Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco: Quimbara
Continuing my list of the Top 20 albums of 1974, coming in at #10 is Celia and Johnny by Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco. 1974 was a banner year for salsa music, especially that coming out of New York, with several of the style’s most important recordings released that year. At the forefront of it all was Fania Records. It had only been ten years since founder Johnny Pacheco started the label by selling records out of the back of his car, and Fania was now one of the most successful Spanish language labels in the world. In 1973, the Fania All-Stars performed in Yankee Stadium to 45,000 fans, and 1974 continued that success with a bunch of great recordings. Among them was my personal favorite album released by the label. Celia and Johnny combines the music of the label’s founder with the amazing vocals of Celia Cruz. The results are a salsa dance party that has been sending people to the dance floor for 50 years. Album opener “Quimbara” is a classic, but every song on the album is fantastic.
To learn more about Celia Cruz, check out her website. To learn more about Johnny Pacheco, check out his website. To learn more about Fania Records, watch this National Geographic Channel documentary.
To check out all of the old Faux Show Best of the Year Shows, visit The Year In Review Series page.
To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.
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