Customer Reviews

Barretto

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This was Ray Barretto's most popular album to date. What is best appreciated from this album is the great care with which the songs were selected to reflect the musicianship while emphasizing the danceable rhythms that we have come to expect from typical salsa albums. However, this album is far from "typical."

"Guarare" is one of those songs that can be played in many different ways. It is treated in a very conventional way here, but it serves to introduce the listener to what is to come. "Ban Ban Quere" is just great music through and through. And we have some other fantastic tunes such as "Testigo Fui" (my personal favorite from this album) and, as is the case with Ray's many albums, charanga, etc.

Then we come to "Canto Abacua." This is a Ruben Blades composition, but the intro is very original. You will not hear anything like it. The electric piano sound gives it the definite 70's sound, but the driving rhythm makes this song immortal.

There is a lot of great music, and you will not be disappointed in getting this album.

BTW, I recommend you get some other of Ray Barretto's early 70's salsa albums if you want to fully embrace the breadth of great salsa music handled by one of the premier musicians of his age. In particular, check out:

1. Indestructible---see my review.

2. The Message---One of the best salsa albums ever, and somewhat unknown and underrated. A great discovery, if you can get your hands on it.

3. Que Viva La Musica---Another of those "best" albums, and has some of his most popular tunes, done in the Barretto style.

4. Together---Has some of Ray's best conga playing songs, namely: "No Olvido a Caracas." Noone can come near him on his playing here, definitely in his prime. Other songs in this album became staples of his in his concerts.

Dance, listen, and enjoy. Ray Barretto was one of the real powerhouses of 70's salsa music, and much of this work is nothing short of greatness.

Just a few words about this CD. First, this CD stands undoubtedly as one of the few outstanding recordings among the excellent salsa recordings of the seventies. Better yet, this CD is a landmark in salsa music. Second, once you start listening to this CD you will ask yourself what ever happened to today's salsa music. Third, this CD is so perfect that it is scary, man. Fourth, if you're into experimenting with salsa music, this is it: here's your starting point. Fifth, if you have heard Barreto before, and specially this recording, what are you waiting for? Get it man! Sixth, check this out. And Seventh, Enjoy.

One of my favorite Barretto albums, this is salsa clasica at its finest. With stellar vocalists such as Ruben Blades and Tito Gomez you should expect no less. An unlikely pairing, Blades brings a great touch to the hot, flavorful and hard-hitting "Ban Ban Quere", "Guarare" and "Canto Abacua" which for some reason are not highlighted enough as 3 of Barretto's best songs. Along with "Indestructible" and "Que Viva La Musica", this album is a must have for any serious Barretto fan, which also earned a Grammy nomination. You have great music, singing and Barretto on congas. What more could you ask for?

This 1975 `Barretto' release is a GREAT `hard Salsa' album that features mostly Cuban style of songs that are greatly and strongly adapted to a very FRESH, CRISP and LIVELY style of New-York Salsa sound by a band mostly composed of New-York, Puerto-Rican musicians (apart from Cuban Trumpetist Roberto Rodríguez who did not run to Tipica'73 band in late 1972), Cuban Pianist Gil López (responsible for some of THE BEST arrangements on this Cd), and Flutist Artie Webb who doesn't even sound or play AT ALL like a Cuban.

When I say Cuban style of songs, don't think old 1920's or 30's style of Son tunes, but think more in terms of fresh Cuban style of Salsa songs not quite as rooty, or Típico like Sonora Matancera, but that DEFINITELY have MASSIVE potential to be covered by a Salsa band like this one!


Concerning the 1st tune Guararé, well, what can I say! It's just one of those tunes you MUST have heard on a Compilation one day, and OVERWHELMED by it, you must have wondered: what Cd does it come from?
Well, here you have it available, remastered and reviewed!

FULL credits AGAIN, to Gil López for his WONDERFUL arrangements to one of the best tunes from the album, and FULL credits to Barretto for having turned this song (which apparently was an obscure tune played by Formell and the Van Van's in Cuba in the late 60's) into a MEGA-MASSIVE Salsa hit!
(Such was the hit, that the band took the same name of that song when Barretto left it after this to do a couple of "Crossover" albums on a different label...)
[The only Guararé album that got reissued is a non-Fania one, wait for the 2 other Inca [Fania] releases to be remastered in future, it may take some time!...]


