Willie Colon

"Juanito Alimana" is another great Lavoe song with an unforgetable melody. There' something about a lot of these songs that conjures up an almost immediate nostalgia. Maybe I have just heard them enough while surrounded by mostly Latin audiences who grew up with them, but I think there's something in the music itself.

For the newbs:
Start out with Cosa Nuestra.
Then Siembra.
Then there's Solo, Lo Mato, Good Bad And The Ugly, The Big Break, La Fuga, the collabo w/Celia Cruz, Altos Secretos, the various Lavoe and Blades offshoots, and so on.

(The last Ruben Blades CD was okay, I thought. I borrowed it from the library. I didn't like it enough to want to buy it, though if I saw it for a low price I would pick it up. "Danny Boy" worked surprisingly well with Congas beneath it.)

I'd also recommend El Juicio (with Hector Lavoe). Also, I like Colon's collaboration with Mon Rivera There Goes the Neighborhood (but that's pretty focused on Mon Rivera's singing).

But you might be better off taking FW's advice, above, since he knows this stuff more than I do.

I had to check what that is (since I'm not too familiar with this album which I just obtained recently), and yes, "Que Bien te Vez" is really good. Another option, if you especially like Lavoe, is to go for the two 2-CD compilations I've mentioned before: Fania "Legends of Salsa Collection" (where I first heard this song); although, Colon & Co. did put out some albums that work well as albums.

like Lavoe
I like him. I like that nasal, crying sound in his voice. Does Willie C. have anything to do with El Sabio?

Not sure if something was lost during the black-out. You may be right.

I don't know El Sabio. (Again, not to discourage discussion here, by any means, but http://www.descarga.com carries most of this stuff and provides credits for many titles, so it's a partial discography.)

I grabbed Vigilante out of a dollar bin last weekend. 1983, so out of both Colon's and Lavoe's sweet spot.

Pretty odd record, but not a bad one. Hard to recommend as essential or canonical. Also curious that it was from a movie of the same title starring Colon as a gangster. Anyone seen it?

Did the movie ever come out?
See below: "intended"

http://www.fania.com/content/vigilante

Recorded in 1982, “Vigilante” is released at the verge of Fania’s meltdown the following year. Intended as the soundtrack for the movie with the same name where Willie plays a ruthless gang member named Rico Meléndez, this project pairs him again with his compadre and former singer Héctor Lavoe. In fact, it was put on hold by Fania Records because of the label’s pushing of yet another movie involving Colón: Fania’s own The Last Fight, Masucci’s last daring gambit and the one that almost cost him the salsa empire they built during the 1970s.

IMDB indicates that it did: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084867/

Great poster, too.

I remember that movie. I wanted to go see it but my parents wouldn't take me (I was 11).

great album cover too

Triste Y Vacia and Juanito Alimana are both essential songs, imo. The latter is surprisingly great to dance to. It's a bit uncanny how much implied rhythm there is in it. Don't know if that's technically a valid way of putting it but that's how I experience it. I can't remember the other two that clearly, but I think they're less essential.

Ugh to some of my earlier comments on this thread. Lavoe is a lot more than just "fun to listen to," but this thread is old enough that I really wasn't moved much by his singing back when I was originally posting on it.

Great musician but alas now a right wing Maga extremist on twitter

oh no!
that is unfortunate. i just checked for worms and unfortunately, his account was indeed roiling with them. :(

Ugh

"last famous person you were surprised to discover is actually still alive"

Apparently he's only 70, he started recording so young

He’s been on my interview bucket list for years, but no more...

Guess this is the kind of thing Alfred was talking about on the other thread.

He and his band were good when I saw him in 2006. Don’t recall him saying anything political back then.