The TnT Band's sophomore effort, Mission Accomplished, features their special blend of punchy, tight Latin rhythms and loose, greasy soul vocals. English-language R&B vocalist Tito Ramos and salsa vocalist Tito Rojas join forces and join the front lines of the mid-'60s boogaloo movement, a trend that hit the New York market like a clave-tinged ton of soul bricks. Oddly, Ramos and Rojas are never once heard together in the course of the record. They appear side by side on the cover, but that seems, with the exception of a brief verse from Ramos on "Espero," to be the extent of their collaboration. Mission Accomplished is cut right down the middle, divided almost in half between the two, English and Spanish. Ramos' boogaloo tracks don't come across quite as strongly as the salsa selections. The musicians sound like fish out of water where backbeat is concerned. That combined with Ramos' sometimes awkward improvisational phrasing makes the boogaloo tracks on Mission Accomplished tend to fall flat. The all-elbows, two-left-feet vocal aesthetic is not limited to Ramos, however. Both members of this dynamic duo often have trouble finding their footing. Though this record did a fine job of working with the trends of the day, it's not one for the history books.
© Evan C. Gutierrez /TiVo