Latin tunes

[Gaz T]

I have collected boogaloo records since I first heard soul drummers  and Joe bataan gypsey  woman when I was 16 

Why are there only a couple of popular tracks like Hector  Rivera and Bobby Valentin , Tony Middleton etc that have  sort of broke 

All the boogaloos are on the lps 

it was a lp scene 

not a 45 rpm scene 

Just a point of view 

 

 

[Gaz T]

Any boogaloo fans still going ?

[Gaz T]

So  I am wondering why the soul scene sort of has a handful of boogaloo acceptable big sounds but seems to ignore the genre as a whole 

just wondering 

[Dobber]

Seems to me that since the mid 80’s the northern soul scene as embraced many different styles/genres,but as you point out, just a very small amount of choice cuts! Personally I like the boogaloo Latin stuff,but it’s instrumental based,so that’s maybe why only a few have cut through? 2 or 3 instrumentals in a night is more than enough! I suppose when you percentage the records at any given niter between northern…xover…modern…r&b….boogaloo/latin….garage…then it will look split pretty evenly,with northern been the dominant base?

[Gaz T]

I just find it odd that it’s a small selection of boogaloo things  that have gained popularity 

hector rivera chance for romance

bobby Valentin use it before you loose it

harvey averne never learned to dance

manny corchado pow wow

Tony Middleton Spanish maiden 

yes there are others that may get a play now and then, Subway Joe, Hey Sister, heads head , already satisfied, true love etc

the genre has so many good soulful tunes, yes  often  on long players but it’s interesting to me why only a handful of boogaloo tunes sort of made it massive on the soul scene and  then that’s the end of it 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tlscapital]

17 hours ago, Gaz T said:

I have collected boogaloo records since I first heard soul drummers  and Joe bataan gypsey  woman when I was 16 

Why are there only a couple of popular tracks like Hector  Rivera and Bobby Valentin , Tony Middleton etc that have  sort of broke 

All the boogaloos are on the lps 

it was a lp scene 

not a 45 rpm scene 

Just a point of view 

IMO Soul Drummer is a good tune, Gypsy Woman is really good and so is Special Girl. All hailing from one of the best at it from the Fania gang. But as far as 'soul' only Spanish Maiden comes as a proper cross-over fit of the two genres.

There are plenty others worthy tunes if you're into that that are worth a mention. But gracefully that have not been played at NS nighters. For the 'Latin Soul', 'boogaloo' and other of the likes are really nothing I fancy to hear out.

And surely nothing I expect to hear at a NS night. I suppose like many others punters. Just like any other sounds I love or dig that I acknowledge when I attend such events expectedly but not at a NS night. Because it's not that.

Not a 7" "scene" ? Well there's no 'rare' latin soul 'scene' going on as such with dee-jays plenty about competiting. But judging by the numbers of 45's issued at the time I don't think it's right to claim that it was focused on LP's. 

Only the fans of the genre need those highly rated LP's for they have plenty of LP only winner tunes and the broad 7" production back then was not that infinite and diverse like the soul was in comparison. With few only LP artists too.

[Gaz T]

When I reference lp scene I am talking about the output in the 60s 

so the Latin scene in the 60s seems to me was lp driven 

most Latin musicians would include on their lps many different Latin styles including  usually a boogaloo or two 

I think mostly boogaloo 7 inches were aimed for  promotion  at the time as  nine times out of ten you will always find the lp has the single on it 

I agree the soul scene is the soul scene, not the boogaloo scene 

I just find it interesting that the soul scene sort of accepted a number of things massively but  didn’t expand on the genre 

but as you say, it’s the soul scene , not the boogaloo scene 

 

[Gaz T]

Another interesting thing is the boogaloo 45s that are popular on the northern soul scene  now were mostly first played  and became popular over the late 80s and 90s

aside from pow wow which became popular early 2000s 

just an observation 

interesting  as to why this would be?

 

 

[Roburt]

Not talking bout the influence of latin sounds on the NS scene but on the UK soul scene in general ...

BUT many latin sounds got little or no attention from UK record companies, so the genre was always gonna struggle to get more widespread acceptance.