It surprised me VERY MUCH to find out that the 2nd song, Vine Pa'Echár Candela is actually a Ray Barretto composition as you could EASILY imagine yourself in the Cuba of the 1940's or 50's because of the Arsenio Rodríguez style of song it is! I actually thought he was the original author!
Anyway, it's a Son-Montuno (let's say,`mid-tempo' Cuban Salsa-Son type of tune) which although takes it's time to get really started, is WORTH YOUR PATIENCE, as you'll get a GREAT intensity, SUPERB arrangements, and a GREAT chorus section in the album consisting of a young and upcoming Rubén Blades, Adalberto Santiago [already back with Barretto!] and Tito Allen, the singer from Barretto's previous album `Indestructible' (which I also reviewed, and which YOU MUST ALSO GET!!!).
There's also a VERY nice, although a bit short Piano solo by Gil López, a Ray Barretto Conga solo, and a KILLER end to the tune which you don't want to finish, believe me!


The 3rd song is the only tune I don't listen to. It's a Ballad (Bolero) written and sang by Rubén Blades.


Rubén also sings on the coming tunes, and Ban Ban Quere is ANOTHER HELL of a song arranged by López! The arrangements on this AMAZING tune are SO OVERWHELMINGLY MIND-BLOWING that they give me REAL THRILLS, along with the Trumpet arrangements that follow which would take the listeners AND DANCERS TO HEAVEN! ANOTHER MEGA-MASSIVE HIGHLIGHT!...

Vale Más Un Guaguancó is a more obvious Cuban type of tune composed by Curet Alonso which smoothens things out just a bit after the INTENSITY of the previous tune!... It talks about how a Guaguancó (Afro-Cuban Conga-Drum rhythm) and it's Drums along with their enjoyment is better than a bad love.
We could all agree to that, couldn't we? (Another VERY NICE tune to listen to.)


Testígo Fuí is another Curet Alonso tune I enjoy very much, and if you listen carefully, it actually starts in a sort of Danzonete (slow Cuban style of dance from the 18th-19th century with a very particular and recognizable rhythm [think also of Danzón, which is just a bit less `accelerated' with less emphasis on the rhythm/percussion...]). Then it finishes rather traditionally in a Cha-Cha-Chá with such a rock-solid N.Y powerful sound that we almost forget what rhythm the tune actually is!

El Presupuesto is a WONDERFUL `Charanga-rhythmed' tune (think faster paced than Cha-Cha-Chá) written by the album's late Trumpetist Roberto Rodríguez who always seemed to have a nice Cuban number to write for Barretto's albums!
Like on the previous tune, the arrangements are provided for some reason, by Sonny Bravo (Pianist, Leader and founder of Tipica 73!) The tune, the arrangements and the Trumpet solos around the middle build up to SUCH a DELIGHTFUL musical intensity that the listeners AND DANCERS WILL BE, YET AGAIN, IN HEAVEN!
The lyric is also sarcastic and funny, and still pertinent today, in a world where obviously price increases and salaries are still a big issue!

Canto Abacuá is another tune composed by Rubén, and ANOTHER MASSIVELY POPULAR hit from this album too! Unfortunately, the Conga-Drum / "Amazonian" introduction is FAR TOO LONG, but just wait because what comes after IS REALLY BURNING HOT SALSA, with a fine Keyboard-Piano solo by López, and HOT BURNING TRUMPET BRASS ARRANGEMENTS AND SOLOS THAT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!!!...
KILLER STUFF, AND ANOTHER MASSIVE HIGHLIGHT!


[FULL credits to the late Tito Gómez, this album's other lead singer and chorist for FINE vocals on 3 tunes too!]



[Total Play-Time: 43:31 Mins]



Cd Remastered 2008 By: Jon Fausty. 9/10! GREAT volume level, EXCELLENT clearness of sound, and VERY GOOD sharpness too! Original recording PERFECTLY preserved by Mr. Fausty, the album's original sound engineer!

This 1975-released classic album features the timeless Salsa masterpieces "Ban Ban Quere", "Vale Mas Un Guaguanco" and "Yo Vine Pa'Echar Candela". A then-unknown Ruben Blades shared lead vocals with Tito Cruz on this highlight of mid-1970s Salsa which (while not as good as Barretto's Adalberto Santiago-fronted albums)to this day remains one of Ray Barretto's most popular works.

Another great set of straight-ahead salsa from Ray Barretto. Ruben Blades is the lead vocalist. The name of this album is actually "Barretto". It was an enormous commercial success in the mid-1970's, his biggest seller up to that point.

You won't understand hard salsa rhythm until you get one of Ray's cds, and although I've narrowed my favorites to only 4 on this disc, this album as a whole is definitely one of the best. My top favorite song on this cd - Ban Ban Quere with Ruben Blades singing.