Here’s an old time favourite I used to play very much. It contains
the massive ‘Quitate tu’, a great number that takes you on a trip
for more than 16 minutes. Back in the days, when I deejayed at party’s,
it always came in handy to take a break, toilet, beer at the bar, a little
dance and back behind the turntable, just perfect. Classic Fania
recording, live at the Cheetah, audiance goes crazy, and what a line-up,
Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Johnny Pacheco, Roberto
Roena, Bobby Valentin, Santos Colon, Hector Lavoe, Ismael Miranda,
Pete ‘el Conde’ Rodriguez, Adalberto Santiago, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz,
José ‘Cheo’ Feliciano, all big names. Wish I were there, how’bout you Arnaud ?

tracks;

1 Introduction theme
2 Descarga Fania
3 Anacaona
4 Quitate tu

Since I found this blog with sweet old jazz and other classic
stuff, I am completely gone listening to it. It’s a time consuming matter
but I just can’t stop. I bet you know what I mean. This is Ethel Waters,
she made huge impression on me when this came out. It was released
in 1989 with recordings from 1934 and ’38. If you like this, better take a look
here, you’ll find a lot of Ethel Waters and more.

tracks;

1 Miss Otis regrets
2 Dinah
3 When it’s sleepy time down south
4 Moonglow
5 Give me a heart to sing
6 I ain’t gonna sin no more
7 Trade mark
8 You’re going to leave the old home, Jim
9 You’re a sweetheart
10 How can I face this wearied world alone
11 I’ll get along somehow
12 Miss Otis regrets*
13 Dinah*
14 I ain’t gonna sin no more*
15 How can I face this wearied world alone*

Slowing down Robert Johnson’s ‘King of the Delta Blues Singers’ was
a huge succes, everyone or almost everyone agreed with the new version.
The next step was easy to figure out, slowing down volume 2 of course.
So here’s part two, treated with the same amount of slacking. I trust it you
will agree with this one too. That’s all there is folks, just two albums.

tracks;

1 Kind hearted woman
2 I believe I dust my broom
3 Sweet home Chicago
4 Rambling on my mind
5 Phonograph blues
6 They’re red hot
7 Dead shrimp blues
8 Preachin’blues
9 I’m a steady rollin’ man
10 From four till late
11 Little queen of spades
12 Malted milk
13 Drunken hearted man
14 Stop breakin’ down blues
15 Honeymoon blues
16 Love in vain

Some time ago I posted Robert Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues Singers.
The next day I received the following comment;

Moos – it’s widely agreed now that all of Johnson’s 78s were speeded up. If you’ve
some means of slowing the LP down – like a direct drive turntable – you’ll
suddenly find yourself listening to a sexy young black guy with a cool guitar
sound – less of paranoid gabbler, more of a human being.
Le Grand Maître.

Well, Grand Maître, here it is, I had to gamble a bit how much to slow it down.
My Technics turntable helped me finding a suitable speed and I guess this
must be it more or less. I totally agree with the slower version.

tracks;

1 Crossroads blues
2 Terraplane blues
3 Come on in my kitchen
4 Walking blues
5 Last fair deal gone down
6 32-20 blues
7 Kindhearted woman blues
8 If I had posession over judgment day
9 Preaching blues
10 When you got a good friend
11 Rambling on my mind
12 Stones in my passway
13 Traveling riverside blues
14 Mikcow’s calf blues
15 Me and the devil blues
16 Hellhound on my trail

Let’s stir the place up a bit. R&B today means a kind of music,
with all respect, not for me. Back in the old days, R&B would stand
for rhythm and blues, honest stuff with stunning instrumentation and
mindblowing voices. Such as this one, if you speak of a woman with
bollocks in her voice, this is her. Etta James, although quite light
coloured and with blond hair, she has a fat black sound like no one has.
Bluesy, New Orleans based rock and roll with crazy saxophones and
Etta’s unique way of singing. check track #2 in which she has
a conversation with a talking sax, greatly performed by Harold Battiste.
It’s all recorded in the 50’s, over half a century ago, don’t you just love it?

tracks;

