Despite his Clark Kent looks,
Ray Barretto's '60s recordings revealed a Superman of groove-based Latin salsa and soul. His early novelty hit "El Watusi" may have had the most success, but when
Barretto began recording for Fania with the 1967 classic
Acid, he unleashed some of the brassiest, grooviest, and most powerful tracks ever heard in Latin music.
Latin Soul Man is a 17-track compilation of his early career, spanning the early '60s to 1972, and including material originally recorded for Tico, UA Latino, and Fania. After a brief time at Riverside in the early '60s for his debut as a leader,
Barretto headed off to Tico and scored his biggest hit with 1963's "El Watusi," which showed off his excellent arranging chops and the power of his early flute-led charanga. Then there was another brief stay, at UA Latino, which is heard here with another novelty, "Señor 007," as well as one of the best boogaloos ever recorded, "Do You Dig It." After that came
Acid and a parade of great material for Fania, which saw
Barretto stretching out on free-form material while still pumping out plenty of tight cuts with brassy charts for the heavy dancers crowd in New York. Therein lies the lone concern with this collection. While it extends into the '70s with great tracks from his other Fania classics -- 1968's
Hard Hands, 1970's
Together, 1972's
Barretto Power -- there's a heavy emphasis on
Barretto's great popcorn and boogaloo material, while completely ignoring the longer, extended grooves like the title track to
Acid (probably his career highlight) as well as "El Nuevo Barretto." Extending the running time another 20 minutes would have been easy, and that would have made
Latin Soul Man a priceless pickup. ~ John Bush