Customer Reviews

Best of Malo

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MALO!! Yea, for hard street funk,Tower of Power, Panama's MANDRILL & MALO gave it to us, streetwise, hot Latin--con sonido, ritmo y estilo! Unfairly referred, I still hear it "CARLOS SANTANA'S LITTLE BROTHER'S BAND".here's somrthing to think about;In the mid 70s, Carlitos grabbed Malo's keyboard player Richi Kermode & bassist Doug Rauch( one of the best unknown electric bassists , along with Itibere from Hermeto and Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power)and put 'em in his Caravanserai /Welcome period bands, the best Santana ever sounded. MALO was always a bit jazzier and a little truer to the New York salsa/rock of Fania records, and Luis on trumpet and Abel Zarate" jazz/rock guitar kicked Jorge Santana's "Carlos sound" 1 notch higher, preventing them from becoming "Santana imitators". Malo really deserved more than just to be a "1 hit wonder"(and what a hit "Suavecito" was!!)Some of the tracks here still kick just as they did inna "old days",and even the dated tracks are nice nostalgia for us "veteranos" who remember the days when music was creative , as record companies didnt force the "homogenious bottom line" as they do today.See where all the "new" groups return to get "ideas". Malo got jazzier as the years moved on, and Abel went on to work with Willie Bobo... Malo stopped "making money", and now, this cd is left for history. VIVA MALO!

A marvellous find this generous helping of Malo's best tracks. A bit like Santana but not copyist. Perhaps a little more raw and natural and without quite as much of the blues and near-heavy metal influences which Santana sometimes embraced, and which for some could be a possible distraction. (But don't get me wrong, Santana are absolute heros in my book). Great playing across the piece, and above all always highly tuneful and melodic. "Pana" is great, as are "Cafe" and "Nena", but with nearly 75 minutes, there's plenty of other good stuff too. For the full length version of "Cafe" check out the first album "Malo" as well.

I first discovered Malo on a live Fillmore album where "Pana" is featured. At the time in the mid-70s all their records were sadly deleted, but I got them as "cut-outs" to my immense good fortune. Now, close on 30 years later, some of Malo's material is available again and has been for a while - this time hopefully for ever, but not necessarily. Get it while you can, starting with this Best Of compilation.

This set draws from Malo's four Warner Brothers albums released during the early 70's. Unfortunately it is weighed down by excess. Several of the songs are presented in edited form rather than the much better original album versions. A few of the songs on here could also have been dropped to make room for the full-length versions of the more better songs. Of course "Suavecito," the band's biggest hit, is included on here - twice; in both the full-length and single versions. Those who are new to the Malo sound would probably check this one out to get a pretty good summary of the band's WB albums, but there's really not much that's new for fans who already have those albums. Average.

Was way too young to remember Malo when they emerged in the early 70's. Thanks to my older cousins who introduced me to their sounds years later, I have a new found respect for this type of Latin music. I can also see where Malo and Santana have been compared to each other(brothers Jorge Santana from Malo and Carlos Santana from--well, you all know). However, the distinction I can make is that Santana uses more of a rock edge sound than Malo. Malo has a more romantic Latin dance flavor.Even in the new millennium both groups still sound hot !

I TRACK ALL ALBUMS OF THIS GREAT MUSICIAN,WHEN THERE WAS THE '8' TRACK FORMAT,ONLY.I RECOMMEND ALL OF HIS ALBUMS SEPARATELY.THE BEST OF MALO,IS REALLY THE BEST OF HIS WORK,BUT TAKE A TIME AND LISTEN TO THE WHOLE ALBUMS OF THIS PROGRESIVE "LATIN FEEL"MUSICIAN

this is a good cd malo was a band that came out of san francisco missiondistrict the birth place of latin rock and it has some of the best songs that malo made this band was ran by aracelio martinez and also jorge santana calos brother played on thios band so buy it it,s worth it sapo and azteca are other great bay area latin rock bands also

I first heard MALO in Australia in the mid-1970's, when I was in high school in Melbourne Australia. It was my favorite album of its type for years, even more favorite than Carlos Santana. I played drums to it and looked for people to play MALO music with. Couldn't make that work. It didn't seem popular at the time and no one could or wanted to play it. 1984, I travelled to the US. I left my MALO music behind and got busy with my new life. I got into classical and ethnic/celtic music for musical pleasure. I didn't hear MALO's music again - until... Fast Forward to December 2000. I was waiting for my daughter to finish her gymnastic class one evening and "SUAVECITO" began playing on a local FM radio station!! I temporarily lost my bearings and traversed 25 years into the past, reliving the enjoyment of this beloved music. This MALO CD is the quintessential and vital link to latin music. If you love latin music, I believe you will love this compilation. I regard it as a true classic.

I bought this CD because I really liked "NENA" and "SUAVECITO" and expected the remaining music to be of the same quality but I was greatly disappointed.

Rather fantastic trumpet playing and ensemble work. This is timeless music which will be valid another 50 years from now. Great combination of Latin, Jazz, Rock, Afro Cuban and good lyrics in both Spanish and English.

If you are in doubt buy it for the version of Suavecito that wasn't cut down for radio play. An essential to any Latin Sounds collection.