Crystal Clear (CD - 2000)

Personnel: Jaci Velasquez (vocals); Louis Fonsi (vocals); George Cocchini, Michael Thompson, Ramon Stagnaro (guitar); Carl Gorodetsky, The Nashville String Machine, The Utah Symphony (strings); Geronimo Enriquez, Robert Lopez, Edward Benitez (horns); Rudy Perez, Lester Mendez (keyboards, programming); Jackie Street, Neil Stubenhaus (bass); Scott Williamson (drums); Javier Solis (percussion); Mark Heimermann (programming, percussion); Mark Heimermann (programming, background vocals); Wendy Pedersen, Betty Wright, Peyton Heimermann, Perry Heimermann, Lisa Bevill, Yvonne Solis, Paul Garcia, Abel Orta, Louis Fonsi, Michael Tait (background vocals).

Producers: Judith Volz, Mark Heimermann, Rudy Perez.

Engineers include: Bruce Weeden, Joel Numa, Tom Laune.

CRYSTAL CLEAR was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

It's a rare artist who can rise to the top of a given field and then move with equal success to an entirely different stylistic arena. That's just what Jaci Velasquez has done. The first phase of her musical life was a phenomenally successful Christian pop career; her subsequent pop crossover has shown that she's fully capable of making a secular splash, too.

On CRYSTAL CLEAR, Velasquez seems to cover nearly all the bases of pop circa the year 2000. The opening cut "Escuchame" finds her ably entering the Latin pop sweepstakes, while "Everytime I Fall" bears the kind of R&B tinge that's generally found in the teen-pop offerings of Christina Aguilera et al. There are some softer tunes and some declarations of faith that will warm the hearts of Velasquez's longtime fans, but CRYSTAL CLEAR leaves no doubt as to the mainstream aspirations of this ambitious artist. minimize