Enrique Bunbury - Hellville de Luxe (2008)

After the unexpected (but, predictably, madly successful) reunion tour with Heroes del Silencio, Enrique Bunbury continues to pursue his solo career in Hellville De Luxe. The often unpredictable Bunbury has chosen this time to play it by the numbers, with a solid country-rock album whose main influence is, of course, Bob Dylan, referenced in "Si No Fuera por Tí" (the title is a wink to "If Not for You"). Musically, Hellville De Luxe is Bunbury's Americana project, in roughly the same way that El Viaje a Ninguna Parte was inspired by his travels in Latin America. Lyrically, Bunbury is mostly preoccupied with his own myth of the wandering artist/outcast. As usual, it is hard to tell the line between the real person and the character, but such is the life Bunbury has chosen to live (or enact): a life on the road with places and people coming and going quickly, spent alone or in the company of a few good friends of suspect reputation, dreamers and rebels to whom family is a chimera and society is not to be trusted in any of its institutions. Fans of Bunbury will surely appreciate Hellville De Luxe, while newcomers or casual listeners will be better served by more musically adventurous records such as Flamingos or his excellent live and compilation albums. Hellville De Luxe, named after Bunbury's home recording studio, was produced by Phil Manzanera, and it was released in three different formats with slightly different track lists: audio CD, digital, and double vinyl. Curiously, the CD version is the one with less tracks, 11 to 12 and 15, respectively. The album topped the Spanish charts upon its release, and quickly went gold in Spain and Mexico, the two places where Bunbury is a long-established rock superstar.