Nothing but the Truth (Rubén Blades album)
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| Nothing but the Truth | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Latin rock | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer | Tommy LiPuma, Carlos Rios, Rubén Blades, Lou Reed | |||
| Rubén Blades chronology | ||||
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Nothing but the Truth is an album by the Panamanian musician Rubén Blades, released in 1988.[1][2] It was marketed as Blades's first album of entirely English-language songs.[3] It peaked at No. 156 on the Billboard 200.[4]
Blades signed a contract in 1983 to produce an English-language album.[5] He contributed explanatory liner notes to each song and had the lyrics printed in Spanish and English.[6] "Hopes on Hold", "Letters to the Vatican", and "The Calm Before the Storm" were cowritten by Blades and Lou Reed; they met on the video set for the song "Sun City".[7][8] Blades invited Elvis Costello to his home in California to work on the two songs that they cowrote, "Shamed into Love" and "The Miranda Syndrome".[8][6] "I Can't Say" was written by Sting.[9] "The Letter" is directed to a friend who is suffering from AIDS.[10] "Ollie's Doo Wop" criticizes the Iran–Contra affair in the form of a doo-wop song.[11] "In Salvador" is about death squads in El Salvador.[12] "Letters to the Vatican" is a story about an alcoholic woman who sends letters to Pope John Paul II.[13] "The Hit" describes gang warfare in East Los Angeles, California.[14] Paulinho da Costa played various percussive instruments on the album.[15]
