Condition: New
Joe Bataan - Riot!
Label: Fania Records
Catalog#: SLP 354
Format: Vinyl, LP NEW
Re-issue 2007. Same catalogue number as original
Country: US
Released: 1970
Genre: Latin
Style: Boogaloo
Credits: Bass - Louie Devis
Congas - Lorenzo Galen
Percussion [Bell] - Richie Cortez
Producer - Jerry Masucci
Recorded By - Johnny Pacheco
Timbales - Eddie Nater
Trombone - Joe "Chickie" Fuentes* , Ruben Hernandez
Vocals - Joe "Mr. Soul" Bataan* , Louie Gonzalez
Notes: Special Thanks To:
Ralph Iguartua - Coro
Milton Albino - Bongo
"Tito" Gonzales" - Piano
Pete - Advisor
Leon Gast - Cover Photo
Izzy Sanabria - Art Director
Cat# FANIA1039542 RIOT! (1968)
Tracklisting:
A1 It's A Good Feeling (7:30)
A2 For Your Love (3:10)
A3 Muñeca (4:45)
A4 Pa' Monte (2:40)
B1 What Good Is A Castle (6:35)
B2 Daddy's Coming Home (3:10)
B3 Mambo De Bataan (4:37)
B4 My Cloud (4:35)
B5 Ordinary Guy (Rhythm & Blues) (2:35)
Born to an African-American mother and Filipino father in 1942, Bataan (given name Peter Nitollano) was raised in Spanish Harlem, where as a teenager, he rolled with Puerto Rican gangs, got a rep as a tough fighter and soaked in Latin music along with that of Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, the Chantels, the Harptones and Fats Domino. Bataan was busted for riding in a stolen car and spent five years in New York's Coxsackie State Prison. While there, he learned music, and "six months after I was released, I started making records," Bataan said during a telephone interview from his home in Mount Vernon, N.Y. "I knew exactly what I wanted to do as far as music was concerned. That stint in prison made me determined." But what got Bataan his notoriety was his vision of merging Latin and R&B music to create "Latin soul." A keyboardist and vocalist, Bataan had his first hit in 1967 with "Gypsy Woman." He found an audience eager for the exotic rhythms of salsa paired with the familiar comfort of English lyrics. "He's the best that did it at that time," said Manuel Duprey of Funk-O-Mart record store at 11th and Market streets.
"Instead of straight-up salsa, it was crossover." Bataan had other hits, too: "Subway Joe," "Riot," "Ordinary Guy," "What Good is a Castle," as well as Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle" and Isaac Hayes' "Shaft."
"Here I was a youngster," Bataan said. Audiences "identified with me because I was from a street gang." And the songs' subject matter "connected to my lifetime."
Latin soul, described by the AMG All-Music Guide as "a blend of mambo and pop tinged with R&B and Latin jazz, emphasizing short, ultra-catchy tunes and infectious rhythms," became popular in the late '60s as young New Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage - sometimes called Nuyoricans - were exposed to rock 'n' roll and soul music and, unlike their parents, grew up speaking English.
"The Puerto Rican became much more Americanized," during that time, Bataan said. Latin music grew to reflect that, especially with black bands and Latin bands sharing the stage at the same clubs. Preceding the Latin soul fad was "boogaloo" music - similar to Latin soul but with less lyrical structure and more novelty.
One example: Joe Cuba's "Bang Bang." Latin soul's practitioners included Willie Colon and the TnT Band. The genre is recalled with great fondness, though "it came and went fast," Duprey said. While he enjoyed success - he was called the "King of Latin R&B" - Bataan also was criticized. "There were a lot of people who, I don't if they were envious, heard I was not of Puerto Rican descent," Bataan recalled. "They didn't feel that a lot of the typical sound I did in Latin was true salsa because of the English lyrics."
After the trend died, Bataan helped found Salsoul Records (with the Salsoul Orchestra, Double Exposure and Bunny Sigler) and had another hit in the late '70s with the disco/rap record "Rap-O Clap-O." Recently, Bataan has seen a resurgence of interest in him and his early music. Some people thought he was dead.
He recalled traveling to Columbia, where he hadn't been in 30 years and where he had to fulfill a strange request. " 'Riot' was like a national anthem in Columbia," Bataan said. "When I got off the plane, they made me sing the song to make sure I was the real Joe Bataan." He has seen children with tatoos of his song titles.
Joe Bataan - Ordinary Guy ( LIVE)
Joe Bataan, King of Latin-Soul. From his 1968 album Riot. Second version. Original version on album "Gypsy Woman" released 1967.
Bataan is so dynamite and has so much feeling in his music. He sets the greatest mood!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-lFyVX7Olg
Joe Bataan - What Good Is A Castle
King of Latin Soul Joe Bataan's hit off his 1968 LP Riot. And what you're hearing isn't two seperate tracks. It's one track, as it was on the original album.
Joe was a street poet and spoke to the real people who came to see him perform. There will never be another like him. THANKS for opening my eyes to the real latin thing.
This goes way way back Joe Bataan's voice is so sad and yearning on this song.
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