Autobiografía is the fifth studio album and first double album by Duncan Dhu, released in 1989. Coinciding with the peak of their career, drummer Juanra Viles left the group, and it was then that the now-duo began to explore new sounds inspired by British pop rock. Bands like The Beatles and The Smiths served as influences for their new style, which is reflected in raw tracks (“Entre salitre y sudor,” “El día que fue”), signature Duncan ballads (“Rosas en agua,” “Cuento de la canción de la botella,” “Rosa Gris”), and straightforward pop songs (“Tras la cortina,” “Las reglas del juego”). Of note is Diego Vasallo’s role as lead vocalist for the first time since Por tierras escocesas, as well as backing vocals on some tracks by Cristina Lliso (lead singer of Esclarecidos) and guest vocals by Colin Vearncombe (creator of the band Black) on “Rozando la eternidad” and “Amarga.” Significant milestones include Autobiografía being the first Spanish album released on CD, and recognition from the music industry with a Grammy nomination in the Best Latin Artist category at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. This led to Madonna requesting a song from them (“Herida de miel”) to be included in the soundtrack for the film Dick Tracy. Beyond Spain and Latin America, Autobiografía was also released in the United States through Sire Records Company with 24 tracks, including four in English (“Rozando la eternidad / Brushing On Eternity,” “Entre salitre y sudor / Sweat and Blood,” “Las reglas del juego / The Rules of the Game,” and “En algún lugar / A Place To Be”), in the United Kingdom through Creation Records, and in Japan under JVC.
VERY long Spanish soft rock album taking influences from every other soft rock band you could possibly name. Some cool moments but also a deeply exhausting listen. Ni fu ni fa, as I've learned during my stay in user album land.
Album with a some rock songs and many, many ballads, soft rock and pop tracks. I like the fact that it's a non-English album, but I'm afraid that's one of the few positive things about this album I can mention: it's too long, too soft and boring.
Far more entertaining than I could've ever expected from the nearly hour-and-a-half Spanish pop rock album. I thought I was in for a beating, but this album's energy is balanced very well, with a lot of variation on what pop rock can be. Sure, it's never intensive or a challenging listen, but the vocals are nice, the instrumentation is solid, and it surely works as a cool insight into other cultures' takes on music eras I know all too well. Good add, user, don't let the naysayers get you down!
This was fun enough. Will never listen again, but I didn't hate it. 3/5.
Spanish Morrissey
If this was an English band from 1981 it would have merged into history. Sort of a mish-mash of lots of bits of other bands. Not bad but not revolutionary.
Rating : 10/10
Wow, I really love this! Really great late-80s Spanish pop - these songs are so catchy and wonderful. Terrific!
Allright 3
Slightly too long
Enjoyed this, but no idea what they are singing about. Nice addition to the list.
Pop, pop-rock. Demasiadas baladas y demasiado largo. Ni fu ni fa.
I don't speak Spanish at all, so the lyrics were a bit lost to me. But overall, I enjoyed the music
Nice soft rock, enjoyed it despite language being an issue 3.3
Seemed like pretty conventional pop on the lighter side. Of course I wasn't getting much out of the lyrics with my terminally rusty high-school/college Spanish, but what I was picking up seemed to fit the same bill. Well performed and sung. It was a pleasant listen.
I was enjoying this for a while but there isn’t much I want to listen to for 1hr 22 minutes
This is entirely too long, but I enjoyed it, so I'm not too mad about it. Highly listenable music with a strong pop sensibility, a nice mix of musical styles and some really lovely melodies. A lot of filler here though, especially on sides C-D. Fave Songs: El nuevo calor, Cayendo el cielo, Tras la cortina, Un punto más, Dulce aroma, Palabras sin nombre
Well, Tidal links through to the special edition, which at 2h39m is comfortably into the territory of an "asshole" suggestion. The perfectly normal edition is, itself, 1h21m24s - which is also too long. However - this is some Spanish crooning and it's gentle enough to meld into the background so meh.
Cozy :) but too long!!
Spanish soft rock. It was pleasant enough, but not something that I would regularly listen to.
Kind of neat Spanish soft rock that went on waaaay to long. Fun, but it eventually just turned into background noise.
Some pretty good songs but way too long
Not really my sound or style. Enjoyed it but was longer than its ability to hold my interest.
Instrumentally fine and well-executed, but way too long and melodramatic. Still a much-needed international pick for the list, just not my cup of tea
This was too long but mellow and listenable
Really good melodies, harmonies and chords. Enjoyed it despite being unable to understand the lyrics.
Even though this was really long, i had so much fun with this album. I know just enough spanish and this is easy enough to understand that i got the gist of most tracks. The poppy super short nature of the songs kept me on board. Melodic and fun... I definitely had a smile on my face most of the time.
November 8, 2025 HL: "Rozando la eternidad", "Rosa gris", "Historias tristes", "El chico de los ojos asustados" Spain? So what, there are other Spanish-speaking countries besides Mexico now? /s For real though, San Sebastián, where this band originate from, is the only city in Spain I've been to (being very close to the French border and all), so it's neat seeing it represented here. Autobiografia is 30 songs and 2 discs long, much like the White Album, but is 10 minutes shorter than the latter. Efficiency! I guess my main issue with the album is ("don't say too long, don't say too long")... um, a lack of diversity among the songs that made the cut in this double album. Even though there are some fun diversions like the folky brass in "El chico" and the rockier songs like "Entre salitre y sudor". Though that last song (and its music video) gave me something to chew on. The umbrella of jangle pop, sophistipop & pub rock in the 80s often come with the idea that this is the "real music", a guitar-driven antidote to the artificial synth and dance-oriented music that dominated the charts. But then you get something like that aforementioned song, synth strings galore, promoted by a music video with a guy miming cello over the synth strings... out of shame? That was their lead single for this album, so forgive me if I'm a bit confused
This really sounded like a Spanish cover album of late 20th century English pop music. It was really weird to listen to and I don't think I liked it. But I guess I didn't hate it either.
A lengthy soft rock spanish album that was pretty enjoyable. Felt like some of the melodies were covers but I couldn’t say for certain. Overall it was enjoyable and the length was tolerable as the songs flowed nicely. Nothing I would revisit but maybe if I spoke Spanish this would be a great album of classics to go back to. 4.5/10
The only word I can think to put in here is "laborious". It's pleasant enough, some songs veering more traditional Spanish and some songs veering toward sort of a family friendly 90's soft rock. But this thing is like triple the length of most albums. Perhaps it is on me and my lack of cultural experience, but so much of this is very samey. The album felt more like a "greatest hits" compilation. The sound quality varied weirdly between some tracks, as if they were recorded at very different times, etc. I cannot believe how long this was.
Vaguely interesting euro-pop-indie-rock album that jumps styles and is way too long.
Autobiografia is very plain soft Spanish rock, inoffensive but awfully bland, 2/5 because it just doesn't do anything.
Nope