This album, the first release off of EMI, was recorded in 1989, and IRemember it just like it was yesterday. My father receiving the phoneCall from Jose Becjar, the then existing president of EMI Latin, thatHe was interested in recording us. We were just thrilled to beConsidered on a big label. At the time, EMI, it was called EMICapital, and eventually converted itself to EMI Latin. I was superThrilled. On my behalf, I had always produced the albums, so it wasKind of a little scary because the record company was taking a bigGamble on opening a Latin division, and they didn't want me toProduce the album. So it was a little bit of a fight there, and weStuck together as a family, and Selena and Dad were real passionateAnd said, "You know what? No, we gotta give A.V. the chance to do itIf he can't do it, then we'll get somebody else to do it." So itWas very scary, not only for myself but I believe for Suzette, myDad, Selena, everybody, 'cause this is a huge label, and we reallyAt this point, we couldn't afford to take a failure, 'cause if weFailed at it, we'd end up back at the bottom of the totem poleBut as time would tell, it was a very successful album for SelenaBut the way I feel, anything that she sang, she just breathedSomething special into the songs. But as far as this album isConcerned, I think this was our first masterpiece of many to come inThe sense that this album had a little bit of pop, a little bit of RB on it. We kind of got a little more trendier and a little moreCutting-edge. It was a great experimental album for us toKind of set us in the direction that Dad had originallySet us on in the beginning, which was priming everythingFor the English market or trying to infiltrate the pop marketAnd I think this album is a great example of a format thatWe would further use and perfect as we went along the wayIn 1989, when we joined the EMI Latin family, the very firstAlbum that we recorded was titled Selena, and one thing thatReally sticks out in my mind was where we done the photo shootFor the cover of the album. It was a gravel pit in San AntonioThey made it look like we were out in some desert-like areaIn 1989, we recorded Selena. It was our first record for our firstAlbum, should I say, for EMI Latin. Everybody was veryExcited. We were all excited about this album. ItWas our first album for a major label, such as EMIAnd we were very excited and nervous at the same timeOne of the songs that I remember was originally a Japanese songCalled "Sukiyaki," and I remember that I really liked the songWhen it first came out, and then it came out with an AmericanGroup, and I thought that a Spanish version would be nice. So PeteEstudillo and I proceeded to write some Spanish lyrics for itMy name is Rick Vela. I used to play keyboards for the band. "Sukiyaki" was interesting 'cause when we wrote it, well, I was in theRoom when they wrote it. I meant to help. They brought me in thereTo help, but pretty much Pete did everything. It was pretty cool whenPete came in the band because he's very good. He's very good as aLyricist. It helped a lot of the songwriting also, 'cause my SpanishWas kinda, it was all right but not as good as his. Also on "Sukiyaki," me and A.V. started getting a little bit moreElaborate with our arrangement. We started bringing inUsing sequencers and stuff like that, so that reallyHelped the arrangement a lot. And then, well, Selena, sheSang it real nice. I think that track came out real goodI would have to say my favorite song off of Selena would be "Sukiyaki." It was my father's idea to record it, and I thinkSelena did an awesome job on it. I mean, it's a beautiful songIt's a little oriental feel to it, and I think she did her allOn it. She put her all in it. I think it's one of my favoritesI think that, if I remember correctly, the biggestHit out of that album was a song entitled "ContigoQuiero Estar." It was a beautiful song, Tejano ranchera"Contigo Quiero Estar." And I remember that was back when, wellJoe first got in the band with us, and back then, he had a D-50, And, well, if you're a keyboard player, you know what I'mTalking about. Back when the D-50 came out, it was the keyboardI mean, the sounds were amazing. The keyboard sounds improvedGreatly, plus Joe, he was more a flashy player than I wasI would have to say that a very pivotal point for the career ofSelena Los Dinos as far as song selection is concerned, I wouldHave to say that "Besitos" kind of threw us in that cumbiaDirection, and we started getting a little more experimental withCumbia. Even though it was one song on the album that was cumbiaI believe, it kind of set us in a certain direction. I think onThe next album, after the first album with EMI, you could reallyTell the difference of where we were heading with the musicEste es el disco Selena, el primer, también la primera producción enLa cual yo participé ya como cantante, como compositor y comoIntegrante