5 comments about Astor Piazzolla.

1. A 10 CD box of always interesting, often great, music by Piazzolla- and at this price? Wow. Though recorded over different years, the sound quality, while not uniform, is always clear, and appears to be true stereo. The company that issued this also has a number of other bargain boxes of great jazz musicians- the others I have are excellent as well.



2. So many american citizens names what is below Mexico as Banana Republics and confund what is country, capital, state, etc. in Brazil/Argentin/Buenos Aires/Rio/Sao Paulo/Brasilia. Brazil speaks portuguese, its capital is Brasilia, the national music is samba and it won 5 times the Socker worldcup. Argentina speaks Spanish, its capital is Buenos Aires, the national music is Tango and it won 2 times the socker worlcup. There is a lot of competition between the 2 countries, mainly Argentina at the end of WW II was the 4th largest econimy in the world and from this time it has been continuosly lost position, while Brazil in opposite is today the 8th largest economy in the world with all the indicators going up. But the subject is music.
   Astor Piazzolla is in my opinion the greatest Argentine contribution for the world music. He in life was hated for some (a lot) purist Argentine because he lived many years abroad and of course shows in his music the influence of others music styles, creating a Fusion Jazz TANGO. Of course what Argentines hate Brazilian will love.
   In South America music he is only behind Antonio Carlos (TOM) Jobin, the Bossa Nova Icon.



3. While there are several repeats of songs (works) in the 10-CD set, they are recorded at different periods in the late Astor Piazzolla's musical life, with different groupings of musicians. There is an incredible amount of song material in this set for such a small amount of money. The recording quality is variable, no doubt due to the quality of the original recordings, but it is still very good overall for the collection as a whole. For anyone just newly learning about Piazzolla, this is a very good collection to have as a starter set, at a very low price. And, for an oldtimer like me who already has a lot of CD albums of both Piazzolla performances and those of others who have covered his work with different instrumentation, I still added a lot of new song titles to my Piazzolla song list. I was lucky enough to have seen Piazzolla perform in concert in Miami about 1-2 years before his stroke, and 3-4 years before he died in 1992. I was also lucky to have heard and learned about his work before that time, even though it was long after he became famous (I never owned a Piazzolla record). It would have been nice to have an explanatory booklet ("liner notes") about the various works, even if the set cost a couple bucks more, which is why I downgraded to 4 stars.



4. An amazing musician. It's a great price and a wealth of material to enjoy, study and love. Beautiful.



5. I already own more than fifty Piazzolla CDs and so was more than a little curious about what new material could be gleaned from this ambitious box set. What I found is that despite thinking that my collection must be nearing completion, my collection is far from complete indeed! While most of the songs are very familiar, at least eighty percent of the arrangements are not.
   The songs within are mostly from the late 60s-70s period of Piazzolla's long and glorious career. There are some live recordings, some recordings in Portuguese, some in Italian, and some recordings made with some of the more obscure Piazzolla ensembles as well as a modest number of arrangements as presented on recordings I already own. In short, this is a veritable treasure trove of some of the twentieth century's finest compositions. After hearing this set for the first time, I wondered just how many more of Piazzolla's recordings have yet to be released.
   There are no favorite songs here, they are all good. This box set is an incredible bargain-do the math-which belongs in every music lover's collection. In addition to 10 CDs, the buyer gets an informative booklet. Get it while it is still available, it is one of the best deals I have ever gotten.

2 comments about The Complete RCA Recordings, Vol. 2.

1. I was really surprised to see a three-star review was all this amazing reissue release had received. I dunno, I guess I'm a little picky about stuff like this, but these two 6-CD sets (Volume 1 and 2 of the complete Tito Puente on RCA) are gems in my record collection: they are compact, concise and the music totally kicks a**. Great sound quality, and dozens of stunning, historically powerful Latin dance classics. Yes, there could have also been a giant, extensive discography and liner notes included, but then it would have been a 12-CD Bear Family box set, and it would have cost about three times as much, and taken up a lot more shelf space. I'm plenty happy with what they did -- it's very rare that you get this much bang for your buck. Highly recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Music Guide)



2. As I said in my review of Vol. 1, this is great music. Vol. 1 was a terrible reissue, however -- just over 4 discs worth of music spread over 6 discs, no personnel listing, no indication of which albums tracks were drawn from. Did RCA correct any of these flaws for volume 2?

   2 steps forward, 1 step back. Personnel are now listed (in an extremely confusing and inconsistent format, with names listed next to dates for sessions that they played on) -- but this time, the dates of recording were omitted! It would be laughable if it weren't so typical of the major labels.

   Vol. 2 has 290 minutes of music -- which would easily fit on 4 discs. This time around, the discs are packaged in 3 dual disk boxes, while last time they were packaged in 6 cardboard sleeves. (Either format is fine, consistency would have been nice.)

   The booklet is a little better this time: the essay tells you (more or less) which LPs the tracks were drawn from, and identifies which tracks were not previously issued or issued only on 78's.

   If you have both sets, does that mean you have all of TP's RCA output? Nope. For example, there's an alternate take of DANCE MANIA's "Estoy Siempre junto a Ti," but the master take is not available in the two collections. (DANCE MANIA is available on its own.)

   Verdict: most of the original LPs have been issued on CD, and the programming is superior. If you just want 5 hours of great music and don't care about the context, this set will do you fine.

   Which is better, vol. 1 or vol. 2? I might give the slight edge to vol. 1, but the tracks seem to have been randomly chosen, so it's not like vol. 2 is second best.

   I'm glad to have all of this great music: but I think RCA has done a great disservice and shown little respect for El Rey, Tito Puente.

No comments about Mariachi: Coleccion de Oro.

No comments about Joyas Musicales: Coleccion de Oro.

No comments about Salsa and Mambo Cubano.

2 comments about Albums: Discografia Completa.

1. For anyone thats a fan of "Hombres G" this has seven of their albums. "Hombres G" have a total of about 12 actual albums. But for a set that is hard to find this is worth every penny. I still have all of the "Hombres G" collection on cassette. I have a total of 10 tapes except for the last 2 or 3 albums. One of the best albums that they had released was the "Master Mix" album wich had mix previews of un-released music and classics in 3 seperate tracks. Hombres G were and always are one of the best spanish rock bands ever.



2. If you are a fan you gotta have it!, and if you want to know Hombres G this is the best way to do it.

No comments about Venceremos! Revolutionary Songs.

No comments about Carnival Brazil.

No comments about Coleccion de Oro: La Gran Señora de la Canción Ranchera.

1 comments about Coleccion de Oro.

1. I bought this CD for two reasons: Lucha Villa and the song "Nunca, nunca, Nunca". I was not disappointed. Lucha is from the era of truly original Mexican songstresses.