The percussions on Toto’s “Africa” were my guide when composing and recording “Tierra del Fuego” and clearly influenced the feel of the track… so today allow me to pay homage to one of pop-rock’s all-time greatest bands.
Style
"Pop-rock" doesn't quite do them justice in fact. Toto’s style has always been one of fusion. Their self-titled 1978 debut fused disco and prog-rock. While the prog-rock influences remained dominant on the first 3 albums, a wide range of other styles have fused in and out of the Toto “sound” over the years, including many flavors of "world" music, jazz, funk, hard rock, California "FM" pop-rock, and ballads...
The band further demonstrated its musical prowess and versatility by writing and producing the mostly-orchestral soundtrack to David Lynch’s 1984 “Dune”.
If it’s impossible to pin Toto down to a specific musical style, there is however a definite Toto “sound” that emerges from its distinctive, sophisticated and melodic songwriting, vocals and playing techniques…
With the spotlight on Latin-flavored “Tierra del Fuego” this month I am going to focus the next few blog entries on Latin pop.
Who better to start with than the “King of Latin Pop” himself Enrique Iglesias.
Enrique, son of 1970s Spanish superstar Julio Iglesias, started his Spanish-language recording career in the mid-1990s and broke onto the US charts with 1999’s “Bailamos”, part of the “Wild Wild West” movie soundtrack. The single went to no.1 in the US and Enrique’s native Spain, and in the top 10 in many other countries.
Since then, Enrique has alternated albums in English and Spanish and sold over 100 million records worldwide.
His best-selling single to date is “Hero” from his sophomore English-language album, 2001’s “Escape”.
While his looks and sexiness are 100% Latin-hot, his music has evolved from his Spanish roots into a more global dance-pop sound, particularly on his last 3 albums, 2003’s “7”, 2007’s “Insomniac” and 2010’s “Euphoria”...
Tierra del Fuego is one of those songs that took a long time to mature…
Lyric & Chorus
The song started with a lyric from Joel Rockman, who recalls: “In my geography studies at school we covered South America. I always thought ”Tierra del Fuego” was a very romantic name and decided to write a lyric about it.”
Most of the original lines made it in the final song, but together we restructured it to a more clearly defined verse-chorus structure and later changed some lines to better fit the music.
The lyric did inspire a Latin feel, Spanish guitars, percussions, love, passion… and I very quickly came up with the chorus melody/musical hook for “Tierra del Fuego”.
Very early on, I sampled the drum/percussion part from Toto’s “Africa” to help me establish the “feel” and direction of the music (the sample was later removed and replaced by all-original parts).
While the chorus came together quickly, I got stuck for the verse and could not find a suitable part. The song got shelved…
Verse & Structure
A couple of years later, I dusted off the original idea for “Tierra del Fuego” and somehow I found the verse, just by sitting at the keyboard and singing the lines. The song structure flowed naturally from there.
Recording
The track was recorded at my home, with Ben Treeby on rhythm guitars.
I had lots of ideas for Spanish guitar licks throughout and ended up playing the whole thing on the keyboard, with a patch from my trusted Roland XV-3080 (as you can see from the midi session capture below and on YouTube). I think it came out really well and most listeners probably wouldn’t this isn’t an actual guitar playing!
I also programmed the brass parts and we recorded them at my friend’s Viceroy.
For the vocals, we were very lucky to get PJ Lequerica, who was perfect for the song. I had worked on a couple of tracks with PJ previously while in New York. The vocals were recorded at the New York studio of my friend Harold Stefan, and the stems sent back to me for mixing with the backing tracks.
Final Mix
I redid the mix from scratch for the “Back In The Groove” album.
One of the main things I re-did was play all original drum/percussion parts, trying to emulate the parts from Toto’s “Africa” but without any of the original samples. That was an interesting and difficult challenge. First because the style of playing is very different from the pop-rock style I am most used to. Second because, let’s face it: it doesn’t get any better than Jeff Porcaro, Lenny Castro and Joe Porcaro! Given that I would never be able to do as well as those guys, I think the result came out alright…
I also added some new synth pad parts to build up the song, and some sound effects for added excitement.
Jon Astley provided the final mastering sheen, as he did with all tracks on the album.
TIERRA DEL FUEGO
Words by Joel Rockman & A. Robin / Music by A. Robin Vocals by PJ Lequerica Produced by SuperCool-Guy
Enchanted isle Embraced by the sea Magical wonderland You’re calling out to me
Lightning will flash Reflect in your eyes
Chorus:
Tierra del Fuego Burning inside Burning right inside of me (Right inside of me) Tierra del Fuego My passion’s on fire (Flames leap up) Flames leap up They go higher
When we make love Stars shine above Stirring the passion below The whole world is turned to fire
Lightning will flash Reflect in your eyes
Chorus:
Tierra del Fuego… (Burning right inside of me)
[Repeat chorus]
Bridge:
Out of the sky This heavenly fire Brought down to Earth just for me Just for me
With the spotlight on Latin-flavored “