Física y química


Física y química is the eighth studio album of the Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquín Sabina, which was released in 1992, two years after Mentiras Piadosas, his previous release. This album is one of the most popular ones of Joaquín Sabina's discography and also marked and before and after in the career of the singer. Unexpectedly, the sales of this album reached another record in the trajectory of the performer outselling Hotel dulce hotel, which was, till then, his best selling album.

Background

In 1992, after having released some successful albums, Sabina had already stablished himself as one of the most creative and recognised Spanish performers. His popularity in Latin América was also on the rise with some tours and performances in countries such as Mexico and Venezuela, where he had an enormous fanbase. The singer found the inspiration for this album in some personal or sentimental experiences and some other day-to-day stories. Some of the songs of the tracklist of the album are also inspired in the life and the experiences of some of his friends, and in some cases, frienemies. In this album the performer confessed to have turned into the antihero of his own songs, which was criticised by some intellectuals such as Antonio Muñoz Molina, however, the performer admitted that it couldn't avoid it. Joaquín Sabina had turned into someone who was loved by many, but also hated by many others due to the message of some of his songs and his clear and sometime harmful opinions.
The initial title of this album was going to be "Verdades como puños", as a response of the title of his previous record, however, in the ende title of the release was changed to Física y química, a phrase which was inspired by a famous sentence said by the Spanish Physician Severo Ochoa, who said textually that "Love is physics and chemistry".
As an interesting fact, in the cover photo of this release appears Sabina with a painted beard emulating Groucho Marx.

Style and production

As usual, Joaquín Sabina teamed up with his friends and longtime producers, Pancho Varona and Antonio García de Diego, who had collaborated in some of his previous releases. The rock spirit of his recent releases is present in all the tracklist, although some songs were influenced by other styles. The album starts with "Y nos dieron las diez", the first single and also the most popular song. This track, which features a heavy Mexican traditional vibes, talks about a summer love story during a tour. The protagonist fell in love with the waitress of a bar but one year later, when he returns to the same city, the main character discovers that everything that he appreciated had disappeared. This song, for which was released a promotional video, turned into a smash hit both in Spain and Latin America, specially in Mexico, where this song has not only been covered by other artists, but also has been usually performed by famous Mariachi bands.
The second song of the tracklist, entitled "Conductores suicidas" which shows a more rock sound, talks about the descent to the world of addictions and excesses of an unspecified popular Spanish singer in the last 1980s and early 1990s. In this song, Sabina talks about a friendship that was abruptly ended because of those problems. Some years later, the performer confessed that he was referring to Manolo Tena, who although was still very popular, he had a growing problem with drug abuse.
The following song of this album, surrounded by a blues atmosphere, was "Yo quiero ser una chica almodovar", a song dedicated to the awarded Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and all the actresses who had participated in his films such as Carmen Maura, Rossi de Palma and Victoria Abril amongst others. The song not only reflects Sabina's admiration for Almodovar's movies, but also makes chained references to the titles of those films, such as; Dark Habits, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, High heels and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
The following track and second single of this album was the intimal and passionate ballad "A la orilla de la chimenea" which also received a very favourable critical and commercial response.
Another song, the third maxi single extracted from this album, which has te title of "Todos menos tú" describes with huge detail the vibrant nightlife of Madrid and all the varied types of people that one can see in the Spanish capital city; from "That kind of hairdressers who are known as stylists" to "lascivious divorced women with Madonna styled hair".
The fourth single of this album was "La del pirata cojo", in which the singer invites his audience to live different lives far away from the ordinary stories. A very different subject matter has the fifth single, entitled "Peor para el sol", in which the performer describes an infidelity with a married woman who tried to find something different in a dark bar of Madrid. In this song, the singer clearly describes a scene with both lovers in the bed snorting cocaine from the crystal of the weeding photo of the woman. Finally, the illicit romance ends with the protagonist getting drunk to try forget the affair.
The sixth and last maxi single of this album released in 1993, was the ending track, "Pastillas para no soñar", an optimistic song in which the audience is invited to live freely, without worries, regardless of what others say. This song is worth of note because of its arrangements for which he counted with the collaboration of the Municipal Orchestra of Mostoles, a little town of southern Madrid.

Track listing

Reception

Física y química turned into a milestone in Joaquín Sabina's career both critically and commercially. This album was praised for the originality of its lyrics and by the interesting stories featured in the track-listing. Commercially, this record sold more than a million copies in Spain and Latin America, outselling Hotel Dulce Hotel, his previously best selling album. This sales record remained unchallenged till 1999, when the album "19 días y 500 noches" unexpectedly reached even higher sales.

Versions of some songs