Ray Barretto

Listen/Download Ray Barretto – Mercy Mercy Baby

Listen/Download Urban Dance Squad – A Deeper Shade of Soul

Greetings all

The end of the week is finally here, so that means it’s time to hoist your antenna, fire up the radiola and twist the knobs until the dulcet tones of the Funky16Corners Radio Show come spilling out of the speakers. This can be experienced every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, and you can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab and MP3 here at Funky16Corners.

I have posted many a tune by the mighty Ray Barretto in this space over the years, including a couple from the album you see before you today.

You could ascribe this to laziness or lack of imagination on my part, or you could come correct and deal with the fact that Barretto’s 1968 opus ‘Acid’ is one of the greatest albums in the history not only of Latin soul, but music in general.

I mean, honestly…’Soul Drummers’, ‘A Deeper Shade of Soul’ and today’s selection, ‘Mercy Mercy Baby’ on the same LP??

Barretto was on fire, laying down ‘Hard Hands’, ‘Acid’, ‘Together’ and ‘Barretto Power’ all between 1968 and 1971, working the boogaloo/Latin soul/funk vibe as well as crafting more traditional sounds.

‘Mercy Mercy Baby’ opens with rolling bass and piano, before a tasty horn section joins in, along with the master’s congas, and vocals by Jimmy Sabater and Willie Torres.

It’s a great one for the dance floor, and ought to have folks singing along with the band.

I also have a bit of a bonus track for you today.

I have to be honest when I tell you that the first time I ever heard Ray Barretto, wasn’t on one of his records, but through a sample.

Back in 1989, I picked up the first album by the Dutch group Urban Dance Squad, having heard and dug the cut ‘Deeper Shade of Soul’ (probably via MTV, so there’s that…).

It was an early days mixture of live band, rap and turntablism, with a mellow, stoner vibe that I dug then, and still dig today.

It wasn’t until a few years later, when my man Haim passed on the CD reissue of ‘Acid’ that I realized that ‘Deeper Shade of Soul’ was built on a Barretto sample, and having dug the source and the source-erer, I dug it all the more.

Flash forward to earlier this year, and while out a-digging, what do I find but a 45 issue of the UDS tune, and I figured, since I was whipping a little Barretto on you to close out the week, I’d toss the Urban Dance Squad into the pot to thicken the stew, as it were.

So, dig that, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.