Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 07/03/2007
Such were the ups and downs of music in the late '60s and early '70s that
Fania could later compile a darkside companion to its sunny
boogaloo compilation (
The Bad Boogaloo) and have the time span for both be virtually identical. This one, titled
El Barrio: Gangsters Latin Soul & the Birth of Salsa, spends most of its time in the early '70s, when
Latin artists like
Willie Colón,
Joe Bataan, and
Larry Harlow were reflecting what they heard from
blaxploitation and
Sly Stone and
Marvin Gaye with their darker, funkier, heavier version of
salsa. (The film and book of
The Godfather shouldn't be omitted either, from the looks of the cover of
Colón's landmark
Cosa Nuestra.) The artists here were well in touch with their funky side, to say nothing of the cooking rhythms and progressive social concerns about the ghetto. Check the groove on
Mongo Santamaria's cover of
"Lady Marmalade," Joe Cuba's simmering
barrio tale called
"Do You Feel It" (
"Tu Lo Sientes"), or
Tito Puente's adroit use of an orchestra for the
Bond-like
"Black Brothers." (Even the sweet
soul lightweight
Ralfi Pagan could record the lament
"Brother, Where Are You?") Some of these songs would have fit better on
The Bad Boogaloo, and the concept wears thin at times, but herein lies a plenitude of
salsa riches.
~John Bush, All Music Guide
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