Chango

[Trane]

Only two albums, but these guys smoked!!!




First album





second album

[Scrotum Scissor]

First album is excellent and should be heard by WAY more folks. Never heard the second, I'm afraid.

[Progmatic]

First album is excellent and should be heard by WAY more folks. Never heard the second, I'm afraid.

+1 but I am playing the inserted youtube right now....little bit on lite side but still very good...

I stand corrected..it has some really good heavy parts to it...little bit fusion of blues and latin rock...

[Trane]

First album is excellent and should be heard by WAY more folks. Never heard the second, I'm afraid.

the second has some softer moments, but in other parts, it rocks just as hard as their first (if not more so for the last track)

[mpoll]

Not on my radar, until now. Thanks for educating me! on the first album.

[PeterG]

Me like, reminds me Santana! Were they from?

[Progmatic]

Me like, reminds me Santana! Were they from?

yep I understand they called them New York Santana...and the music is very much samba orientated rock

interesting interview gives you more background

http://www.swanfungus.com/2009/04/in...ez-chango.html

[Adm.Kirk]

I have had the first album for years. Good, solid samba rock. Originally on ABC Records, if memory serves.

Bill

[Joe F.]

I only have the first. Great album.

[Cats On Glue]

i got the first and its very cool

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

First album is excellent and should be heard by WAY more folks. Never heard the second, I'm afraid.

QFT on the first one
The 2nd is more toward the regular Rock side of the spectrum, nowhere near as good

[Trane]

QFT on the first one
The 2nd is more toward the regular Rock side of the spectrum, nowhere near as good

the second is a bit uneven, but has terrific moments as well... But yeh, there are a few quieter and more latino-soul moments in it... they're still quite good.


BTW, the second one is available on CD since last year

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

the second one is available on CD since last year

how funny... so many truly great albums aren't on CD but *that* is?!

I found the LP years ago in, of all places, London

[Trane]

how funny... so many truly great albums aren't on CD but *that* is?!

I found the LP years ago in, of all places, London

I just found out about two days ago (and ordered it instantly from amazon)... This one came out a few years after their first...

[scags]

I managed Performance Sound in the early 80's and the owner, T, was Chango's organist. The B 3 and the labled road cases were in the studio.

[ashratom]

The debut is one of my all-time favorite albums. So much energy, and great melodies as well.

Also thanks to the gentleman that posted the interview. I hadn't seen that before. A fun read. And proves what we knew already: The reissues are all pirates.

[Trane]

The debut is one of my all-time favorite albums. So much energy, and great melodies as well.

Also thanks to the gentleman that posted the interview. I hadn't seen that before. A fun read. And proves what we knew already: The reissues are all pirates.

That's too bad, but.....

Both albums I bought via Amazon...

[Progmatic]

That's too bad, but.....

Both albums I bought via Amazon...

I would speculate that the situation with the reissues in combination with the sheer volume of releases is so confusing that most of the dealers have no means to investigate whether any particular issue is legit or not...that or some of them are just plain lazy and crooked at the same time...

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

Amazon is a bit like Ebay nowadays aint it

[Trane]

I love Tom Hayes' review on Gnosis

Imagine yourself walking the barrios in Queens, New York circa 1975. Bums, pushers, hookers, street musicians and the smell of tortas vendors. You see a small club, it has a name like "Enrique's Hell Hole," you venture in. Torches are a-flaming, you tiptoe over the junkies and needles scattered about the floor. There are hundreds of sweaty men and women grooving to the most energetic music the American Latino community ever produced. On stage are six fried dudes, cranking out some intense music. I do mean intense. Two percussionists and a drummer drive the speedy pulse, while organ, bass and guitar roar, slash and sing. This is all Chango's first album and for anyone who likes the early Santana vibe, then you are in for a treat, cause Chango goes where Santana let up. That's right - forget "Soul Sacrifice" and get ready for some serious jamming. This is Santana IV, the culmination of heavy Latin groove rock. This album has it all, the screaming Carlos guitar licks (and what chops!), the swirling organ (do you like Hammond? Oh boy, get a doctor, you'll need it), the speed freak machismo lead singer (messed up chicks swoon for this) and of course those danceable and tranced-out rhythms (even this stiff white guy noticed). The lyrics are just what you want from this kind of album: Sex, life-in-the-ghetto, grade-school mysticism and well, sex.

Right off the bat, you're pulverized with "Fire Over Water" followed by the eight minute "Walk on Hell". Do I really need to describe these tracks? Put the environment, instrumentation, song titles and influences together and you've got an aural vision. Many of the songs are catchy too - you'll be humming them for days. "Caminando", "Solid Karma" and especially "Mira Pa 'Ca" just have KILLER melodies. But where Chango excels is in the instrumentals like the pounding "Bollo" and "Bembe" plus the beautiful "Sacapa." But the best is saved for last. The nine minute title track combines relentless energy, tuneful melodies and fiery instrumental playing. It's awe-inspiring. Careful though, as you may find yourself in a big heap afterwards. Of course the closing moments have a 15 year old's imagination-girl-moaning-in-ecstasy bit. It's stupid but somehow fits.

How this album missed the big time is a mystery to me. Being 1975 perhaps it was too late for the early Santana sound, but not too many groups went down this road. I'm guessing that ABC records, not known for their marketing muscle, had no idea how to promote it. There are few albums ever that contains this kind of energy and instrumental virtuosity and combines that with a strong melodic sense. A true masterpiece and a really undiscovered gem. Fortunately the Akarma record company has done us all a favor by releasing this on CD and an exact gatefold LP.

[ashratom]

Thanks Hugues! I had fun writing that. I still feel the same way about the album (I wrote that review over a decade ago). Truly a Top 20 album for me.

And now we know that the moaning girl actually was a real event

[Trane]

Well by curiosity, I wanted to check out Chango's G2K ratings (to find out it has two 15 ratings >> mine will more likely be a 13) and was surprised to find that it had a link to reviews

Actually, if I can urge you to re-listen to their second album (I think I'll give it an 11), which is rather better than you imply in the last paragraph (which I voluntarily left out)

[Trane]

And now we know that the moaning girl actually was a real event

Indeed, the dude seems quite sure about his ability to have them all

Yeah, those "coloured" artistes'albums where still quite macho (this was the height of Blaxploitation too)... I was listening to Bo Diddley's Black Gladiator album (from 70 with a fringging red hot Hammond all over it) recently and was surprised to find a track Called Shut Up Woman!!!

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/alb...ack_gladiator/

[ashratom]

Well by curiosity, I wanted to check out Chango's G2K ratings (to find out it has two 15 ratings >> mine will more likely be a 13) and was surprised to find that it had a link to reviews

Actually, if I can urge you to re-listen to their second album (I think I'll give it an 11), which is rather better than you imply in the last paragraph (which I voluntarily left out)

Agreed. Yea, a few years later I saw more value in that album and raised it from an 8 to a 10. I haven't bothered to ask Dirk to alter the Gnosis review, but I have removed my criticisms of it from the other places I have the review (Unencumbered and RYM).

[progmeister]

Thanks for the tip guys. Don't know how I missed this in my youth. I just bought the last copy of Album 1 on Amazon