Shango

Artist: Shango

LP: Shango

Song: "Mama Lion"

[ listen ]

Song: "Hey Jude"

[ listen ]

This morning I woke up from a terrifying nightmare in which Seattle was being invaded by aliens! They had been hovering over the city for months and had released a strange pixelated-looking black cloud over the Puget Sound, but everyone had gotten used to all that. Now for some reason the aliens were infiltrating the city on long, slender vehicles. They were driving up from out of the water and onto all the city streets! They hadn't done anything weird yet, but somehow we all knew they were up to no good. I had just retreated into the safety of my attic bedroom with my sister and some friends when I suddenly woke up. I was instantly relieved to realize that it had just been a bad dream and that the aliens hovering over Seattle hadn't come up out of the Puget Sound and into the city after all. It took another minute or two before I was able to comprehend that I was laying in my bedroom in Ballard and that there weren't actually any aliens. That part was a dream too! Whew. 

This terrific Shango record from A&M Records in 1969 is one of the things I picked up at Jive Time Records when I traded in a bunch of LPs that I was clearing out of my collection. The album was produced by Jerry Riopelle, who later released a couple of albums that still remain in my collection. You can find info on Shango from expert Dave Silverstein here, along with some informative followup comments here. If anyone has more info on the group, please feel free to chime in! And please also remind me to never engage in one of the Shango dances—where men are blindfolded, the machete is swung, and the head of the cock is severed.

Pedrito Altieri y su Banda de Acero

Artist: Pedrito Altieri y su Banda de Acero

LP: Pedro Altieri and His Steel Band

Song: "Irene and Judy"
[ listen ]
Song: "Colonel Boogey"
[ listen ]

I always find it sexy and excitingly international when a record features an airplane on the cover—especially when there's a cluster of handsome Caribbean men standing on the tarmac in the foreground. And after listening, I have to agree that this is one of the best steel bands in the Virgin Islands. The LP has liner notes in both Spanish and English, so I've included both sets here:

Pedrito Altieri se identifica como compositor, artista y director
de Banda de Acero, siendo a la vez el primer puertorriqueño en
tener y dirigir su propia banda de esta clase.

Es increíble como Pedrito y los miembros de su banda obtienen
notas y ritmos de esos drones de acero que ellos mismos preparan.

Este disco contiene música variada oriunda de las Islas Vírgenes,
Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Santos Domingo, etc., tales como Calypsos,
Merengues, Boleros y Guarachas, de los cuales Pedrito y sus
muchachos hacen verdaderos éxitos.

Esta banda y ha recorrido las Islas que rodeo el Mar Carribe, Estados
Unidos y Canadá habiendo sido muy aplaudida en todas partes.

Con esta grabación tanto Pedrito como los componentes de su
banda se consagran como los máximos ejecutantes de esta clase
de instrumentos y los más fieles intérpretes de la música de
las Antillas Menores.

* * * * * * *

Pedrito Altieri's Steelband of St. Croix, Virgin Islands is an
outstanding favorite of listeners and dancers throughout the
Caribbean and the United States. This band has toured the
islands that surround the Caribbean Sea, the United States
and Canada and have won many acclaim at all appearances.

Pedrito is composer, artist and director of this great band.
He is also the first Puerto Rican to own and direct
a band of this class.

All the other members of the band are natives of St. Croix, V.I.

This record consist of a variety of music from the Virgin
Islands, Trinidad, Puerto Rico and Santa Domingo.

Such numbers as Calypso, Merengues, Boleros and Guaracha,
which Pedrito and his boys play with perfection and
rhythm as never heard before.

On this recording the band is giving its best performance so
that you will agree after listening, that it is one of the
best Steelband in the Virgin Islands.