Customer Reviews

Que Sentimiento

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This 1981 release was Hector Lavoe's only self-produced project and it has a more personal feel. "Amor Sonado" and "Lo Deje Llorando" are enough to buy the whole album but his rendition of the much-covered bolero "Seguire Mi Viaje" is surprisingly good and adds a nice romantic touch.

Let me preface this by saying that IMHO, Hector Lavoe's birthday should be come a national holiday. But I digress.

One of Hector's best solo albums, Que Sentimiento is one of the few albums done without Willie Colon's pressence. Willie's not on horns, not credited with having written anything on the disc, and it appears that he was in no way present for this album. That said, with this album one gets to appreciate the true genius that was Hector Lavoe.

Of note is the significantly increased production values that are apparent on the songs. Flutes, strings and other instruments not traditionally associated with salsa are present during many tracks, almost giving a preview to the studio sounds of 1980's salsa.

It always stuck with me that this is somehow an album of contrasts. It starts with a love song, is followed up by a track about a woman who leaves her man and then ends with a breakup. One song is about a man who can not (or will not) work (which comes right after his song about youth), then in a soneo during a later track, he sings (this part's translated for non spanish speakers) "even though you may not want it I am heading off to work".

Que Sentimiento means "what an emotion" so it would make sense that this album would take you through a full array of feelings, from love to jealousy, from resentment to longing. Most of it BEGS your feet to move along, and forces your lips to purse and whistle the tunes (loudly) as they blare into your ear (and passers-by give you oddball looks).

For the first track Hector sings about his desire for a truer, deeper love. His voice has a genuine need to find a sincere love. When he meets her, the soneos about finding true love add a sense of freshness, kind of like finding true love (Count Cheese Strikes Again!)

From there the album goes silly, with a song about a woman who left her husband. The line "quizas tu la encuentras fea pero aquel se la esta gozando" (you may find your woman ugly but that fella' is totally diggin' her") explains it all.

Ya ta cansa has a painfully catchy chorus. Like a ranchtooth that won't shut up, this song knows how to get into the part of the brain that gets jingles stuck in the old noggin'. The man who writes the song doesn't want to work, but the line "no quiero trabajar" can easily be replaced with "no quiero taco bell". Sing it like that and I guarantee you won't be able to get the chorus out of your head, EVER. It's really that catchy. Check this one out for the great flute playing at the end. Yeah, I said great flute playing, that was not a typo.

Soy Vagabundo is such a deep song that years later it still seems too tough for my BA having self to totally figure out. On the one end, he claims himself to be a vagabond, the sort of fella who isn't where he doesn't need to be. On another level, he's very critical of suburban and consumerist society. Meanwhile there's the matter of the music behind it. A slow starter that builds up a mountain of horns so impressive that it even gets Hector to say "¡ah pues!". It's almost as if the horns are so powerful they even overpower the singer.

El Son Borincano is just plain awesome. The soneo is almost too good here. My second digression of the review is a question of why everyone gives Cubans so much credit for Salsa when even Son (which is Cuban) is best remembered for the Puerto Ricans who perfected it. Hector Lavoe and Ismael Rivera give us every reason to believe the music should instead be known as Afro-Puerto Rican"(In your face HABANA). But as stated, that's a digression. Solid piano playing, haunting chants in the background and Hector's beautiful soneo at the end are all reasons to love this song.

I don't generally listen to slow tracks, so don't ask me if track 7 is good. For whatever it's worth, the song has a cute ending that leads us to the final inning.

But before sending us home, Hector sets us ablaze with this flamethrower of a closing track. I have bought several copies of this disc for that song alone (the lost copies were loaners that never got returned, because everyone seems to love this track). If only for the hilarious "disses", this album is worth every penny.

Trust that if you pick this one up, and you too will say "me saque la loteria". Recommended to fans of Hector Lavoe's work with Willie Colon, lovers of salsa, and those who'd like to prove my statements about Son wrong (and don't worry, you won't be able to).