Willie Bobo
“Feelin’ So Good”
Recorded in New York City on September 27 & 28, 1966
Verve Records (V6-8669) in 1967
A1 Sunshine Superman 2:57
A2 Call Me 2:30
A3 Dichoso 3:17
A4 Sunny 2:48
A5 Reza 2:50
B1 Feelin’ So Good 2:58
B2 Yesterday 2:04
B3 Sockit To Me 3:25
B4 Tahiti 1:50
B5 To Be With You 2:51
B6 Li’l Red Riding Hood 3:01
Artwork By – Acy R. Lehman
Engineer – Val Valentin
Photography – Ken Whitmore
Producer – Pete Spagro , Teddy Reig
Transcription specs:
Music Hall MMF.5 Turntable with Goldring 1012GX cartridge, Gyger II diamond stylus, and MK II XLR Ringmat –> Projekt Speedbox II -> Parasound Z Phono Preamp -> Marantz PMD 661 digital recorder at 24/96khz
Declicked on very light settings with Click Repair -> DC Offset and track splitting in Adobe Audition 2.0
Resampling, dithering using Mbit+ via iZotope RX Advanced
Converted to FLAC and mp3 with DbPoweramp
Ripped by Flabbergast
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Willie Bobo (born William Correa, 1934) had stints as a percussionist early in his career with some of the greatest of the greats – Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader – before leading his own group and recording for the Tico, Fantasy, and Verve record labels in the 1960s. This is the third of seven albums he made for Verve, and though much lesser-known than “Spanish Grease” it’s still quite solid. He sings a lot on this record, and his technique can be a bit schmaltzy — Exhibit A being “Yesterday”, but then if the music police were handing out citations for cheesy versions of this Lennon-McCartney nugget, they would be rich indeed. His vocals fare much better on tunes like “Call Me” and “To Be With You.”
Truth be told it takes a certain tolerance for cheese and maybe even planting your tongue firmly in cheek to appreciate these early Bill Bobo records; at least that is the case for me. I mean, anyone who can’t dig his super-groovy instrumental version of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” is just taking himself way too seriously. Of course, I also love Donovan. I suppose if you hated Donovan you might run from the room with your thumbs in your ears. But be cool man, it’s a gas.
His 60’s records are known for their embrace of boogalo and soul-jazz, and there is an absence of ‘straight-up’ Latin jazz on this one. But one golden big delight here is an interpretation of the popular Edu Lobo – Ruy Guerra tune “Reza,” which has been recorded by bunches of Brazilians*, but as far as I know this is the sole version out of Spanish Harlem. This tune sounds even better when you turn it up really loud, and features some great sax playing (uncredited, sadly) and guitar. I personally wouldn’t mind if they stretched this one out to about ten minutes but, alas, ’twas not to be.
*These bunches of Brazilians include Edu himself (“Edu Lobo 63”), Walter Wanderley (“O Auténtico Walter Wanderley”, 1965, released as “Organ-ized” in the US), Elis Regina (“Samba Eu Canto Assim”, 1965, and live on her show ‘O Fino da Bossa’ and released in various collections), and even interpolated briefly on Caetano Veloso’s 1972 album ‘Transa’ where the chorus shows up in “Triste Bahia.” )
The players on this album are uncredited.
For your pleasure I have included a little something I picked up from my brief time living in Recife, Brazil: the gratuitous and unnecessary remix! Here it is, soon to hit the dance floor at your favorite all-night hipster party, “Sockit To Me – DJ Flabber Remix”
Alright, well, admittedly that isn’t much of a remix, but I had fun doing it.
** Para quem não pode ler ingês, esse ‘remix’ não é sério, ok?
Willie Bobo – Feelin’ So Good (1967) in 320kbs em pee tree
Willie Bobo – Feelin’ So Good (1967) in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO
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