JOE BATAAN
THE LOST SESSIONS NEW YORK 76

Joe Bataan is a legend of Latin soul. His recordings in the late 60s for Fania were the very definition of that genre, while his early 70s recordings for the fledgling Salsoul label are always in demand by DJs and collectors alike. His version of Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘The Bottle’ (called ‘La Botella’) from the LP “Afrofillipino” is a club classic. Later in the decade he returned to Salsoul and had one of the first international rap hits with ‘Rap-o-Clap-o’. Brought up in Spanish Harlem, a reformed gang member, he was always in touch with what was going on on the streets. In 1976 he recorded his follow-up to “Afrofillopino” that was imbued by the nascent sounds of disco that were the sound of New York that year. After a dispute with Salsoul, he placed the album with the Rifkind brothers’ Spring Records. It was not issued and – apart from a very limited Japanese issue – the tapes have languished in the vaults until now. The eight track album sees Joe as adept as Latinised disco as he was at funk and soul. It features both new and old songs by Joe including inspired reworkings of Fania classics such as ‘When We Get Married’, ‘My Cloud’ and ‘My Opera’. New songs such as ‘Sadie’ were re-recorded later for Salsoul and there’s a stunning version of Isaac Hayes ‘The Men’ which was clearly aimed to emulate the success of ‘La Botella’. Not only are the grooves great but Joe is in amazing voice throughout, especially on the closing number a version of Billy Stewart’s ‘I Do Love You’.