Matt
Apollo 11 was blasting off to the moon the same day Roberto Roena held his first rehearsal for his new band in 1969 and why not use that name especially if you are a Salsa band but this is no ordinary Salsa band as Roberto Roena's music contained a lovely modern, slightly different approach. Three trumpets were in this line-up, tenor saxophone and flute with one trombone used. Lenny Prieto was the pianist and he is still around today playing and arranging for the likes of Giberto Santa Rosa, Bobby Valentin, Victor Manuelle and Sonora Poncena. Another musician who was in Apollo Sound was Papo Pepin on congas who these days is nothing short of a legend having played with Machito, Tito Puente, Willie Colon to Mark Anthony and La India with nearly every other latin artist you can think of between those time spans. Efrain Hernadez is on bass and another that is still around but Sonora Poncena, Andy Montanez and The Puerto Rican All Stars are some of his stand outs. At this time Apollo Sound was going through a change in line up as the lead vocalist, saxophone player, trombonist all left and Carlos Santos was enlisted as the new lead vocalist with Tito Cruz. Four Coros, five different arrangers and strings as well on two songs being the title "El Progreso and "Necessito Llamar Su Atencion" There is a special guest and that is Papo Lucca on piano for five of the tracks and he was actually one of the co founders of Sonora Poncena as well as playing with many lumanaries such as Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colon, Celia Cruz, Bobby Valentin, Fania All Stars etc and arranged "Lamento De Concepcion" within the album. Roberto himself is on bongos of course with all the production duties on the album. "El Progresso" is number X or 10 in the list of Apollo Sound releases with a beautiful approach to the songs and when the strings are used in conjunction with the band we have that wonderful sweeping, sunshine sound applied to the track "Progreso" which was a hit for Roberto and the band during the albums time of release. Roberto applied a class to his music and a slightly different approach and although primarily Latin he still occasionally used elements of rock or pop within his compositions and always there was room for improvision giving us a more contempary style with his music and it is no wonder they were popular.
We kick off with "Regional Corazon" with an acappella intro before the band comes in and already you can hear Roberto's sound with the mix of horns and with a return to the acappella quickly the tune comes in with the montuno and Carlos Santos on vocals with the help of the brass gives the tune a real kick. The title is next being "El Progresso" and what a superb song it is with that seventies sweep and sunshine applied in equal amounts all over a wonderful rthymn and the chorus will have you hooked but perhaps the standout within the tune is Fransisco "Ito" Serrano on electric guitar and what a terrific feel he applies with that Wah Wah pedal putting time in with the rythmn section and a stunning result is the consequence and even though those timbales are hit only twice when they are at the front within the structure of the song it is another quick high point to this absolutely beautiful tune with those sweeping strings."Viva Cortijo" follows which was written by the great Bobby Capo and is Roberto's tribute to his friend and mentor Rafael Cortijo with a great mix of rthymns throughout the tune but it is the bomba at the end which has me jumping. Another highlight from the album is "Lamento De Concepcion" with its lyrics pertaining to the poverty of low paid workers with another beautiful smooth intro with Carlos Santos singing with that smooth manner over percussion primarily throughout the verse but when the coros make their entrance the tune immediately gathers momentum with a few more chorus's from the coros, the trumpet is what is riding the number with a lovely spaced out solo between the horns and rthymn section with plenty of drive. The Bolero is "Necessito Llamar Su Atencion" and the strings are back for the this little heart wrencher sung by Carlos Santos who was nothing short of expert with his smooth delivery and he sounds like he does mean it. There are another three songs within the album with the usual finesse comong from the band which is nothing short of a high standard which the entire album "El Progresso"is.
So many good albums Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound recorded and this one is just another great one and as I mentioned above the title song for the album is simply stunning with the arrangements. One other note though is the edition issued in 2006 the booklet has the review and other information of his number 7 album "Lucky 7" which I do own and thought perhaps "El Progresso's" notes were in "Lucky 7" but no luck just "Lucky 7" notes again.