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

…and now for something competely different…

Somehow, when we come to this time of the year, I start to
play old stuff like this one by Al Bowlly. It makes me think
of the Dennis Potter TV series; ‘The Singing Detective’ ? I always
loved it, it is filled with this type of sound and plays back in
the days. Most of these tracks were taken from movies from the
30’s and accompanied by ‘Ray Noble and his Orchestra’ and the
‘Savoy Hotel Orpheans’. It’s the music my parents danced to
when they were dating. Great nostalgic atmosphere.

tracks;

1 All I do is dream of you
2 Guilty
3 Stay on the right side of the road
4 Sweet and lovely
5 Did you ever see a dream walking ?
6 Twentieth century blues
7 When my little Pomeranian met your little Pekenese
8 Hold my hand
9 Pettin’ in the park
10 Wanderer
11 Hang out the stars in Indiana
12 Here lies love
13 Brighter than the sun
14 I’ve got to sing a torch song
15 On a steamer coming over
16 Snuggled on your shoulder

Puerto Rican singer and percussionist Tito Rodriguez moved to New
York in the 30’s. He later became one of the biggest bandleaders
who worked all the big Latin clubs like the famous Palladium.

tracks;

1 Componte cundunga
2 Sobando el son
3 A callarse
4 Bacalao salao
5 Ahora me toca a mi
6 El latigo
7 Manteca de coco
8 Que cocine caridad
9 El panuelo
10 Oiganlo

I had a request for a Salsa Compilation and it just so happens
this one was waiting on the shelf. It’s a compilation I once made
for an old friend. We used to listen to these songs way back
early eighties. Only Fania All Stars here, for now.
I hope it answers to your expectations.

tracks;

1 Pacheco y Monguito – Acere Cipriano
2 Celia, Ray y Adalberto – Nadie se salva de la rumba
3 Willie Colon – Te conozco
4 Pacheco y el Conde – Ponle punto
5 Fania All Stars – Por eso yo canto salsa
6 Pacheco y Monguito – Yo soy Cagueyrán
7 Fania All Stars – Dime que te pasa
8 Celia, Ray y Adalberto – Debes callar
9 Willie Colon – Juana Peña
10 Pacheco y el Conde – Primoroso cantar
11 Pacheco y Monguito – Ven y ven
12 Pacheco y el Conde – Cositas buenas
13 Fania All Stars – Quitate tu

What we have here is something quite special.
I used to play this record very much ever since I discovered
it, must have been around 1975 or 6. I always loved it and it
was only years later I found out some things. Track # 1 for
instance is ofcourse ‘Mighty Sparrow’.
Again much later I learned that track # 7, ‘John Jones’ is a
song by Rudi Mills, just_to_show_you.
And it was only yesterday I found out that track # 3, ‘Bing Crosby’
is an old Calypso song by ‘The Lion’ and track # 15, ‘G-man Hoover’,
is originated by ‘Sir Lancelot.
I am always thrilled to find out things like this, they make
the pieces of the big puzzle fall into place.
Still shook up and excited, the hair on my arms stood up while
I was ripping it, I have to give credits to my collegue Yoyo
at his new page, Listentoyourears.
This is the album that opened my eyes; Real_Calypso
Thanks Yoyo.

P.S. Also strange is that the cover of the album says 1976,
while the label says 1972, ofcourse it’s from 1972.

tracks;

1 Jack Palance
2 Introduction
3 Bing Crosby
4 Steelband music
5 The four Mills brothers
6 Be careful
7 John Jones
8 FDR in Trinidad
9 Sweet Trinidad
10 Occapella
11 Sailin’ shoes
12 Riverboat
13 Ode to Tobago
14 Your own comes first
15 G-man Hoover
16 Stars and stripes for ever

Last sunday we had an LP by Syl Johnson on Hi records, now we’re
back with Ann Peebles. If you compare the backcovers of these two
LP’s, we see exactly the same line-up. Both LP’s are produced and
engineered by Willie Mitchell and they both have that fantastic
Hi-sound of the early 70’s. When I play this music, I’m still
impressed like I was first time I heard it. Great soul.

tracks;

1 Come to mama
2 I don’t lend my man
3 I needed somebody
4 Stand by woman
5 It was jealousy
6 Doctor love power
7 You can’t hold a man
8 Beware
9 Put yourself in my place
10 Love played a game

To increase the variety today, we’ll have us a soul album.
This is Syl Johnson, one of the biggest stars at the ‘Hi-stable’.
Like most albums at ‘Hi’, it is produced by Willie Mitchell,
the man who made Al Green sign up at Hi. He produced Green’s
best work. The sound of this album is typical for Hi records
of this era. Another big star at Hi was ofcourse ‘Ann Peebles’,
we’ll see her back later. Now it’s time for the raw soul of
our man Syl Johnson, get down to it !

tracks;

1 Let yourself go
2 Don’t do it
3 I want to take you home ( to see mama )
4 Could I be falling in love
5 Stuck in Chicago
6 Diamond in the rough
7 Keeping down confusion
8 Please, don’t give up on me
9 Music to my ears
10 I hear the love chimes

If you ask me ?
This is one of the best albums ever !
I am sure all senior blackmusic lovers already have this LP.
Maybe some youngsters don’t have it YET.
I don’t want to say to much, but if you do not have it, you’re
supposed to download it right now !
This album is a very important document in the history of blackmusic.

tracks;

1 Little child runnin wild
2 Pusherman
3 Freddie’s dead
4 Junkie chase
5 Give me your love
6 Eddie you should know better
7 No thing on me
8 Think
9 Superfly

Now it gets really hot ! The titlesong of this LP always was an
absolute massive dancehit, I don’t know how often I played
it at party’s. Never could resist it.
Check out the Meters from New Orleans, produced by Allen Toussaint.

tracks;

1 Out in the country
2 Fire on the bayou
3 Love slip upon ya
4 Talkin’ ’bout New Orleans
5 They all ask’d about you
6 Can you do without ?
7 Liar
8 You’re a friend of mine
9 Middle of the road
10 Running fast
11 Mardi Gras Mambo