Yoyi

Launching the Brighton-based label’s new Cuban Classic Series comes this curio from 1977, originally released on the Areito subsidiary of the state-owned Egrem label. Despite the then cultural embargo on Western music, fairly overt contemporary jazz-funk and disco influences infuse Grupo Los Yoyi’s only release. Perhaps this one displeased the political grandees. Despite the occasional serious lapse in taste – ‘Mi Pequeño Gran Paolo’ serves up the era’s dreariest leftovers, while the trombone feature, ‘Abuela Tula’, shouldn’t have been allowed – most of the nine numbers exude an inoffensive charm. For all its rarity value, there’s little really to justify the label ‘classic’. The opening ‘Banana’ is a pleasing mix of squelchy keys, funky brass, pattering percussion and a singalong vocal refrain that sets the album’s tone. There’s a pronounced disco feel to ‘Del Copacabana A34’; ‘Paco La Calle’ is a space-funk club cut featuring what sound like synthesized steel pans; ‘Tu No Me Puedes Conquistar’ is a cheery, good-time chunk of disco-funk; the la-la vocals of ‘Yo, Mejor Te Doy’ are substantiated by some incisive brass, tight enough to leave a faint echo of Irakere; and ‘Ruta 30’ is redolent of the more customary Cuban sounds of the era.