Producer Jerry Masucci
Engineer Richard Alderson
Recording Time 39 minutes
Personnel Joe Bataan - vocals, piano
Joe 'Chickie' Fuentes - trombone
Eddie Nater - timbales
Lorenzo "Chino" Galan - congas
Louie Devis - bass instrument
Louie Gonzalez
Michael Padilla - background vocals
Milton Albino - bongos
Richie Cortes - bell, background vocals
Ruben Hernandez
Titos Ramos - vocals
DUSTY GROOVE review
Fania, 1969. New Copy
One of our favorite Latin soul albums ever -- a rollicking mix of upbeat party tracks, gentle ballads, and more -- all handled with the undeniable magic that is Joe Bataan at his best! The album kicks off with the fantastic groover "Subway Joe" -- a hilarious tune about Joe trying to find a seat on the subway -- and it rolls into killers like "Nuevo Jala Jala", "Juanito", "Ponte En Algo", and the wonderfully emotive "Special Girl". There's a really wonderful quality to all the tunes -- honest, open, and done with instrumentation that includes lots of dark passages, yet which also continues to flower in hope! A landmark, and a record that delights us again and again over the years!
Review by John Storm Roberts, Original Music
Singer/pianist Bataan was one of the shooting stars of Latin-soul, that moment when the bugalú and the jala jala made it look as though a bilingual, Afro-Latin New Yorican sound might be here to stay. The title cut was one of the hits of the time, but this 1969 release attested that there was more to Bataan than one hit even though he never really got the chance to prove it.
Tracks
Title
Composer
Time
1 Subway Joe Bataan 2:57
2 Juanito Bataan 5:35
3 Mujer Mía Bataan 5:53
4 Nuevo Jala Jala Bataan 5:00
5 Special Girl Bataan 2:50
6 Ponte en Algo Bataan 5:21
7 Triste Bataan 8:10
8 Magic Rose Bataan 4:01
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