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Johnny Pacheco – Pacheco At The NYC World’s Fair (1964 Fania)

Johnny Pacheco – Pacheco At The N.Y. World’s Fair
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC |  300 dpi  | Latin, Salsa
1964 Fania LP-326 || Mono gold label

Because everything sucks right now except my record collection.  Nothing provocative, depressing, nor spooky (this being Halloween and all) but rather uplifting and invigorating. This is great early work from Maestro Pacheco, released within the first year of Fania Records’ life as a company that would cast a long shadow in the decades to come.  It features a lead vocal (on most tracks) from Pete Rodriguez before his breakout hit “I Like It Like That”. A couple of tracks feature the Cuban singer Ramon ‘Monguito’ Sardiñas in that role.  The rest of the personnel is not noted anywhere I can find, feel free to leave a comment if you happen to know who played on this.

Johnny Pacheco – Pacheco At The NYC World’s Fair (1964 Fania)

Joe Bataan – Gypsy Woman (1967) (Fania SLP 340)


Joe Bataan
Gypsy Woman
Fania Records SLP 340
Original release, 1967
1990’s CD reissue

Emerging out of the hybrid crossroads of boogaloo, R&B, Latin Soul, and the nascent salsa scene, Joe Bataan was defying categorization and bending genres long before it was hip.  The first album I heard by him was “Subway Joe”, but it was years before I realized he didn’t actually sing any of the Spanish-language numbers in his repertoire – those, in the early days at least, were handled by Joe Pagan.  For a fascinating glimpse into the complexities of being an Afro-Filipino in the barrio, you can watch this interview with him done by Red Bull Academy. Although I personally like that there is an entire 2 hours of it, somebody could probably edit that down a bit, for the non-fanatical. Joe Bataan – Gypsy Woman (1967) (Fania SLP 340)