Doble Vida

Doble Vida (English: Double Life) is the fourth studio album by Argentine rock band Soda Stereo, released on September 15, 1988. Produced by Carlos Alomar, this was the second of only 2 Soda Stereo albums produced by someone outside the musical group, with the other being Soda Stereo, the eponymous debut album produced by Federico Moura of Virus.

The group began preparing the songs for Doble Vida in March 1988. Already at that time the group was the most important Latin American pop/rock group. Soon after, Gustavo Cerati decided to hire Carlos Alomar as an artistic producer; a musician, composer and producer among the most influential in the United States. Carlos Alomar prepared a structured and innovative process for creating the album in the manner of American works, different from what had been seen until then in Latin American music. He summoned the musical group in early June to record it in New York City, this being one of the first Latin American rock albums in history to be recorded in the United States. Finally after just over a month, Doble Vida was presented on July 7 at The Tunnel club in New York, and released on September 23.

Doble Vida marked the end of the first stage of Soda Stereo, which consisted of an exotic image, and paved the way for the band's maturity. In addition, it was during the promotional tour that they decided to resign from Ohanian Producciones and create their own company, Triple Producciones, with which they would publish works in the future. Doble Vida in particular is loaded with a strong influence of African-American music, with a marked presence of funk in particular, and also touches of soul, disco, R&B and even a rap in the song "En el borde".

The album allowed them to conquer the United States market, making Soda Stereo the first Latin American band in history to do so. The tour, which spanned the entire American continent, even reached Los Angeles' historic Hollywood Palace (later renamed Avalon Hollywood). During the course of it, the milestone of being awarded by the CBS record company was produced, for having sold more than 1 million copies.

It was remastered in 2007 at Sterling Sound in New York.

Background
After Ruido Blanco promotional tour ended, in March 1988 the band settled in the rehearsal room to put together the songs for a new studio album. While they were recording the demos, Ohanian Producciones was considering hiring an artistic producer. Those targeted were Mark Knopfler and Carlos Alomar. However, Mark Knopfler could not be available for 3 months, and also that Gustavo himself wanted to work with the Puerto Rican musician. Cerati had met Carlos in a music house in New York by pure chance, whom he took advantage of to show his admiration. After this fortuitous meeting, Cerati sends him a package with original demos for Soda's next album, and within a few hours Alomar replies that not only did he like the demos, but he was interested in working with them. For these reasons, he ended up being chosen for this production.

From early on it was decided that the title of the album was going to be Doble Vida, which was the one they preferred the most; although other possible names were also considered, such as La ciudad de la furia.

Carlos Alomar
Carlos Alomar was one of the best musicians on the market, he had participated for years with David Bowie, and had worked with Paul McCartney, James Brown, Iggy Pop, and Mick Jagger, among other artists.

Executive producer Alberto Ohanian was amazed at Carlos Alomar's idea to create the album; he according to him commented: "In April I traveled to finalize the details of the recording, and when I met Alomar I was impressed by his real knowledge of the working times to make an album. He was the right person to produce this record. During three days, he meticulously prepared the work schedule, which included a week of rehearsals and recording in three different studios."

At the beginning of June the first part of their plan was carried out, meeting in New York and rehearsing at Dessau Studios to get the first ideas. Then the second part was moving to Sorcerer Sound Studios, where the album itself was recorded.

First they recorded the bases, playing all the musicians together, something that Gustavo Cerati highlighted because until then he had not worked like this, where the essence of live was captured. Then they added the melodies to the bases: Carlos Alomar's guitar, Gustavo Cerati's voice, a horn section (which accompanied David Bowie) and even a rap on the song "En el borde" sung by Carlos Alomar. So in the third part of the plan, the group divided, leaving only Gustavo Cerati and Zeta Bosio in New York to do the mastering at Masterdisk Studios, while Charly Alberti and Daniel Sais returned to Buenos Aires. A week later Doble Vida was finished.

Recording
Black music from the United States, or Afro-American music, is the main "actress" in the album Doble Vida, with a strong influence in particular from funk, with enveloping and marked rhythms to dance. Other African-American genres, such as soul, disco, and R&B, also make their presence on the album, and even rap, which was just beginning to make its presence felt in the American music scene of the 1980s, appears on the track. border sung in English by Carlos Alomar. This rap is perhaps the first rap on a record by a rock band born in Latin America.

Carlos Alomar had a wealth of experience working with many American and British artists in various musical styles, as well as keeping abreast of the latest news in the world of music, such as rap; a musical, cultural and social phenomenon that would soon explode in mainstream culture.

