Search - Hector Lavoe :: Live

ONLY TRUE SALSA FANS LISTEN TO HECTOR

Nelson O. Figueroa | FAR ROCK, QUEENS, NY | 03/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"HECOTR IS NOT ONLY "EL CANTANTE DE LOS CANTANTES", IT IS THROUGH HIM THAT SALSA HAS BECOME WHAT IT IS TODAY. SO MANY ARTIST SHOULD PAGE HOMAGE TO THIS MAN, FOR IT WAS HIM THAT INSPIRED MANY. I CAN ONLY DREAM OF STARTING A SALSA BAND AND PLAYING THE CONGAS, BUT FOR NOW I AM HAPPY ENOUGH WITH PLAYING ALONG TO ALL MY FAVORITE HECTOR LAVOE SONGS, WHICH IS LIKE ALL OF THEM. IF YOU WANT TO HEAR TRUE SALSA, THERES ONLY ONE....HECOTR LAVOE. THE GREATEST SALSERO! I AM TO YOUNG TO SAY THAT I HAVE SEEN HIM OR EVEN HEARD HIM LIVE, BUT WHEN I FIRST PICKED UP ONE MY FATHERS OLD SALSA ALBUMS, I WAS HOOKED. SINCE THEN I NEVER STOPPED LISTENING. HE LIVES ON, AND ALWAYS WILL BE CANTANTE DE LOS CANTANTES! WEEEEPAAAAAAAAA!"

NINGUNO COMO HECTOR

FAB | MIDDELFART, DENMARK | 05/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up listenning to La Fania thanks to my older brother....at first i thought it was music for people of bad deeds...then i started to listen to the lirycs when Hector was singing and i realized this man was for real,ever since then i have been a big fan of him....i saw him 3 times in New York ,once after his accident at the Club Broadway and he was joking like nothing had happened.I guess all his life he told his life story through his music
He ,Hector,was trully the last of the soneros...there is no one out there that can sing with that style,Ruben is an intellectual, Hector is EL BARRIO
For those who do not know him...check him out and compare him to the pretty "salsa"boys that are out there earning bucks through comercials and not talent
Before Hector there were many good ones...but after him...
he was the very last of that school
LIKE HIM NO ONE ELSE EVER!!!"

Great Snapshot into Late-Period Lavoe

G. Machado | 11/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful record -- it should be re-released now to complement Fania's re-issuing of its vast and terrific catalog (anchored by those incredible Lavoe LPs from between 1975-81). This particular show may have been recorded in 1986-87, right before Lavoe's world came tumbling down (within months, his teenage son died tragically, his house burned down and he was diagnosed with AIDS).



Lavoe sounds great, as he did when he ruled the salsa world in the mid- to late 70s (before merengue took over), and seems to be in very good spirits; his musicians, members of the Angel Canales band, sound tight and alive.



Although the liner notes say this show was recorded in the 70s, it wasn't -- Lavoe refers a couple of times to his "upcoming" record, "Strikes Back," which came out in 1987. Also, Lavoe recorded some of the songs included here in the 80s ("Plato de segunda mesa", "El rey de la puntualidad") with the Fania All-Stars.



All in all, a wonderful snapshot of a star who was about to suffer a long and painful decline. It's fitting that the recording ends abruptly and before the second set, with a too-short version of "El cantante" -- that's how Lavoe's life was."