As a indicator of what I mean I go with Jo Cuba. He had a UK 45 release (with BANG BANG) in Dec 66 (Pye Int). While he had no more UK releases right thru to the mid 70's, he had around 17 more US 45's out on the same label as "Bang Bang" (& therefore all probably available for UK licensing by Pye).

If your definition of Latin just means the Boogaloo stuff, then even the soul singers who made boogaloo records in the mid 60's, soon moved onto other stuff ... see what Jerry O was pushing as the main sounds in his live act by 1970 ... James Brown & Stax covers .... 

[Tlscapital]

4 minutes ago, Gaz T said:

When I reference lp scene I am talking about the output in the 60s 

so the Latin scene in the 60s seems to me was lp driven 

most Latin musicians would include on their lps many different Latin styles including  usually a boogaloo or two 

I think mostly boogaloo 7 inches were aimed for  promotion  at the time as  nine times out of ten you will always find the lp has the single on it

Well all along my crate digger younger years I've seen plenty of these used 45's in worn out condition about. Yes all the Mediterranean other sub-genres like Cumbia, Merengue, Hi-Life and so on were also often featured on these LP's. Attesting of the migrant nature of these sub-cultures from ex-colons and slaves mixing their sounds all along.

These there were the popular sounds of those ethnic Miami to New-York neighborhoods that had due to their Hispanic language less radio airplay there than that of the R'n'B classified genre and the LP's were the 'continuous' household playback muzak dishing out the not always so necessary 'Club' sounds aiming to please one and all.

[Gaz T]

37 minutes ago, Roburt said:

Not talking bout the influence of latin sounds on the NS scene but on the UK soul scene in general ...

BUT many latin sounds got little or no attention from UK record companies, so the genre was always gonna struggle to get more widespread acceptance.

As a indicator of what I mean I go with Jo Cuba. He had a UK 45 release (with BANG BANG) in Dec 66 (Pye Int). While he had no more UK releases right thru to the mid 70's, he had around 17 more US 45's out on the same label as "Bang Bang" (& therefore all probably available for UK licensing by Pye).

If your definition of Latin just means the Boogaloo stuff, then even the soul singers who made boogaloo records in the mid 60's, soon moved onto other stuff ... see what Jerry O was pushing as the main sounds in his live act by 1970 ... James Brown & Stax covers .... 

Yes boogaloo had a really short lifespan in the USA didn’t it  , probably no more than 3  years from Joe cubas bang bang million seller?

then things moved on to salsa 

Latin seemed to have zero influence in the uk at the time 

I have all the uk fania los 

George Guzman introducing 

Joe bataan riot 

Ralph Robles taking over 

ray barretto acid 

I have a uk mercury release of Louie Ramirez taste of Spanish Harlem  which I stumbled on, I didn’t even know it was released in the uk

so Pete terrace on pye and hector rivera on polydor 

ray baretto x2 on Columbia and one on London 

A couple of releases by Mongo  Santamaria on direction and cbs 

the Joe Cuba on pye as you mentioned 

I can’t think of any other Latin uk releases 

That’s a small footprint of uk releases inst it 

 

 

 

[Dylan]

Classic track that got a reissue 

 

 

[Gaz T]

This is really rare on the original 45 

But turns up more often via the original lp 

soulful and funky 

should be played

 

[Gaz T]

Another super soulful thing that is really rare on 45 

the original lp is also a difficult thing to find but this 45 is included on it 

Just a great soulful boogaloo 

needs playing 

 

 

[Gaz T]

great  soulful boogaloo dancer 

Sounds amazing  really loud

but as outlined , it’s a soul scene not a boogaloo scene 

Use it before you loose it

 

 

 

 

[Gaz T]

Great boogaloo madness on a soul classic 

really hard to get on a 45 

Released on the live it up lp

but 2 releases if this lp 

One on musicor which has this single version on it and one on atol which has a different version with no vocals on it 

definitely a great dancer that has been  forgotten since the 80s mod times 

[Dylan]

Gaz you must know the tune where the female vocalist repeat cascara ?

 

can’t remember much else but it’s an upbeat dancer..

Edited July 20 by Dylan

[Gaz T]

4 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Gaz you must know the tune where the female vocalist repeat cascara ?

 

can’t remember much else but it’s an upbeat dancer..

Is this the tune you meant?