1 Tough lover
2 The pick-up
3 By the light of the silvery moon
4 Fools we mortals be
5 Come what may
6 Dance with me Henry
7 Good lookin’
8 Tears of joy
9 Shortnin’ bread rock
10 Baby, baby, every night
11 Then I’ll care
12 Market place

A classic Johnny Pacheco from 1975, El Maestro,
with Hector Casanova as vocalist. Fania Records was
the leader in salsa in the seventies and Johnny Pacheco their
orchestral leader. They were a source of inspiration to loads
of salsa artists thru time. The slice of vinyl is very thin but
the sound on it, fat fatter fattest..

tracks;

1 Las muchachas
2 Guaguanco pa’l que sabe
3 Simani
4 El chivo
5 Hoy como ayer
6 Pretame los guantes
7 Yo quiero una mujer
8 El faisan
9 Yo no parlevu France ( je ne parle pas Français )
10 Mango mangüe

If you’re into blues, Robert Johnson can’t be absent in your
collection. Thousands of blues songs have been based on these
simple recordings. Back in 1936 they were made in a hotelroom,
used as a recordingstudio. Just Robert Johnson and his guitar, on
a wooden chair in an empty room. Just about 30 songs have
been saved. Johnson, who had womentrouble all the time was
poisoned by one of them, not even 25 years old. His music inspired
big singers like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
Check the backsleeve notes for a longer and fascinating story.

tracks;

1 Crossroads blues
2 Terraplane blues
3 Come on in my kitchen
4 Walking blues
5 Last fair deal gone down
6 32-20 blues
7 Kindhearted woman blues
8 If I had posession over judgment day
9 Preaching blues
10 When you got a good friend
11 Rambling on my mind
12 Stones in my passway
13 Traveling riverside blues
14 Mikcow’s calf blues
15 Me and the devil blues
16 Hellhound on my trail

Manny Oquendo and Andy Gonzalez are the leaders of this great
salsa band. ‘A bailar, a gozar con el Conjunto Libre’. This is salsa
by musicians with love for their work. Great instrumentations and
vocal parts make this LP a masterwork. I love that baritone sax-
solo on track 5 by Ron Cuber. Great cover art by Walter Velez.
more_info_here.

tracks;

1 Lamento Borincano
2 Risque
3 Saoco
– Afterthought
4 No critiques
5 Donna Lee / A gozar y bailar
6 Bamboleate

After this weeks Fania post it seems a good idea to honour
this remarkable salsa label a bit more. This LP brings us 11
superb Fania songs by 11 different artists, mixed for us by Richard
Pampinella. An outstanding compilation of typical salsa brava.
And how about the artwork by Jorge Vargas ? Stunning..

tracks;

1 Ismael Quintana – Mi debilidad
2 Bobby Cruz – Sonido bestial
3 Celia Cruz – Quimbara
4 Ismael Rivera – Mi negrita me espera
5 Santos Colon – Ay cariño
6 Justo Betancourt – Pa bravo yo
7 Pete ‘Conde’ Rodriguez – Los compadres
8 Adalberto Santiago – Alma con alma
9 Ismael Miranda – Asi se compone un son
10 Cheo Feliciano – Anacaona
11 Hector Lavoe – El todopoderoso

I received an e-mail of the people of Fania, they have something
special coming out. A special release with old Joe Cuba recordings.
They asked me if I want to use their videoclip, which is really super.
As you can see I didn’t want to let them down, au contraire, I am honoured
to be asked to do so. To accompany it I was looking for a Joe Cuba LP but
I haven’t got one. Instead I found this LP by Tito Puente, they have a few
things in common. Both were born in New York and played conga’s. They both
made some records with Fania, this one was originally released by Fania in
1969. So enjoy this album of boogaloo by Tito Puente after listening to
Joe Cuba, have fun.
Thank you Fania and lots of sales to Joe Cuba, great stuff.

tracks;

1 Vete pa’la luna
2 Fat mama
3 Ay cariño
4 Ran kan kan
5 Fancy feet
6 Timbalito
7 Babrabatiri
8 Cuando caliente el sol
9 T.P.’s Shing-a-ling
10 Caramelos
11 A Noro Morales
12 Azukiki