Top Soul indeed, as Fusion is a hip Chilean funk band from the early 70s – one who take plenty of influence from American grooves, but also bring in their own soulful elements as well! The sound here is somewhere between Kool & The Gang and Banda Black Rio – with quite a bit of the blend of the latter, especially in the way more local percussion riffs fill out grooves that have a solid grounding in American funk! Instrumentation listed is tenor, guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums – but there's clearly a lot more horns too, as well as some very hip percussion – played in ways that are almost more Brazilian than straight Latin – with a really fluid sensibility that jams nicely with the grooves. There's a slight bit of vocals on the record, but most of the album is instrumental – and titles include versions of Sly Stone's "Thank You" and The Crusaders "Way Back Home" – plus "Dedos", "Balada De Matias", "Dee Blooz", "Para Toda La Gente", "Pulsearas", and "Lamentation". (Jazz, Latin) LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet set of 70s Latin Disco – less Afro-Cuban than you might expect, but a great illustration of the way that older Latin modes had filtered down to more mainstream dancefloors at the time! There's definitely still some Latin elements in the mix – but the set's also got Michael Zager arranging and producing, and giving the whole thing more of a disco focus overall – in ways that criss cross nicely throughout the record. Titles include a sweet clubby cover of Joe Cuba's "Bang Bang", a remake of Sly Stone's "Life & Death In G&A", and the titles "Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys", "Once You Get Started", and "Get Dancin". (Soul, Latin) LP, Vinyl record album