Siembra

Manages the neat trick of being on fire at the same time as it's smooth as Velvet.

Forget the ecconomy, LET'S DANCE!

I just...I just...I just really love salsa music

I’ve never really listened to salsa music beyond just hearing it in the background of places, but this was pretty fun. The cover with the babies is a little disturbing and unnecessary though

Liker salsa bedre som tacosaus enn som musikksjanger.

As salsa music, this is probably as good as it gets, but it's still salsa. Perfect for a dinner in Cuba and sipping a daiquiri, but not the kind of music I usually put in my ears.

I have spent literally no time seriously listening to salsa music, so this was almost an entirely new experience for me and I really enjoyed it. I have spent a bit of time with music influenced by salsa, specifically Geordie Greep's the New Sound, and I really appreciate the insight into some of the influences that lead to his Latin infused jazz rock. Honestly, this album is only a step or two away from being the New Sound; it just needs Geordie singing about some of the most depraved and desperate men he can imagine and a couple ripping guitar solos.

Pre Listen:
The name Willie Colon sounds crazy familiar to me. I come from a Latino family, so who knows if I've heard him at some point growing up. Silly album cover, will this baby music? Slightly lower expectations than usual going in, but only *very* slight.

Notable Tracks:
Plastico - !!!! This isn't what I was expecting at all, this shit goes hard what the hell. The bass and brass are incredible. Unfortunately he DIDN'T mention Chile when taking roll call at the end of the song, and DID mention Argentina, so that's gonna have to be 1 full point off. I don't make the rules.
Siembra - My favorite track on here. It sounds like something out of Lupin the 3rd. Will be adding to my playlist!

Post Listen:
Out of respect for the music, the rest of this review will be in Spanish. Thank you for your understanding.

¡Qué placer escucharlo! Todo estaba muy bien logrado: los metales, las voces, la fluidez, la percusión... todo fue fantástico. Me encantó especialmente el trabajo de piano y violín. No odié ni una sola canción, ni siquiera un poco.

Lamentablemente, lo que dije en mi primera canción destacada sigue vigente. Cuatro de cinco. 4/5

I love this era of Samba and Salsa music. It’s very lively and creative. No idea what they sing about, but you don’t even really need to know in order to enjoy this album. Both performers are legends within their scene and rightfully so. I just really like all the little touches throughout, such as the police sirens and references to other classic songs. Good to see Latin music get some proper representation here, even though this is one of the only examples featured.

I really enjoyed this, totally outside my normal listening but would absolutely return to this

This is really nice, I dont know that I needed to hear it before I die but its really nice.

Complex percussion rhythms? - ¡presente!
Salsa piano sixths? - ¡presente!
Lovely spanish vocals? - ¡presente!
Great brass section? - ¡presente!

I really enjoyed listening. However, for my non-salsa-trained ear, everything started to blend together real soon, forming a nice trip to another world, but lacking any standouts.
3/5 - good

This is a great record - I especially love when songs have a sound-off of all the countries of the Americas like the first track.

I suppose it's smoother than what I usually listen to, but the syncopation and way the vocals and music flow together and in opposition to each other make this incredibly enjoyable, especially when they start improvising at the end of each song. I wish there was more Spanish-language music on this project, since I love so many of those genres.

5 stars

wow!!! way funkier than i imagined. i get a little nervous when i see a song over 6 minutes but happy to say it never dragged. really enjoyed this.

Exactly the kind of album I want to hear doing this challenge! An example of an album at the top of its style, this is an all killer no filler record with excellent musicianship and songwriting and deserves to be here for sure

'Recuerda se ven las caras / Y jamás el corazón.' & from the Danish prince: 'Now get you to my lady's chamber, & tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come.' This is to say, I was expecting salsa, however that might manifest, not full-blown leftism, but was happy to find that this is the best feel-good-think-thru-music this side of Sly Stone. 'La vida te da sorpresas / Sorpresas te da la vida.' Sonic-wise, Siembra is unaccountable - it's conventional b/c it's folk-oriented but it's also completely out there, a musical (West Side Story), a social critique, & a p-funk explosion (shoutout to bassist Salvador Cuevas). Like the niños on the cover, the record is out of place in all the best ways: the bizarrest, lightest, gravest dance record.

Oy, compania, Puerto RIco, Colombia, ratataa...

Siembra by Willie Colón and Rubén Blades is really not my kind of music. Salsa with touches of jazz just doesn’t do much for me personally. That said, if it wasn’t for this challenge I would never have listened to an album like this, so I can appreciate the opportunity to experience something completely different.

There were moments that sounded familiar, especially Plástico and Buscando Guayaba, which I’m sure I must have heard somewhere before. But after listening to the full album, one of my main takeaways was that a lot of the songs blended together for me stylistically.

The album is clearly very well produced, and the musicianship is excellent throughout. You can tell how talented everyone involved is, and I understand why this album is considered important within Latin music. It just doesnt work for me. I found it quite long, repetitive and difficult to stay engaged with by the end.

I do respect the international side of this challenge though, because albums like this push me into genres and cultures I would never normally explore. Even when I don’t enjoy them, it’s still interesting to hear something outside my usual taste.

Favourite tracks: Plástico was quite a nice track.
Least favourite tracks: Nothing was terrible, it just wasn’t really for me.
Album artwork: A bizarre album cover, it looks like a colourful cartoon advert for Pampers.

Finally: Spanish! I'm too tired to appreciate it. But I liked it OK.

Some lovely tunes. Nice time. But I couldn't just listen to this on it's own with nothing else to do yaknow. It's background music to me because there's not enough highs and lows. But it is nice stuff.

Not my stuff but it’s fine.