Mujer de Fuego (CD - 1993)

Personnel: Olga Tanon (vocals); Victor Encarnacion, Rafael Martinez (guitar); Rafael Cadena (saxophone); Luis Ruiz (trumpet); Manuel Tejada (keyboards, bass, programming, background vocals); Yanina Rosado, Juan Valdez (keyboards); Jaime Querol, Milton Freddy Valdez (bass); Juan De La Cruz (drums, percussion); Pedro Rene Peralta (congas); Francisco Ceara, Juan Rizek, Socky Torres (background vocals).

Engineers: Eric Taveras, Allan Leschhorn, Eric Ramos, Bolivar Gomez.

Recorded at En Kiu and Midilab, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Includes liner notes by Olga Tanon.

On her second album, Mujer de Fuego, released in 1993, Olga Tañón enters the stride that would carry her to exceptional popularity among tropical music listeners, peaking the following year with her superlative Siente el Amor... album. Mujer de Fuego is a leap forward from her debut, Sola. Like that album, this one is comprised of straightforward tropical music, merengue in particular. There's absolutely none of the pop tendencies and over-produced ballads that would often weigh down her music at the end of the decade. Instead, this is intense and fast-paced dance music, putting the focus directly on Tañón and the rhythm, not on the production or studiocraft. Mujer de Fuego kicks off with a pair of highlights, "Contigo o sin Ti" and "Muchacho Malo," both of which were significant chart hits, Tañón's first. Yaidelice Monrrozeau, who wrote the former, also pens the title track; Raldy Vázquez, who wrote the latter, contributes two additional songs. This reliance on particular songwriters would continue with subsequent albums, as Tañón would often perform numerous songs by a particular songwriter. Other highlights here include "No Me Puedes Pedir," "Presencie Tu Amor," and "Vendras Llorando," each of which was also a chart hit. Clearly, anyone who enjoys Tañón's pre-pop-crossover albums should find much to enjoy on Mujer de Fuego, the soon-to-be Queen of Merengue's first major album statement. ~ Jason Birchmeier minimize