At the same time, prior to forming Soda Stereo, Gustavo Cerati had played soul and disco in a band called Sauvage, something that in the end would be useful for Doble Vida and a large part of his work.

Most of the songs on Doble Vida had already been developed for a while, according to Gustavo in an interview in July 1990 with Rock & Pop magazine: "The ten themes of Canción Animal were composed in a period that goes from August of '89 to March of '90. In other words, they are really new, unlike Doble Vida, where, for example, songs like 'Corazón delator', 'Languis', 'Picnic (en el 4ºB)', 'La ciudad de la furia' and even 'Día Común - Doble Vida' were final developments of bases that we had been playing intermittently since -in some cases- the first LP."

During the recording of Doble Vida, Carlos Alomar tried to reproduce the strength of Soda Stereo's live performances, so he arranged for Gustavo, Zeta, Charly and Daniel Sais to play together to build the bases to which they would later add elements. Gustavo, who had never worked in this way, felt at ease. These were his impressions of the album: "The style of the new album has a mix between the feeling of Nada Personal and the musicality of Signos. It is the return of something more funky and soulful, with a more finished theme and a sound closer to a live record."

Gustavo later defined Doble Vida as Soda Stereo's New York record. In addition, he has also declared that if it were not for the producer's hand and his stay in that special city, the sound of the album would have been closer to that of Canción Animal. On the other hand, he considered "Corazón delatoro" as one of his perfect songs:

"When I finished 'Corazón Delator' or 'El Temblor', yes, I felt that I had found something that I thought would never be able to improve. It was the maximum within what I could do, considering that the main meaning of everything I write and compose aspires to produce a shot of imagination. I like the perfect song not because it's technically perfect, but because it inaugurates something or went deep."

Packaging
To choose the album cover, a long series of photographs of the band posing in the streets of Buenos Aires were taken.

The cover of Doble Vida is unusual in that it consists of a photograph taken vertically (3:4). The photo is taken in black and white. In it, the three members of the band are seen posing on different planes or angles, similar to the cover of the debut album, Soda Stereo, where that idea was also presented, although this time Charly Alberti is in front instead of behind. of the others, and it is Gustavo Cerati who is now in the background.

The photo on the cover of the album was taken in the Monserrat neighborhood, Buenos Aires, exactly on the corner of Diagonal Sur, Av. Hipólito Yrigoyen and Bolívar street, that is, next to the Cabildo de Buenos Aires. The photo was taken focusing in the direction of Bolívar, behind the musicians you can see the Hotel NH Buenos Aires City, and other buildings on the corner of Bolívar and Alsina.

Completing the album cover, the photograph is placed on a white background with a new logo of the band made by the plastic artist Tite Barbuzza, and the title "Doble Vida" under the photo, all in gray tones.

Reception
From this album, the ranking of the 500 best Ibero-American rock songs by Al Borde in 2006 rewarded the successful song entitled "En la ciudad de la furia" (46th), the one of the 100 best songs of Argentine rock by Rolling Stone Argentina and MTV in 2002 awarded it with the 48th, and the one of the 10 best video clips of Argentine rock by La Nación in 2011 with the 1st, thus being chosen as the best music video of Argentine rock in all history.

Track listing

 * 1) "Picnic en el 4º B" (Cerati / Bosio / Alberti) (Picnic in 4º B) – 3:41
 * 2) "En la Ciudad de la Furia" (Cerati) (In the City of Fury) – 5:52
 * 3) "Lo Que Sangra (La Cúpula)" (Cerati) (What bleeds (The Dome)) – 4:36
 * 4) "En el Borde" (Cerati / Bosio / Coleman) (On the Edge) – 4:44
 * 5) "Languis" (Cerati / Bosio / Alberti / Sais) (The Languid) – 4:00
 * 6) "Día Común - Doble Vida" (Cerati / Alberti) (Common Day (Double Life)) – 4:41
 * 7) "Corazón Delator" (Cerati) (Tell-Tale Heart) – 5:14
 * 8) "El Ritmo de Tus Ojos" (Cerati / Bosio) (The Rhythm of Your Eyes) – 3:59
 * 9) "Terapia de Amor Intensiva" (Cerati / Coleman / Alberti) (Intensive Love Therapy) – 5:41

All lyrics written by Gustavo Cerati.

Soda Stereo

 * Gustavo Cerati – lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
 * Zeta Bosio – bass, backing vocals
 * Charly Alberti – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

 * Daniel Sais – keyboards
 * Lenny Pickett – tenor saxophone
 * Marcelo Sánchez – saxophone
 * Chris Botti – trumpet
 * Carlos Alomar – producer, lead guitar on "Lo Que Sangra (La Cupula)", rap on "En El Borde", backing vocals