With Love (180g LP)

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Details One of the most transcendental Latin Soul albums in the history of the genre. Released in 1971, it underscores New York native Ralfi Pagan’s status as one of the most talented singer/songwriters in the Fania roster. The masterful album includes highlights like the swinging salsa opener “Mi Chamaco,” the Joe Bataan-penned song “Just One of Your Kisses” and the …

With Love (Digital Album)

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Details Deliverable via email in your choice of MP3, WAV, ALAC, or FLAC. One of the most transcendental Latin Soul albums in the history of the genre. Released in 1971, it underscores New York native Ralfi Pagan’s status as one of the most talented singer/songwriters in the Fania roster. The masterful album includes highlights like the swinging salsa opener “Mi …

It’s a Good, Good Feeling: The Latin Soul of Fania Records (Digital Album)

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Details Deliverable via email in your choice of MP3 or hi-res WAV. A eighty-nine track collection showcasing Fania’s era-defining output of Latin soul and boogaloo spanning 1965-1975. The set compiles single versions of 89 tracks from such best-selling artists as Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, Bobby Valentín, Ralfi Pagan and Larry Harlow, plus rarities and b-sides, housed in a 60-page hardcover book with …

Ralfi Pagan Essentials Cover

Ralfi Pagan

Veronica

Ralfi Pagan is considered by this writer as the epitome of Latin Soul; with all respect to Mr. Joe Bataan. The smoothness of his voice, combined with excellent musical arrangements and vocal backgrounds create an aura of romance and recalls the heartbreak that life hands us at times. Tragically, Ralfi Pagan was murdered during a promotional tour in Colombia, in …

GUISANDO

Fania

In 1967 Héctor Pérez agreed to record the album El Malo in order to please Johnny Pacheco, recording director and co-founder of Fania Records. The true story is that the president of Fania, Jerry Masucci, agreed to edit the first albums of Willie Colón’s band with the condition that among its ranks it would have a versatile, well-versed singer, who …

RAY BARRETTO A MAN AND HIS MUSIC – QUE VIVA LA MUSICA

Fania

Raymond Barretto Pagan was born to Puerto Rican parents in New York on April 29, 1929. When he was barely four years old, his father decided to leave home and return to Puerto Rico. His mother settled in the South Bronx and raised her three children by herself. From an early age, Barretto was influenced by two styles of music: …

RALFI PAGAN

Fania

When you think Latin Soul you relate to a mélange of R & B and Mambo rhythms intermixed culturally by and for the youth of America. It was 1974, and a brash youngster by the name of Ralfi Pagan walked into the offices of Fania Records and demanded to be heard. Fania President Jerry Masucci allowed Ralfi that opportunity, and …

I CAN SEE

Fania

In Latin music, as with all non-mainstream parts of the US recording business, the ultimate goal is to cross-over. It’s all very well being a big fish in your own pond, but the benefits of a US pop hit are so mighty that any independent label would have trouble turning it down. Until the 1990s it was very much a …

SUBWAY JOE

Fania

Joe Bataan is rightfully esteemed as the King of Latin Soul. Born in New York’s Spanish Harlem in 1942 of Philippine and African-American parentage, his masterful songs about everyday ghetto life are forever embedded in the hearts of generations of Latinos. Growing-up in the tenements of El Barrio, Joe was exposed to a cocktail of pop, Latin, doo-wop and R&B. …

BAD BREATH

Fania

During the heyday of the boogaloo and shing-a-ling era, Fania released an album titled Bad Breath by Bobby Valentín, who at the time was a trumpet player. It was Valentín’s third album, following his debut with El Mensajero, which he recorded for Fonseca Records, and the 1966 release of his first Fania LP, Young Man With A… Valentín, who formed …

Ralfi Pagan

Fania

A little James Brown mixed-in with Hector Lavoe. Inside, a heart full of Latin soul. The Latin voice of New York City: Ralfi Pagán was the young man behind some of the grooviest Latin fusion albums ever to be put down on vinyl. His early seventies Fania recordings stand out as consummate examples of Latin soul at its very peak. …