,probably a bit to funky and Latin for most on this site 

the lp as far as I can see was Harvey Avernes  last lp 

Really good lp 

 

[Dylan]

7 minutes ago, Gaz T said:

Is this the tune you meant?

,probably a bit to funky and Latin for most on this site 

the lp as far as I can see was Harvey Avernes  last lp 

Really good lp 

 

It’s not this one.  I’ll dig through my CD’s tomorrow to find it and post it up.

[Gaz T]

Another nice track off that lp which is soulful 

i bought my copy from Craig Moerer probably 20 years ago 

it’s a great lp , one of those lps you can play right through both sides without picking up the stylus 

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Dylan said:

It’s not this one.  I’ll dig through my CD’s tomorrow to find it and post it up.

Look forward 

[Dylan]

This is what I was thinking of

 

 

[Happy Feet]

On 19/07/2024 at 23:11, Gaz T said:

I have collected boogaloo records since I first heard soul drummers  and Joe bataan gypsey  woman when I was 16 

Why are there only a couple of popular tracks like Hector  Rivera and Bobby Valentin , Tony Middleton etc that have  sort of broke 

All the boogaloos are on the lps 

it was a lp scene 

not a 45 rpm scene 

Just a point of view 

 

 

Probably because only a limited few can be squeezed into the Northern Soul bracket, lots of great dance tunes but maybe require another genre to show their true potential , maybe Popcorn or just Latino who knows , it could be the next big thing on Strictly Come Dancing at the Blackpool Tower , every other type of soul music has been squeezed in somehow

[Blackpoolsoul]

There was a great thread in 2012 

 

[Gaz T]

2 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

There was a great thread in 2012 

 

Thanks for that 

so there are still  lots of people that enjoy the genre 

Still a rich vein to be tapped into regarding djs spins I feel. 

 

 

[Dimples]

Joe Bataan - What good is a castle (Pt. 2) - Fania

Pretty cool and soulful sound.

 

[Wiggyflat]

I used to buy the lps for the Descargas...latin soul lps from the sixties seemed to be a mix trying to appeal to different audiences. You got heavy freeform descargas,ballads and boogaloos  keeping everyone happy. The latin Soul 45s with english vocals were spanked on the Mod scene in the eighties (around 86/87 (Spanish Maiden/Do It To Me/Subway Joe/Right On/Soul Drummers/Mercy Mercy Baby/El Pito/Good Lovin Gilberto Sextet/Hard Hands/Love Beads/El Watusi/ At The Party/We Got Latin Soul/Cloud 9 all got spins. They were mostly very cheap. On the jazz scene it was all about lps and the Northern scene only really broke a few selected tracks .Ray Barretto got some exposure in Blues and Soul in the early seventies around the time of the Acid 45 and the lp. There was also a scene in some areas that played this stuff which led to the We Got Latin Soul comps. I remember a dj called Dave Hucker who was playing the latin soul stuff in the eighties.

 

 

Edited July 25 by Wiggyflat

[Ez]

difficult to find tracks to track down after you have all the affordable ones

how bout this

 

[Geeselad]

On 20/07/2024 at 16:59, Gaz T said:

I just find it odd that it’s a small selection of boogaloo things  that have gained popularity 

hector rivera chance for romance

bobby Valentin use it before you loose it

harvey averne never learned to dance

manny corchado pow wow

Tony Middleton Spanish maiden 

yes there are others that may get a play now and then, Subway Joe, Hey Sister, heads head , already satisfied, true love etc

the genre has so many good soulful tunes, yes  often  on long players but it’s interesting to me why only a handful of boogaloo tunes sort of made it massive on the soul scene and  then that’s the end of it 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd say the Harvey averne isn't boogaloo, it's more of a soul/ funk record with obvious Latin influence. But it obviously needs inclusion it has been massive 

[Geeselad]

I know Cal T Jader- soul source was played at the torch, or golden torch, perhaps? I suspect some were played in the early days of the wheel and London mod clubs like tiles, the scene ect can anyone confirm?

You also have Latin influenced records from the 70' Al foster band, silvetti,  Jobelle ect. There's a heritage that goes beyond the mods playing tracks in London in the mid 80's you also need to consider great vocal tracks like Tommy Navarro, David Coleman, and Tony Galla, all played at Stafford I believe. 

Edited July 30 by Geeselad