Sensacional Soul, Vol. 3

ARTIST:  various artists

TITLE:  Sensacional Soul, Vol. 3: 28 Spanish Soul Stompers 1966/1976

LABEL:  Vampisoul 

Here’s another Vampisoul series that, like Gozalo! Bugalu Tropical, just keeps on rolling into a third volume of very worthwhile material. Spain was a booming emerging market in the 60’s and the first half of the 70’s that looked up economically to the US and UK, plus mass-market tourism brought American and British music to places like the Costa del Sol.  The result was a pop music scene with an oversized amount of soul, rock and other elements of Anglo-American youth culture, flavored with some Latin seasoning.  As usual in these kinds of collections, cross-cultural covers are a big part of the fun: disc 2-track 5 is James Brown, complete with misheard lyrics, 2-13 is a Tom Jones cover, 2-10 is a fabulous disco-Santana version of “Wade In The Water,” and 1-6 and 1-13 borrow riffs from some unexpected sources.  1-4 and 1-11 pair cheesy English lyrics and campy lounge singers (think Sammy Davis Jr.) with groovy arrangements; the results are as amusing as you might expect.  On the other hand, 2-3 is a heavy rocker reminiscent of the best Nigerian 70’s Afro-rock.  Smiles and surprises galore from this one. 

TOP TRACKS:    Disc 1:    4    6    11    13    Disc 2:    3    5    10    13

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