Very groovy stuff from Cugie! It's the late 60s, and he's got more of a pop Latin groove than earlier – and lays down some nice peppy covers of pop material, plus a few other Latin standards. Not exactly Latin soul – but not that far off, either. Includes a great version of "Samba Saravah", plus "Mellow Yellow", "Compadre Pedro Juan", "Shadow Of Your Smile", "Jungle Rhumba", and the perennial favorite "Music To Watch Girls By". LP, Vinyl record album

A very wild album from Ricardo Ray – sort of a mix of Latin soul styles in the mode of work by Mongo Santamaria, but a lot more messed up! The album's got a number of 60s soul covers – but they're done here by Ricardo in kind of a party Latin mode, touched with a bit of garage soul vocals, in a way that makes the whole album quite upbeat and playful throughout – filled with non-stop groovers that keep on delivering the goods! Our favorite cut is the original "Soul Mexico", which has this storming chanting verse, that then unwinds into a totally catchy chorus with overlapping melodic lines – but the whole album's great, and other tracks include "Ya Ya", "I Want You To Be My Girl", "Mony Mony", "Shout", and "Soul Man". LP, Vinyl record album