Descanso Dominical 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
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" and "Mujer contra mujer" topped the charts all over Latin America and Spain.
Spanish edition
Six singles were released from this album. The first one was "No hay marcha en Nueva York", which is known for its sound reminiscent of the orchestras of the 1950s because of the saxophone and drums. It was released on 20 June 1988.
The second single was "Los amantes", with Ana Torroja singing high notes on this track. The single topped out at position No. 32 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs.
It was released on 28 August 1988.
The 3rd and 4th singles were promoted simultaneously, "Mujer contra mujer" and "Un año más". Mujer contra mujer is a contemplation on a lesbian love that cries for respect, while "Un año más" tells about New Year's Eve on Puerta del Sol. Both songs were released on 5 December 1988.
"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. In Mexico, the song was banned when it was first promoted, but its success 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" included in the album Rosenrot, also Franco De Vita based his song "Rosa y clavel" on this song. It is considered one of the first gay anthems in Spanish.
The 5th single was "La fuerza del destino", a romantic song composed by Nacho Cano and dedicated to the writer Coloma Fernández Armero. Penélope Cruz appeared as an actress for the very first time in the video of this song.
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" 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:
"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", 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:
