Descanso Dominical

Descanso Dominical
Studio album by Mecano
Released 1988 (Spain)
Genre Pop
Label Ariola Eurodisc S.A.
Producer Mecano
Mecano chronology
Entre El Cielo y El Suelo
(1986)		 Descanso Dominical
(1988)		 Aidalai
(1991)
Figlio Della Luna
Italian Edition Cover – 1989
Descanso Dominical
French Edition Cover – 1990

Descanso Dominical (English: Sunday Break) is an album by pop group Mecano. It was released in 1988. This was the album that reaffirmed their stardom as worldwide artists. It was their second release with Ariola Records. Before its release, this album was intended to be a 2-disc album due to the large amount of material, but that intent was cancelled.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

This album was well received by the critics in general; it was categorized as the best release from this group. It has sold 2.3 million copies in Spain alone. The songs, such as "La fuerza del destino" (The power of fate) and "Mujer contra mujer" (Woman against woman) topped the charts all over Latin America and Spain.[2]

Spanish edition

"Mujer contra mujer" has versions in French and Italian, which also reached No. 1 in France and Italy; it was also an overwhelming hit in Latin America, and most remarkably in the cases of Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua, where homosexuality was punished in their laws at that time. Also, in Mexico the song was banned at the beginning of its promotion, but the success of the song helped to revoke the ban.

Since the very first day of its launch, "Mujer contra mujer" caused scandal and polemic; among other things, the Catholic Church threatened to excommunicate the members of the group, inasmuch as the topic of the song was considered lascivious. The video of the song also had problems of censorship; for example, in the Dominican Republic it was prohibited according to the laws of entertainment, which ban any video related to homosexuality or bisexuality. However, it was a resounding hit that was demanded by viewers all over Latin America.

"Mujer contra mujer" has been a source of inspiration for other singers and groups like Rammstein who composed a song titled "Mann gegen Mann" (Man against man) included in the album Rosenrot, also Franco De Vita based his song "Rosa y clavel" (Rose and carnation) on this song. It is considered one of the first gay anthems in Spanish.

Tracks
[4]
  1. El Cine 4:15
  2. No Hay Marcha en Nueva York 4:00
  3. Mujer Contra Mujer 4:05
  4. Los Amantes 2:52
  5. La Fuerza del Destino 5:17
  6. Quédate en Madrid 2:18
  7. Laika 4:37 Only on CD and cassette
  8. El Blues del Esclavo 4:36
  9. "Eungenio" Salvador Dalí 5:23
  10. Por la Cara 3:04
  11. Un Año Más 4:29
  12. Héroes de la Antártida 5:09
  13. Hermano Sol, Hermana Luna 3:33 Only on CD
  14. Fábula 2:04 Only on CD
  15. Une Femme Avec Une Femme 4:05 On the 2005 edition

Italian edition

The Italian edition was retitled "Figlio della Luna". This album has eight tracks from the Spain edition and two tracks from Entre El Cielo y El Suelo, all re-written in Italian, except for "Por La Cara," which is instrumental. It was the first album that Mecano recorded in a language other than Spanish, and the only one that didn't include any song in Spanish. All the songs were adapted in Italian by M. Luberti. "Mi costa tanto scordarti" (It's hard for me to forget you,) was also recorded, but it was taken out of the final selection. The album itself didn't meet sales expectations in Italy despite the success of the tracks.

Tracks
[5]
  1. Figlio della Luna (Hijo de la Luna) 4:18
  2. La forza del destino (La fuerza del destino) 5:10
  3. Croce di lame (Cruz de navajas) 5:06
  4. Uno di quegli amanti (Los amantes) 2:51
  5. Fermati a Madrid (Quédate en Madrid) 2:17
  6. Vado a Nuova York (No hay marcha en Nueva York) 4:16
  7. Per lei contro di lei (Mujer contra mujer) 4:05
  8. Il cinema (El cine) 4:18
  9. Un anno di più (Un año más) 4:29
  10. Por la cara (instrumental) 3:06

Singles/Maxi singles

French edition

"Descanso Dominical" was also edited in France in 1990 with some variants. This was the first album by Mecano to be addressed to a French audience, even though the release has just one song in French "Une femme avec une femme" (A woman with a woman), an adaptation of "Mujer contra mujer" under the supervision of P. Grosz. It had better results than the Italian edition.

The first edition of "Descanso Dominical" for France, was published in the same year as the Spain edition: 1988. The second edition, that includes "Une femme avec une femme", was not recorded until 1990. Mecano got this track to stay for 8 weeks in the French ranking of sales and the track reached the Top 50.

Tracks
[6]
  1. Hijo De La Luna 4:18
  2. La Fuerza Del Destino 5:17
  3. El Blues Del Esclavo 4:36
  4. Los Amantes 2:52
  5. Mujer Contra Mujer 4:05
  6. Por La Cara 3:04
  7. Une femme avec une femme 4:08
  8. No Hay Marcha En Nueva York 4:00
  9. El Cine 4:15
  10. "Eungenio" Salvador Dalí 5:23
  11. Un Año Mas 4:29
  12. Quédate En Madrid 2:18

Singles

Latin American edition

  1. Hijo de la Luna 4:15
  2. La fuerza del destino 5:13
  3. El blues del esclavo 4:36
  4. Los amantes 2:52
  5. Quédate en Madrid 2:18
  6. Por la cara 3:04
  7. No hay marcha en Nueva York 4:00
  8. Mujer contra mujer 4:05
  9. El cine 4:15
  10. "Eungenio" Salvador Dalí 5:23
  11. Un año más 4:29

Charts

Album charts

# Chart
Peak Position 		Date
1. "Billboard Latin Pop Albums"#16[3]16 Dec 1989
2. "Spain Album Charts"
(2nd Edition)		#32[7]7 Aug 2005

Single charts

Date Title Chart Positions B-Sides
U.S.
H.Lat.		 ESP MEX CRI CHL COL NIC ECU DOM CUB NLD FRA ITA
20 June 1988 No hay marcha en Nueva York – 9 10 13 2 9 10 10 15 20 – – – Laika
Por la cara
28 August 1988 Los amantes 32[3] 2 10 15 10 19 9 15 10 21 – – – Fábula
5 December 1988 Mujer contra mujer – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 – – – Hermano Sol,
hermana Luna
5 December 1988 Un año más – 10 9 11 8 5 2 8 10 10 – – – Por la cara
3 April 1989 La fuerza del destino – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 83[8] – – El Cine
3 July 1989 El blues del esclavo – 19 25 26 30 40 35 50 40 – – – – Héroes de la
Antártida
May 1990 Une femme avec une femme – – – – – – – – – – – 1[9] 1 Mujer contra mujer

See also

References

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