"Castillo de arena" is one of the last recordings in the Camaron's first recording period, a stage during which Paco de Lucía accompanied Camarón's singing on his guitar, and which ended two years later with the release of La Leyenda del Tiempo (1979), a record that is emblematic in the development of Camarón himself, and of current flamenco music.

"Castillo de arena" includes a wide selection of flamenco styles (bulería, taranto, tango, soleá, fandango...), in which Camarón started to incorporate innovative features, such as cierres (finales) executed outside of the standard twelve-beat movements in the bulería Como castillo de arena. In this record that Camarón also begins to figure in the credits as co-author of some of the songs.