Oscar Lopez is another Spanish guitarist who
has appropriated elements of the flamenco style to create stilted
parodies of the real thing. To be fair, Oscar has slightly more
improvisational nous, but whats lacking is cultural catharsis.
All the wrinkles have been ironed out so that what we have left
is pleasant, non-confrontational elevator shaft fodder with only
the occasional hint that maybe
just maybe Oscar is capable
of creating something meaningful. In some cases to describe a
great artists best work as indistinguishable from his/her
worst could be construed as a form of flattery. Unfortunately
this is not the case with Flashback The Best of Oscar Lopez
(Narada World). Feb 2003