Texas Platters

Del Castillo

Guitar-slinging siblings Mark and Rick del Castillo have built a career grounded in flamenco instead of blues, and Infinitas Rapsodias celebrates a dozen years of Del Castillo with new tunes, re-recordings, videos, and special guests. The locals blaze impressively through "Lumbres de Babylon," keeping the intensity going for seven minutes, and get the requisite guitar orgy out of the way with "Fuego Egipcio," guest-starring Monte Montgomery, who returns on the DVD for the inevitable "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." After that, the CD jumps around like a bee-stung rabbit, bouncing from a needless dance remix of "Rios Misticos" and an Italian version of "Maria" to the soggy "Para Mi Sobrina" with keyboardist Carl Thiel and a strained "Brotherhood" with Malford Milligan and Leann Atherton. It doesn't help that Del Castillo's ballads drown in their own syrup ("Perdoname"), and too many songs sound like Gipsy Kings outtakes.