Last week Ricardo Montaner released Ricardo Montaner 2 (Montaner Version), a re-recording of his 1988 album that included classics like “Tan Enamorados” and “A Dónde Va el Amor.” The new set comes less than a month after Ricardo Montaner (Montaner Version), and is part of a broader project in which the acclaimed Latin pop singer-songwriter aims to give his old music a more contemporary sound.
“I think it has a lot to do with responsibility,” Montaner tells Billboard Español about this initial six-album project, all under his own independent label Hecho a Mano. “The sound of my music from that era does not match the technical advances available today. […] I want fans from that time to enjoy my music today and to do so under exactly the same conditions as the music people make today.”
But that is not the only motivation for the Argentine-Venezuelan musician. A contract he signed at the beginning of his career with Love Records, part of then-Venezuelan record company Sono-Rodven, did not include rights to his masters, which he says are now in the hands of Universal Music Group. (In 1995, Sono-Rodven transferred its operations to PolyGram, which was later acquired by the multinational).
“I need my artistic legacy to pass into the hands of my children,” Montaner explains. “I never earned a penny in royalties from any of my first six albums. To this day, with more than 40 years of career, I have not received a single penny from the sales of ‘Yo Que Te Amé,’ ‘Tan Enamorados,’ ‘La Cima del Cielo,’ the album Los Hijos del Sol, the album En El Último Lugar del Mundo.“
“The contracts at that time were predatory and totally disadvantageous for the artist, so that is a very, very strong motivation. If I didn’t earn a single penny for my music at the beginning of my career and at the time when I was most successful, today I am looking to record independently so that my children will have, at least from now on, the peace of mind that the music of their father — especially the most important, the most emblematic or iconic music of his career — will pass into their hands,” he continues. “I am also complaining to the people who have the original masters, the first masters of my career, considering they have been recorded already 40 years ago. I am asking that they return them to me.”
Neither Montaner nor his team has specified whether there is a formal complaint or lawsuit, “beyond the fact that Ricardo is trying to get his masters back,” a person from his team told Billboard Español. Universal Music Latin had not replied a request for comment sent on Monday (July 22) by the time of publication.
Montaner’s re-recording of his albums — something reminiscent of Taylor Swift‘s successful “Taylor’s Version” series — is a meticulous project with “exactly the same” musical arrangements as the originals, and the art cover from the era reproduced with great detail (from set design and wardrobe to the pose of the singer) in a fun and exciting nostalgia trip.
Montaner’s voice remains practically entirely intact. The only change, besides the better sound quality, is in the freedom that comes with age and maturity.
“I recognize that today I sing ‘Me Va a Extrañar,’ ‘Tan Enamorados’, ‘La Cima del Cielo’ or ‘Yo Que Te Amé’ differently than I sang them at that time,” he admits. “But today, sitting from another angle of my life, seeing that I have nothing else to prove in the sense that these songs do not have a risk as they did at that time […] it gives me a lot more freedom to sing them.”
The next releases from the project will arrive Sept. 6 with the album Un Toque de Misterio (Versión Montaner) and the single “La Cima del Cielo (Montaner Version),” followed by En El Último Lugar del Mundo (Versión Montaner), with “Será (Versión Montaner)” as the focus single, on Nov. 1. The re-recordings of Los Hijos del Sol and Una Mañana Y Un Camino would arrive by early 2025.
After these, three more versions of later albums in Montaner’s career will come, this time only for pure pleasure: “I felt like repeating the albums Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra, which were two unforgettable projects for me,” he says excitedly, without revealing what the third one would be. “We already have Abbey Road studios booked for the beginning of November of this year to record the three versions in a single session.”
Retired from the stage at least for a while, Montaner is now enjoying going in and out of the studio while making the most of his time with his family, which includes his wife Marlene, his children Alejandro, Héctor, Mau y Ricky, and Evaluna (all musicians), as well as six grandchildren who will soon become seven with the imminent arrival of Evaluna and Camilo‘s second baby.
“I want to have time to live this,” Montaner says from Medellín, Colombia, where his wife was releasing a new book, El Libro del Corazón. He also traveled recently to Spain and to Argentina to watch his children perform. For many years, he “missed many things of Marlene and my loved ones, because I was doing my own thing, so […] I don’t want it to be once in a while and because time allowed it. Today I want to own my time and be everywhere with them.”