Zack: I have been subconsciously trying to get Emily
to pick a World album that doesn’t have some Latin flair for a while now. As
you’ve probably guessed from the title of this entry, I’ve failed miserably.
I’m sorry, but I’m getting tired of every 20 albums or so listening to
something that’s supposed to be way different than what we’ve been doing,
except it ends up being the same thing every time. Luckily, this is not one of
those albums. Cuban music clearly is very distinct from any salsa or tango
influences, and I really appreciated that. This album was inspired by a Cuban
music club that ruled the land in the '40s and '50s, which I thought really
showed. This album kind of reminded me a little bit of the Sinatra and Jobim
album, which is sort of racist since Antonio Jobim was Brazilian and that album
came out in 1967. But I know what I heard, and you can’t take that away from
me. Anyway, this album was a nice change of pace thing to relax to. I wish it
wasn’t the full hour because I thought it really died down in the middle but it
certainly wasn’t a repeat of Tito Puente like I feared.
Emily: I originally selected this album because I thought it was the album with the Macarena, and I was all prepared to tell a childhood story about doing the Macarena with my family in the living room to a cassette tape that we probably still have somewhere. Alas, my one-hit wonder knowledge escaped me at the time, and it turns out that this album does not possess the Macarena (that's Los Del Rio, as I now remember) nor anything even close. Buena Vista Social Club is a compilation of multiple Cuban musicians bringing back a style of music that was popular in Cuban clubs of the '40s and '50s. The sound is kind of a combo of Latin and jazz, but it wasn't Latin jazz. My roommate summed it up best when she popped her head into my room and said the music sounded like what you'd hear while relaxing on a Caribbean beach with a tropical drink in hand. Well, perhaps we can't go to Cuba, but we definitely can turn up Buena Vista Social Club and pretend.
Favorite Tracks: El Carretero; Candela; El Cuarto de Tula
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