Ruben Blades, Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Across 110th Street

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Music reviews of Across 110th Street

Music Review: Ruben - please bring out another salsa album!
Rating: 3 Stars

But how good is it really? Let's be clear, if you know your salsa and loved the salsa dura coming out of NY from the 70's then you'll like this album (maybe even alot) but you won't love it (BTW, I'm only 27 and was born in Sydney). It is a different sound SHO are trying to create. But here's where you will relate to it... the album swings! It swings from the beginning to the end. It gets credit just for that.

The band is tight, i'll give them that. This is a fully professional band and they play like one. They are qualified and get much love.

Lyrically, it's a little bland for my liking. Mainly songs about partying and dancing... like I said, if you are a fan of salsa dura with it's hard lyrics and it's depictions of street life, political struggles, and relationships then you may find the lyrical content a bit one sided and dull.

I'm not sure that the fact many songs are remade is something bad. At the end of the day most people will not recognise these songs... but further if they do write their own songs and they are not good enough it doesn't make much sense to release sub-standard material. On the flip side, some songs shouldn't be touched - Tito Puente's original "Cuando Te Vea" from Dancemania was better. The fact is no band or singer could have done justice to what Puente and Santos Colon did with this song back in '58 (and i'm not even a big Puente fan).

If you know nothing about salsa (except maybe Marc Anthony or DLG) then this album gets a huge recommendation. BUY IT!!! I think it's a great entry point to salsa that swings - salsa con clave. You will enjoy it.

Album highlights - One name...Ruben Blades. Here is where this album shines. Ruben is at his sonero best in this album. He does 4 tracks and nails every one of them. I have never heard Ruben phrase as well as he does in this one. You can really tell he has missed singing salsa and you must suspect that if there was money to be made in salsa he would go back to it. He is just spectacular in every song. (...).

Ruben even wrote the bonus track (which is a new composition) "tu te lo pierdes". IT IS THE BEST TRACK. A new Ruben Blades written and sung song being the best track should not surprise anyone. Apparently it was written before the SHO project came up and a demo version by Ruben was played on a Puerto Rican radio station a while back and it has been bootlegged (Read the www.descarga.com article on this SHO album). The track is about a guy who goes to a street full of call girls and asks for a freebie... it is champagne comedy and vintage blades. You even hear Ruben with his impersonations of the drunk man. Oh man!

It's interesting... you'd think I had forgotten it was a SHO release. But the fact is Ruben's new song and his 4 tracks as sonero really do stand apart. Ruben takes over and makes his mark. He is a legend at the top of his game on this one.

RUBEN... COME BACK WITH ANOTHER SALSA ALBUM!!!

For salsa dura lovers, buy this just for Ruben. For newbies, buy it because it swings!!!

OTHER RECOMMENDATION: I'd recommend the new Sonora Poncena album Back To The Road (I think it's an independent release so may be hard to get). The legends from Puerto Rico are back. The best salsa album i've heard in years.

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