In Brief

Fernandez goes pop again in this slick, flawlessly produced piece of elevator music, which disguises a lack of hooks with crispy flamenco guitars and layers of synthesizers. Emilio Estefan Jr. produces, Shakira contributes a song and the Miami Symphonic Strings add touches of orchestral sweep, but it is only the jazzy undertones of “Cada Man~ana,” a classy composition by Francisco Cespedes, that provide any interest. Elsewhere, Fernandez was unable to transfer his remarkable ranchera passion to the world of romantic balladry. Anyone who thinks of this undernourished love feast as Latin music obviously hasn’t visited a Latin American country in a long, long time.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.