Nouveau Flamenco

Amazon.com essential recording

Ottmar Liebert's most famous, if not most accomplished, effort gave a new genre its title, the New Age market a new champion, and flamenco purists--like Paco de Lucia, who despite a thank-you on the album, has called Liebert's music "worthless"--a new punching bag. All of which is a little beside the point; Liebert's rhythms may not be complex compas, but he perfectly captures the laid-back, open-space feel of his adopted home of Santa Fe with simple two-chord progressions and piquant nylon-string guitar lines that remain memorable long after listening. The indelible "Heart Still Beating" and the elegaic "Moon over Trees" bear this out. Liebert would up his technical and compositional ante considerably on Sola Para Ti and Borrasca, but there's still something undeniably balmy about this low-key debut--replete with lush New Agey synthesizer washes--that begs one to light the scented votive candles and get cozy. --James Rotondi