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recensione di Roberto Rabbi - SONO-LUX - MULATA LOCA (2004) 1. Mulata Loca (timba) 2. Que Llueva de Una Vez (salsa) 3. Yo Sabia Que Iba A Llegar (salsa/reggaeton) 4. Do Ya Feel It? (salsa/funk) 5. Pienso Que No (latin jazz) 6. Baila Carolina (salsa) 7. Para Llevar (descarga/mozambique) 8. Taxi (descarga) 9. Higher Ground (funk/bembč) 10. Irakere's Funk (funk/bata) more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels
Review by DJ John Armstrong courtesy Latin Vibe Now here’s one helluva a dance album for you freestyle latino dancers! Rewind to the late 80s: L.A. conguero and arranger Willie McNeil was playing along side top UK timbalero Roberto Pla in the short-lived Latino Rockabilly War Band, put together by ex-Clash founder the late Joe Strummer. The repertoire was about a third Clash-type tunes, a third ‘show’ tunes, and a third original material. Perhaps too ahead of its time, the band survived only one tour before disbanding, but the plus factor was that it brought together a bunch of musicians from widely differing backgrounds, many of whom managed to stay in touch. Back in 2004, Willie’s regular band is Sono-Lux, a West Coast-based latin dance outfit that rocks out in several directions: title track is a timba that would give any of the top Cuban timba outfits a run for their scratch, whilst ‘Do Ya Feel It?’ is that rare beast, a successful fusion of salsa and funk. Then there are a couple of ‘ straight’ old-school salsa dura compositions, a reggaeton, a great bembe version of the Stevie W. classic ‘Higher Ground’, and a nod towards one of Willie’s inspirations, the Cuban band Irakere, with ‘Irakere’s Funk’ – described aptly as a ‘funk-bata’. This is a top-rung Afro-Cuban party show band, firing V8 and fully-loaded, with that easy, unforced approach that years of live stage work brings to a group’s music. It’d be great to see these guys over here at some point. Note to promoters: Willie can be reached on heywooley@sbcglobal.net. And you can always hear me play his record at Latin Vibe if you come up and ask – especially the timba tune!
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