¡Así es… Con salsa

One of the things that puts non-addicts off salsa is the repetition, the predictability, the trance-inducing level tone. For dancers, the rhythm is the thing and once the body is moving, the musicality takes second pegging. But in the 60s there were some Colombian salseros who wanted to provide more than shuffle-fodder, and this 1969 release by Alfredo Gutiérrez y Los Caporales del Magdalena is a supreme example. It's a mélange of salsa and tropical costeño genres, with hints of Nuyorican, cumbia and vallenato that's hard to pin down, and better for it. Gutiérrez started 14-member Los Caporales in 1968 as a rival to Discos Fuentes supergroup Los Corraleros de Majagual, and the three albums the band put out prior to ¡Así es… Con salsa! had made them tight but free-spirited and happy to ad lib and digress. The percussion solos on ‘Salsa Mona’, the intense bass on ‘No Pago Na’ and the bold brass throughout, plus vivacious vocals by La Sonora Dinamita's Lucho Pérez, make for a rich mix. Gutiérrez's accordion, meanwhile, is edgy and experimental, defying any naysayers to find reason for not having a squeezebox in salsa. Streetwise, sharp and infectious, this vinyl reissue features three bonus tracks.