Singer-songwriter-musician Joe Bataan's 1973 album Salsoul - so named for its fusion of soul and salsa - would inspire the label of the same name for which Bataan would go on to record. But before inspiring the birth of Salsoul Records, Bataan founded his own New York-based independent label: Ghetto Records. Its label adorned by the image of a cat at home among the trash cans, Ghetto sought to bring further attention to such sounds as salsa, soul, jazz, boogaloo, and beyond. Bataan and
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Various Artists, The Best of Bond...James Bond (UMe) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic (gold) The Best of Bond...James Bond is released on vinyl today (the CD arrived two weeks ago). The compilation offers a stellar 25-track overview of the pop themes that scored nearly all of the films based on Ian Fleming's famed British secret agent. There are 14 U.K. Top 10
As Big Break Records' first releases for 2014 hit stores in the U.K. today (more on those shortly!), the time is right to take a look at more from the label's closing slate of 2013. This eclectic roster - from legendary Latin music artist Joe Bataan, the post-Vince Montana iteration of The Salsoul Orchestra, jazz flautist Herbie Mann and soul man Chris Jasper - is doubtless one of BBR's strongest. So influential was Joe Bataan's 1974 Mericana Records release Salsoul that it literally