''Refrescante...'', titled ''Menudo'' in the Brazilian edition, is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the Puerto Rican

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

Menudo, released in 1986 by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. It is the group's seventeenth album in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and their third in Portuguese. The lineup at the time included members

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

, Robby Rosa,

Charlie Massó Carlos Javier Rivera Massó (born June 13, 1969 in San Juan, Puerto Rico), better known as Charlie Massó, is a Puerto Rican singer and actor. Massó is a former member of Menudo, joining the band at the height of Menudo's worldwide fame. He ...

, Raymond Acevedo, and Sérgio González. The album was produced by the trio Edgardo Díaz, Carlos Vilela, and Alejandro Monroy (the latter two being the principal composers of the work). The tracklist includes songs in the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

and pop styles. Regarding the Brazilian edition, it marked the first time the group recorded songs written by Brazilian composers: the single "Diga Sim," for example, was written by Ed Wilson and Carlos Colla; the song "Alegria" was composed by Michael Sullivan and Paulo Massadas; and "Cara ou Coroa" is a version adapted by Carlos Costa.

Singles

"Bésame" was released as the album's lead single. Among the singles, it achieved the best commercial performance on the

music chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

published by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

,'' reaching number 21 on the

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

chart, the group's highest position on that chart with a single. Other singles from the Spanish edition include "Hoy Me Voy Para México," "A Cara, O Cruz," "Salta La Valla," "Amiga Mia," and "La Primera Vez." "Hoy Me Voy Para México" was re-recorded in English as "I'm Going Back to the Philippines" and included in the group's fourth English album, ''In Action,'' released in 1987. The singles from ''Menudo'' (the Portuguese edition) were "Cara ou Coroa" and "Diga Sim," with the latter reaching the top 10 on 105 FM radio. The track "Hoje a Noite Não Tem Luar" was later recorded by the Brazilian group

Legião Urbana Legião Urbana (Portuguese for Urban Legion) was a Brazilian rock band formed in 1982 in Brasília, Federal District (Brazil), Distrito Federal. The band primarily consisted of Renato Russo (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), Dado Villa-Lobos ...

for their album '' Acústico MTV.'' According to one of the group's members, Dado Villa-Lobos, the lead singer

Renato Russo Renato Russo (born Renato Manfredini, Jr., March 27, 1960 – October 11, 1996) was a Brazilian musician who was the lead singer of the pop rock band Legião Urbana. A Brazilian film depicting his life and career was released in 2013, called ...

was a Menudo fan and followed the group's tour in Rio.

Critical reception

Regarding the reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s, the critic from the site

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

rated the album two stars out of five, although no written commentary accompanied the rating. Edgar Augusto, writing for ''Diário do Pará'' in his review of the Portuguese-language version of the album, stated that the album differs from the group’s previous works only in its language. According to the journalist, the "

Electronic drums Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sound ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

patched with

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s, dull melodies, and pseudo-youthful lyrics" present in previous albums are also featured in ''Menudo''. He concluded his review by writing: "For the Menudos, just another album. For us, a piece of nonsense."

Commercial performance

The Spanish version of the album reached the number 16 spot on the

Latin Pop Albums The '' Billboard'' Latin pop charts began in 1985 when an album chart were introduced as Latin Pop Albums in the June 29 issue of the magazine. In October 1994, ''Billboard'' then established Latin Pop Airplay, which initially rank the most-played ...

by ''

'' magazine.

Track listing

Production

* Produced by Edgardo Díaz for Padosa América Inc. * Arranged and conducted by Carlos Villa & Alejandro Monroy. * Engineered by Carlos Villa & Alejandro Monroy. * All songs written by Carlos Villa & Alejandro Monroy.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1986 albums Menudo (band) albums