RubA©n Blades y Son del Solar - RubA©n Blades y Son del Solar...Live!

Ruben Blades puts in a dynamic performance, recorded in New York, that shows why he is known foremost as a singer rather than a film star or politician. The native Panamanian has a distinctive take on Salsa, combining an innate jazz sensibility along with Salsa's inherent dance grooves. His band Son del Solar is one of the best in the business, following Blade's warm and personal vocals through every move with some great solos and arrangements. Several of his successes are featured, such as "Pedro Navaja" and "Todos Vuelven," and "Muevete" gets a scintillating 12-minute workout. With a little Caribbean influence in the mix, Live delivers a smooth punch with a velvet glove that will definitely rock you. --Derek Rath Amazon.com

A masterpiece!!!

This one's simply a masterpiece by Rubén Blades and his Son del Solar band. Probably the most hooking and cheerful recording out from all his discography, capable of making the whole latin music to sound like the finest symphony.

The entire show record captured not only the feeling on the music, the virtue on the performance and Ruben's catchy vocals, but it also captured faithfully the audience mood that night. There's some passages that even sound like a comedy stand-up show, highlighting the communion between the artist and his fans.

Not a greatest hits collection, as not all of his best songs are included but, however, still one of his personal best, and perhaps also one of the best salsa albums recorded ever.

A must in any latin music collection. August 6, 2008

Not a huge salsa fan but this is a touchstone

I have not been put on this planet to celebrate pan-Hispanic culture, but what can I say? This collection of toons makes my teeth sweat. The power of the vibe here is nuclear, I kid you not.

Ruben's output over the years has been patchy from where I sit, but he makes not a wrong move in this collection. The Son del Solar are gods one and all.

Buy this platter and feel the power.
September 4, 2006

RUBEN'S BEST WORK.

ALTHOUGH NOT THE FIRST ALBUM I OWNED OF RUBEN, CERTAINLY THIS ONE COMBINES HIS POWERFUL MESSAGES WITH ONE HELL OF A PERFORMANCE BY THE BAND. THE ADRENALINE STARTS PUMPING FROM THE FIRST SONG AND LEAVES YOU DANCING AND WANTING MORE BY THE END OF THE NIGHT. IF YOU OWN JUST ONE RUBEN BLADES CD, THIS ONE IS IT. BTW, the first time I bought this cd, some of the tracks didn't play well on ANY cd player. I noticed that only a partial album is available at i-Tunes and that the same songs that gave me trouble are the ones missing from their list too... maybe mine wasn't the only bad copy out there December 30, 2004

Ruben Blades and Son de Solar Live!

Ruben Blades and Son de Solar's Live! is a refulgent live album. I have the tape version containing an extra track on it-Patria. Son de Solar sounded remarkably well. It is not surprising since Son de Solar is one of the best concomitant bands Blades can have: Marc Quiñones and Izbarra-I misspelled his name but nevertheless one of the best timbaleros in Latin jazz-taking care of the rhythm section.

Live! segues through most of Blades' Elektra -post- FANIA days repertoire starting with Decisiones and with the denouement of laudatory live renditions of Patria- cassette version only- and Muevete. The latter is a Los Van Van song showing Blades' openness to the seemingly modern and `electric' Cuban rumba. Blades' sonero voice is timeless as usual. The downside is that Live! seems to come up short and that might be explained because it is missing FANIA classics- except for Pedro Navaja. Notwithstanding, even without the FANIA classics, this album is filled with worth post-FANIA exemplars. August 11, 2003

El poder de la letra

El poder de la letra de las canciones de Ruben Blades es reconocido en todo el mundo. Muchas canciones de salsa tienen textos obsoletos; afortunadamente tenemos a Ruben Blades que compone canciones que siempre llevan en significado, ya sea social, político o hasta económico. Ruben Blades se hizo famoso con Pedro Navaja, una canción muy larga que uno no quiere que termine.
Éste CD contiene otras canciones como El Padre Antonio, Decisiones o Buscando América que son inolvidables. Qué suerte que tuvo Latinoamérica cuando Ruben perdió las elecciones en Panamá. Haz música Ruben que allí eres el primero.

Virgilio Krumbacher October 3, 2001

More reviews at Amazon.com ...