Fania Records 60s

Various Artists - El Barrio Latin Funk: Nuyorican Funk 1968-1976 (2012) {Fania Records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 380 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 130 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 26 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968-76, 2012 Fania Records / Codigo Music | 8 46395 07134 4
Latin / Funk / Boogaloo / Latin Soul / Salsa / Tropical

Latin funk neither begins nor ends with War, as good as they were. Latin artists from East L.A. to Spanish Harlem – and Puerto Rico to Colombia, for that matter – were getting groovier and earthier throughout the '60s, and the results were wide-ranging and usually just as sparkling as any developments within commercial R&B. The Fania label, as the home to most of the best Latin artists of the '60s and '70s, pumped out much more than its fair share of funky Latin tracks, and although most of them were never in-the-pocket like James Brown, the instrumentalists were just as good.

Pete Rodriguez - Right On! Ahi Na' Ma! (1971) {Fania Records ‎463 950 6035-2 rel 2010}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 269 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 49 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2010 Fania Records / Código Music ‎| 463 950 6035-2
Boogaloo / Latin / New York Salsa

Pete Rodriguez was part of a wave of Nuyoricans who came of age in the early '60s twilight of the mambo era. The boogaloo sound was just starting to bubble up in El Barrio (East Harlem) amongst this generation of Nuyorican bandleaders, and Rodriguez's group was on the very front line, alongside the Joe Cuba Sextet and Ricardo 'Richie' Ray. Pete had one of the great boogaloo bands of all time; he truly generated high-calibre energy on the dance floor.

Willie Colon - El Malo (1967) {Fania 773130029-2 rel 2006}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 202 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 72 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 45 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2006 Fania Records / Emusica Records | SLPCD-347
Jazz / Boogaloo / Salsa / Latin Jazz / Tropical / Trombone / Vocals

Great stuff – and a very sharp album cut by Willie during the Latin soul era, featuring a bunch of tracks that veer more towards the boogaloo side of things than his later albums! The groove is nice and hard – stripped down with the youthful energy that Willie brought to the scene at the time – and the record features great vocals by Hector Lavoe, Yayo El Indo, and Elliot Romero. Features the wonderful piano-bassed groover – "Jazzy" – which spirals out with descarga-like energy! Other great tracks include the boogaloo numbers "Skinny Papa", "Willie Baby", "Willie Whopper", and "El Malo" – but the whole album's a winner!

Orchestra Harlow - Heavy Smokin' (1965) {Original Fania Remasters 463 950 9052-2 rel 2010}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 299 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 51 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1965, 2010 Fania Records / Codigo Music | 463 950 9052-2
Latin / Salsa / Guaracha / Boogaloo / Tropical

Larry Harlow's debut release in the Fania family, 1965's Heavy Smokin' helped to establish him in the New York salsa explosion as an authoritative yet non-Latino voice, very uncommon in the day. Considering the youth of the movement, there was not a long enough time line to produce informed, qualified converts; most of the music was being made by native sons. Harlow, working as a bandleader and recording for the premier salsa label in the world, and affectionately dubbed "el judío marvilloso" (the marvelous Jew), had clearly won the respect not only of fans, but also of the most important movers and shakers of the day.

Eddie Palmieri & Cal Tjader - Bamboleate (1967) {Fania Original Remastered rel 2007}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 179 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 79 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 68 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2007 Tico / Fania / Emusica Records | 773 130 217-2
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Piano / Vibes

The second album pairing Palmieri and Tjader, Bamboleate moves beyond El Sonido Nuevo into the respective territories of each artist. "Bamboleate" is the Latin cooker ones expects from Palmieri but didn't find on the more subdued El Sonido Nuevo. "Semejanza" is an equally affecting jazz lilt led by Tjader. Framed by a melody that could have come straight off the Vince Guaraldi Trio's Charlie Brown Christmas album, it has an equally indelible, locomotive rhythm. Tjader's samba, "Samba de Los Suenho," is a welcome departure from the relative rigidity of El Sonido Nuevo.

Latin-Soul-Rock by the Fania All-Stars is a half-live, half-studio album. In addition to featuring a few of the actual Yankee Stadium recordings, such as the now-infamous Larry Harlow/Heny Alvarez–penned “Congo Bongo,” the record demonstrated how well the Fania All-Stars could play with others in the studio, namely Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, and Jorge Santana; and at the same time, flex their Latin rock and funk muscles on tunes like the Marty Sheller–arranged “There You Go” and “Viva Tirado,” recently made a hit by El Chicano; and then there was the Bobby Valentín–arranged “Smoke,” which wouldn’t have been out of place spinning on one of Kool Herc’s turntables a few miles down the road from the “House that Ruth Built.” It was fusion, it was funk, it was salsa.

Latin-Soul-Rock by the Fania All-Stars is a half-live, half-studio album. In addition to featuring a few of the actual Yankee Stadium recordings, such as the now-infamous Larry Harlow/Heny Alvarez–penned “Congo Bongo,” the record demonstrated how well the Fania All-Stars could play with others in the studio, namely Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, and Jorge Santana; and at the same time, flex their Latin rock and funk muscles on tunes like the Marty Sheller–arranged “There You Go” and “Viva Tirado,” recently made a hit by El Chicano; and then there was the Bobby Valentín–arranged “Smoke,” which wouldn’t have been out of place spinning on one of Kool Herc’s turntables a few miles down the road from the “House that Ruth Built.” It was fusion, it was funk, it was salsa.

Latin-Soul-Rock by the Fania All-Stars is a half-live, half-studio album. In addition to featuring a few of the actual Yankee Stadium recordings, such as the now-infamous Larry Harlow/Heny Alvarez–penned “Congo Bongo,” the record demonstrated how well the Fania All-Stars could play with others in the studio, namely Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, and Jorge Santana; and at the same time, flex their Latin rock and funk muscles on tunes like the Marty Sheller–arranged “There You Go” and “Viva Tirado,” recently made a hit by El Chicano; and then there was the Bobby Valentín–arranged “Smoke,” which wouldn’t have been out of place spinning on one of Kool Herc’s turntables a few miles down the road from the “House that Ruth Built.” It was fusion, it was funk, it was salsa.