Ray Barretto - Indestructible, legendarisch salsa album uit 1973. Remastered from the original analog master tapes.
2023 reïssue on 180 gram vinyl. Fania/Craft/Concord. 

This album will blow your socks off or wear your soles thin. The great classic lead vocal by Tito Allen, consistent clave, thundering brass, percussion breaks, especially Barretto on conga, leave one gasping for air. The impressive roster of musicians and especially underappreciated lead vocals of the great Puerto Rican sonero Tito Allen, make "Indestructible" one of Ray`s finest imprints for Fania Records, offerings of some of the best salsa dance music ever. If one seeks a flawlessly executed salsa CD con sabor, this is one! Listen to Ray`s inspiring conga solos on El Hijo De Obatala following the piano`s, and accompaning brass. There is not a single cut on this CD that is either regrettable or lamentable. La Familia, La Orquesta, Llanto de Cocodrilo, Indestructible, and Ay No are all classics in the salsa old school. Listen carefully and you`ll hear the late salsa singer Hector Lavoe lend his support on coro.

Originally issued in 1973, Indestructible is one of Barretto`s most solidly consistent efforts, a series of Afro-Cuban rhythms and song styles illustrated by a stomping band that knows how to move the classic material in a jazz manner into improvisation and then back again. The opener, "El Hijo de Oblata," is a case in point: a piano line playing a steaming son line sets the base for the horn section to widen it next comes the chorus on the vocal melody, propped up all around by an army of percussionists, and they all meld together before the tempo slows momentarily and slips into a five/eight Latin-tinged jazz number where the pianist takes a solo rich in arpeggios, and smooths the rough-edged rhythms out with large augmented and suspended chords. When the line begins again, it`s twice as fast and the percussion section moves into overdrive with the piano so that the vocalists can barely keep up! In addition, there are gorgeous merengues here a rumba or two and a few more sons. Most noteworthy is the lovely and shimmering "El Diablo," with a "call-and-response" vocal that the claves and shakers and bata drums play counterpoint to. This is solid all the way through, and can only be called "salsa" in the most generic sense of that word -- there is too much other stuff going on here, too many traditional moments being banded together with jazz to gentrify this music. A true find in Barretto`s vast catalog. (All Music Guide)

SIDE A:

1. Hijo de Obatala (5:04)

2. El Diablo (5:23)

3. Yo Tengo un Amor (5:05)

4. La Familia (3:50)
SIDE B:

1. La Orquesta (4:34)

2. Llanto de Cocodrilo (3:56)

3. Ay No (6:07)

4. Indestructible (4:11)