del grupo, los nuevos integrantes del grupo. "Besitos"Es el primer tema en el cual colaboré con A.V. Es estarnos enlaredoEn un baile, realmente fue cuando nos conocimos la primera vezParticipamos con ellos en un evento, Joe Ojeda y un servidorLos Bad Boys, y nos conocimos esa noche, y esa misma nocheMe presentó el concepto o la idea de este tema de "Besitos" Y fue la primera canción con la cual colaboré yo con A.V.Fue el principio de mi carrera como compositor al lado de AV. Quintanilla, y la primera canción que compuse para SelenaY Los Dinos que después llegué a ser parte de la agrupaciónEste, "Ámame y Quiéreme" fue la primera canción, fue un dueto, en laCual yo colaboré ya como cantante, con Selena y Los Dinos. EsteY realmente sí, estaba bien nervioso, principalmente porque puesPues yo nunca había estado en un estudio de grabación, después deEstar grabando al lado de Selena. Y realmente, pues para qué yo digoMentiras, me sacaron del estudio porque no lo hice bien. El ingenieroMe dijo: "Ve aprendete la canción, cuando te la aprendas, vienes yRegresas y entonces te grabamos, y..." Para mí realmente me, me bajóLa moral y realmente, pues casi lloré. Porque mi sueño se me estabaYendo de mis manos, de poder grabar, y la primera vez que fui aHacerlo, lo hago tan mal que me corren del estudio, pero graciasA Dios regresé al estudio y la segunda vez fue la vencida ya, enEsa vez sí cumplí ya como cantante. Este, siempre que, que cantábamosDuetos, este, en el escenario ya en vivo, siempre... Pues SelenaEra una persona con un buen sentido del humor y siempre buscabaUna oportunidad para hacernos reír aunque estuviéramos trabajandoY en la canción "Ámame y Quiéreme" o cualquiera de los duetos queCantáramos juntos en el escenario, pues hacíamos el papel de muyRomántico para hacer el papel de la canción. Y en una ocasión meAcuerdo que yo estaba cantando y se me... había una mosca rodeándomeLa cabeza, y precisamente cuando iba a empezar a cantar yo, porqueEstábamos cantando juntos, pues se me separa la mosca en la frenteO en la nariz, no me acuerdo realmente si era la frente o la narizY Selena no se pudo aguantar y empezó a carcajearse. Y por másQue yo trataba de espantarme la mosca no se movía, y sinceramenteY... Pues you had to be there, it's funnier when you were thereI think that was the first duet that Pete did with SelenaAs far as recording. His first recording session was "ÁmameY Quiéreme" and I know that Pete was really nervous andUm, 'cause I don't think he'd ever been in the studio. ItWas very nice, it turned out really nice and I think thatThe people liked it as well, so it made it even more special"Tengo Ganas de Llorar," at the time we wrote it, I guess we neededAnother song so we got together and tried to write a song and thePart he wrote, I thought was real cool, but my, the part that I cameUp with, I wasn't too happy with at the time, but in the end it cameOut okay. A.B. was just trying to be polite and he probably just letIt pass 'cause we needed another song. But anywayYou know, with Selena, you know, everythingCame out okay. She did a real good job on itTo be honest with you, my favorite, or the song that, on this albumThat I really liked a lot, that came out really nice was a song thatSelena wrote and that myself and Ricky Vela arranged and producedFor her. It was a song called "My Love." And I love that song, it'sKind of got a little flavor of like what was happening back in theDay which had groups like Exposé and Sweet Sensation and so it's gotA real club feel to it, and I was really, really, really proud ofThat song for Selena. It was her first, I believe, songwritingAttempt and I was real happy for herAnd the song is, it's a great songWhenever we had to do, go into conjunto style, norteño style, I wouldAlways cringe a little bit because we didn't have a real accordionAnd the accordion that I used, it was an old sample and when youWent up too high or, it tended to sound kind of un-accordion-likeSo when we would record, especially like "Mentiras," it's a realCool song, but I always cringe when I hear it 'cause of the accordionSound. Of course later on, we were able to get actual accordionPlayers in the studios to, uh, theRecordings later on sounded betterOne of the songs that's a little bit different is "No Te Vayas" It's got a, kind of like a cumbia-reggae type of beat to itAnd I think that's where you could really hear the influenceThat, you know, the music that A.B. liked putting that littleDrive into the cumbias that we had, and I think that's oneOf the first times that, you know, you can really hear thatType of different rhythm to a cumbia, which is "No Te Vayas."Para los fanáticos de Selena y Los Dinos, esto que se está haciendo deVeinte años de música de Selena y Los Dinos es algo que es un laborDe amor. Lo estamos haciendo para todos los fans, los fanáticos deSelena, para todos los coleccionistasY los invitamos que lo escuchen
