El Gran Combo in Paradise with “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso”
The latest album from legendary Puerto Rican salsa band, El Gran Combo titled “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso” will make you feel in paradise if you like salsa music.
An excellent production with great themes, solid arrangements, and excellent sound quality, the album provides an exciting experience from beginning to end.
The Good: Why You Will Like “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso”
“Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso” is an album with excellent songs from start to finish. The very 1st song, the album title song, is a catchy son-montuno with a fast-paced swing that will put your feet to move even if you are sitting down. Other very sticky tunes include “El Comejen” and “La Espuma Y La Ola”, where the former is a slow “son” with old-style salsa “güaperia” lyrics, and the latter is a fast-paced son-montuno great for dancing and with a philosophical theme using the oceans wave (“ola”) and spary (“espuma”) as metaphors for the desire to be active for a long time, rather than get short-lived immediate gratification.
I also like two song remakes included in “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso”. The first one is “A Mi Me Gusta Mi Pueblo” which is theme song from Puerto Rican “jíbaro” (traditional folkloric music) music singer Andres Jimenez “El Jíbaro”. El Gran Combo did a great arrangement on this song to keep its essence, adding a “güicharo” (a modified version of a Cuban “güiro” instrument used in Puerto Rican folk music) to the song’s instruments, while making it more fast-paced and danceable.
The second song is a remake of El Gran Combo’s own “Achilipú”; a 1971 hit included in their strong album “De Punta a Punta” (from end to end). I love when El Gran Combo goes into their archives and remake one of their oldies with the new band sound, which now features Willie Sotelo on piano, officially taking over for senior citizen Rafael Ithier, who still remains with the band in the leader role. This song rocks, and this (again) is another song that you just have to hold down your feet in place so you don’t jump up to start dancing. Amazing swing!
One of my favorite songs is “Es La Mujer”, which is a song denouncing violence and abuse against women, and encourages women victims of such abuse to speak up and submit charges against the abuser.
This song should put a smile on the face of Professor Frances Aparicio, who studied Salsa lyrics in her book “Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin Popular Music, and Puerto Rican Cultures” and found that many songs in Salsa denigrate women. With this song El Gran Combo comes out with a strong message against women abuse, and hopefully put the last nail in the coffin of “machista” songs like “Si Te Cojo“, interpreted by the late great Ismael Rivera. Mass media has been proven to have a big impact on our society’s behavior, and I’m just delighted to see El Gran Combo make a strong positive statement to end violence against women.
Not Many Flaws in this Latin Music Gem
It’s hard to find flaws in “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso“. There are a couple of the 10 songs that feel like songs to fill the album, but that’s only because the rest of the album is so strong. All songs in this album are good.
If You Like Salsa Music This Album is a Must Have
You’ll be delighted with “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso” if you’re a Salsa music fan. This is a great album to listen good salsa music, as well as a fantastic album if you like to dance. This is a strong album from end to end (and with the inclusion of “Achilipú”, the reference to “De Punta a Punta” has double meaning).
After a few weak albums, El Gran Combo retook its winning ways with the previous album “Arroz Con Habichuelas” where the band put together one of their best albums of the decade. I liked “Arroz Con Habichuelas” so much it was hard for me to accept that “Sin Salsa No Hay Paraiso” was as strong the first time I listen to it. But after the 2nd time, it was clear that the follow-up to “Arroz Con Habichuelas” can equal or surpass the quality of their last recording. At 48 years after Rafael Ithier created the band, they are as strong now as they have ever been, telling us that even with some aging musicians, this musical institution of Puerto Rico has the energy and quality to go another 48 years.