El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico - 35 Years Around the World

35th anniversary album
Released 1997

Produced by Ralph Cartagena & Derek Cartagena

Available at Combo Records, Descarga, Prodland, Amazon, etc

CD1
1. Guaguanco del Gran Combo 3:51 (Justi Barreto)
2. Lirica Borinqueña 4:33 (Johnny Ortiz)
3. Carmencita 4:38 (Kito Velez)
4. La Curandera 4:30 (Harry Suarez)
5. No Quiero Llanto 4:02 (D.R.)
6. Esta Bueno Ya 3:27 (Victor Rodriguez)
7. Potro Amarrao 4:34 (Johnny Ortiz)
8. El Maceta 3:30 (Benjamin Muniz)
9. Licor De Tu Boquita 4:03 (Placido Acevedo)
10. Te Vas Arrepentir 4:15 (Roberto Anglero)
11. Gotas De Lluvia 4:12 (Luis A. Maldonado)
12. Aguacera 4:13 (Raquel Velasquez)
13. Asi Son 3:46 (Claudio Ferrer)
14. Si Me Muero 4:38 (Rafael Hernandez)
15. Patria 4:39 (Perin Velasquez)
16. Tatalibaba 4:01 (F. Santana)
17. No Necesito Nada 3:29 (Jerry Rivas)
18. Los Celos De Mi Compay 3:48 (Claudio Ferrer)

CD2
1. Con Eso 4:06 (Juan Carlos Rueda)
2. Quince Años 4:10 (Reynaldo Armas)
3. Que Cosas Tendran 4:15 (Arsenio Rodriguez)
4. Te Deseo 4:57 (Angel Santiago)
5. Carbonerito 4:59 (Peter Velasquez)
6. A La Reina 4:34 (Pedro Flores)
7. La Loma Del Tamarindo 5:19 (Angel Santiago)
8. Poniendo el Grito en el Cielo 4:51 (Mike Amadeo)
9. Se Me Fue 4:56 (Perin Velasquez)
10. Los Tenis 4:55 (Enrique Feliz)
11. Lamento Jibaro 3:26 (J. Tano)
12. Amor Brutal 4:49 (Benjanmin Muniz)
13. Buena O Mala 4:56 (Eric Figueroa)
14. Gracias 4:08 (Charlie Aponte)
15. Resignacion 4:58 (Benjamin Muniz)
16. Cunabiche Adentro 5:19 (Ali Primera)

For Salsa DJs, this has to rank as one of those must-have CDs. You will have to pay full price - no Amazon bargains for this one. Salsanewyork.com honor list includes 8 Salsa tunes (Guaguanco Del Gran Combo, Gotas De Lluvia, Aguacero, Asi Son, Con Eso, La Loma Del Tamarindo, Se Me Fue, Gracias) plus one Cha Cha (Que Cosas Tendran). Other possible songs for dancing include Lirica Boriquena and Quince Anos.

As for the source material, I'm not sure. It's possible that El Gran Combo re-recorded some of these songs for this album. Some of the songs were recorded in different setting for sure though - Que Cosas Tendran has a recording quality very different from the songs preceding and following it. In any case, this album makes a perfect companion for their 30th anniversary album, which has a completely different lineup of songs.

Musician line-up is not given except for the lead singers for each song. The liner note has signature of band members, whose names I deciphered in most but not all cases.

Musicians include

Rafael Ithier / Director & Piano
Andy Montanez / Lead Vocals (1,5,10,14 & 3,11,16)
Charlie Aponte / Lead Vocals (2,4,7,9,12,15,18 & 1,4,7,9,12,14)
Jerry Rivas / Lead Vocals (3,6,11,13,17 & 2,6,10)
Pellin Rodriguez / Lead Vocals (8 of CD1)
Andy Montanze & Pellin Rodriguez / Lead Vocals (16 of CD1)
Papo Rosario / Lead Vocals (5 of CD2)
Charlie Aponte & Jerry Rivas / Lead Vocals (8,13 of CD2)
Charlie Aponte & Papo Rosario / Lead Vocals (15 of CD2)
Eddie Perez / Saxophone
Freddie Miranda / Saxophone
Luis A. Maldonado “Taty” / Trumpet
Victor E. Rodriguez / Trumpet
Moises Nogueras / Trombone
Jose Miguel Laboy “Mitchell”? / Bongo & Campana
Cuqui Santos / Timbales
Miguel Torres / Conga
others