Martínez Sabina (born 12 February 1949) is a Spanish musician, singer, composer, and poet. His songs usually treat about love, heartbreaks and society with a large usage of literary figures similarly to the baroque-literature st ...

. ''Abre'' was premiered at

Teatro Maipo Teatro Maipo is a historic theatre in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , ...

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, where Páez performed the songs from the album alongside musicians such as Guillermo Vadalá, Nicolás Ibarburu, Gonzalo Aloras, Claudio Cardone, Emmanuel Cauvet, Carlos Huerta, Juan Larrinaga and Adrián Elizarde. To promote the album, Páez embarked on a tour through Argentina that started on August 21, 1999, in

Rosario, Santa Fe Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

, his hometown, and included a concert at

Teatro Gran Rex The Teatro Gran Rex is an Art Deco style theatre in Buenos Aires, Argentina which opened on July 8, 1937, as the largest cinema in Argentina. Located near the centre of the city at 857 Corrientes Avenue, it was designed by the architect Alberto ...

in Buenos Aires.

Critical reception

Iván Adaime from ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' gave the album three out of five stars calling it a "sophisticated and lushly arranged pop album", he also highlighted the title track as one of the memorable moments from the album, he finished the review writing that "apart from '' El Amor Después del Amor'' and ''

Tercer Mundo '' Tercer Mundo '' (Third World), is the sixth album by Argentine musician Fito Páez, released in 1990. Track listing Personnel Performers * Fito Páez - vocals, electronic keyboard, guitars y percussion * Ricardo Verdirame - guitar, vocals ...

'', ''Abre'' is the best album recorded by Páez in the '90s".

Track listing

All tracks were written by

and producer by

Credits

Musicians

– composition, arrangements, vocals, piano, keyboards * Claudio Cardone – arrangements (track 3), keyboards * Rob Mounsey – arrangements (tracks 3, 9) * Rob Mathes – arrangements (tracks 4, 5, 10) * Guillermo Vidalá – arrangements (track 5), bass, guitar, keyboards * Lucho González – arrangements (track 6), guitar * Anita Alvarez de Toledo – backing vocals (tracks 1, 8) * Néstor Marconi – bandoneon (track 5) * Shawn Pelton – drums, loop * Gabriel Carambula – guitar * Ulises Butrón – guitar * Ube Reyes – percussion (track 6)

Technical

– producer *

– engineer, mixing * Ted Jensen – mastering * Brian Garten – assistant engineer * Marcelo Infante – assistant engineer * Mariano Rodríguez – assistant engineer * Alejandro Ros – design * Eduardo Martí – photography

References

{{reflist, 2 1999 albums Warner Music Latina albums