Latin — All Formats  

Tropical funk, hazy rhythms, and simmering Afro funk & soul from the Caribbean – a killer collection put together by Hugo Mendez– fantastic stuff from Barbados, St Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad, St Vincent and beyond! Tropical Funk Experience does a great job of pulling together the a diverse set of funky sounds – with lots of funk that carries both JBs and Afro funk styles, harder grooving and more tripped out sounds, and reggae – with tropical versions of funky standards, and even more numbers that are totally fresh to our ears. Titles include "Spouge Explosion", "Let Me Get Stoned" by Boo & The Tru Tones, "Take The Funky Feeling" by Blue Rhythm Combo, "Cissy Strut" De Boys En Dem, "Fugitive Dub" by Skatalites, "Basa Bongo" by Yoruba Singers, "Smokey Feeling" by The Organization"," New Bag" by The Exciters, "Jive Samba" by Llans Thelwell And The Celestials and more.

Titles include "No Comprendo", "Arawe", "Holiday", "Oromi", and "Pachanga".

A great little meeting of Latin and jazz players – an oft-overlooked album in Puente's catalog of the time! The album features Woody leading a small group of jazz players – including Al Cohn, Paul Quinichette, Billy Byers, and Nick Travis – with extra timbales by Puente and congas by Ray Barretto – and the overall approach is light but tight, with more of a straight jazz component than you'd find on most of Tito's records from the time, but also a wonderfully driven groove that still keeps the rhythms mostly on the Latin end of things! Titles include "Cha Cha Chick", "Tito Meets Woody", "New Cha Cha", "Latin Flight", "Mambo Bambo", "Mambo Herd", and "Fire Island".

Texas Latin from Beto & The Fairlaines – a key genre-crossing group who really made the Austin scene sparkle back in the day – represented here by some of their best early recordings! The music's heavy on jazz, and the instrumentation is razor-sharp – not just the tight horns, but also the keyboards too – handled by Beto with loads of funky touches that would be right at home in a 70s fusion session! The album mixes together live and studio tracks, with a progressively more modern feel as things move on – but never a sound that's too slick or commercial at all. Titles include "Playa Gloria", "Stomp Stomp", "Chalupa Supreme", "Mongoose Island", "Salsafied", "Dolores Dulces", "Kinshasa Kinshasa", and "Conga Dog".

A wonderfully offbeat strain of European pop from the 60s – rare recordings from the Catalonian area, that weird space in Spain that's also linked to southern France and the Mediterranean islands as well! There's a really playful feel to most of these numbers – and although many cuts are remakes of big Anglo hits, they've been re-fitted with new language, and some plenty cool arrangements that often make the music sound even groovier than in the original versions! In terms of spirit, we'd definitely compare a lot of this work to the best mid 60s pop coming from Paris – the groovy goodies of the "yeh yeh" generation – although in the end, the music's also very much it's own thing as well. Titles include "Cap A Futbol" by Guillermina Motta, "Yeh Yeh" by Tony, "Es Una Dona" by Nuri, "Febre" by Guillem D'Efak, "El Meu Trastet" by Santi Sans, "Soc Molt Poca Cosa" by Jacinta, "Amor" by Jordi Teijon, "Desafinat" by Grau Carol, and "El Cinemascop" by Llorenc Torres.

A wonderfully offbeat strain of European pop from the 60s – rare recordings from the Catalonian area, that weird space in Spain that's also linked to southern France and the Mediterranean islands as well! There's a really playful feel to most of these numbers – and although many cuts are remakes of big Anglo hits, they've been re-fitted with new language, and some plenty cool arrangements that often make the music sound even groovier than in the original versions! In terms of spirit, we'd definitely compare a lot of this work to the best mid 60s pop coming from Paris – the groovy goodies of the "yeh yeh" generation – although in the end, the music's also very much it's own thing as well. Titles include "Cap A Futbol" by Guillermina Motta, "Yeh Yeh" by Tony, "Es Una Dona" by Nuri, "Febre" by Guillem D'Efak, "El Meu Trastet" by Santi Sans, "Soc Molt Poca Cosa" by Jacinta, "Amor" by Jordi Teijon, "Desafinat" by Grau Carol, and "El Cinemascop" by Llorenc Torres.