A 1997 Musical, Social and Political Landmark Surfaces Again on Vinyl and On Broadway

Ry Cooder doesn't get a mention or credit on Broadway (ugh)

Now's the time for another generation to discover the wonders of Buena Vista Social Club—the music, the artists, the history and the cultural phenom that made stars of some very old practitioners of musical genres and groupings referred to as Son, Danzón and other musical flavors and the unlikely story of how this record came to be, now being told in the Tony Award nominated Broadway show. Wim Wenders produced a same named documentary.

It's difficult to believe that almost 30 years have passed since the original album erupted on the international music scene. Cuba "opened up" in the 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, people visited, and the music—one of Cuba's treasures—filtered out (though, of course Afro-Cuban music formed the basis of a jazz movement years earlier). World Circuit label executive Nick Gold conceived the project and brought onboard Ry Cooder who produced the record, arriving in Cuba through Mexico because The United States trade and travel embargo was still in place.

The story is a bit more complicated. Cooder was in Cuba to produce a record that was supposed to be a collaborative effort between musicians from Mali and Cuba but passport issues prevented the Africans from coming to Cuba so Gold and Cooder decided to produce an all-Cuban set of idiosyncratic 1940s era music. The group was named after the Buenavista Social Club outside of Havana founded in the 1930s. No such club existed in 1996.

Older readers know the whole story and many probably have the Classic Records vinyl release cut by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes, produced in EGREM studios, (originally owned by RCA) and like the 1950s era cars on Cuba's streets, the studio innards resembled something out of the 1950s, which of course is why the sound is so great!

The musicians were recruited for the project and in less than a week, 14 songs were recorded and only then did the project get its name. How could the sometimes hot, often elegant music and the story not make for a great Broadway show?

This Analogue Productions 45rpm release uses the Classic Records metal parts originally used for an 8 LP single sided set housed in a plain white box with a circular cover image.

For this release Analogue Productions chose two sided 45s, which is a good idea since single sided records tended to have "dishing" issues and instead of putting the records in white jackets in a box, the 4 LPs are housed in a "book style" jacket with session photos on every leaf. It also includes a 12 page booklet (also available on R2R tape).

The sound is as sensuous as the music and delivers everything any audio enthusiast would want from a recording: transparency, spaciousness, harmonic generosity, three-dimensionality. Pick your favorite audiophile descriptors and this recording delivers them. I didn't compare the Classic 45 set with this one. What's the point?However, the new packaging is clearly the winner and the new pressings are at least as good as the original, pressed using the same metal parts.

Okay, a reader requested a comparison of the Classic original with this reissue that used the same metal parts so I conducted one using side 1 ("Chan Chan"/ De Camino a La Vereda"). The problem here first, is that once "Chan Chan" resides in your head it's almost impossible to get it out! There are worse problems.

A bigger problem was the dishing:

The weight/clamp here reduced it somewhat from how it looks in this photo. However, the bottom line is the two pressings sounded identical as expected.

Packaging as deluxe and elegant as the music—love songs mostly— performed on guitar, bass, trumpet, conga and a variety of other percussion instruments, many played by musicians who for decades played for the joy of it and never expected it to be recorded, never mind achieve worldwide stardom.

Love songs sung and played by old men (and one woman). Sadly most of them are gone. Many passed on a few years after the album's release—Ibrahim Ferrer (2005), Rubén Gonzalez (2003) and Orlando Cachaito López (2009).

The original group toured the world and played a memorable Carnegie Hall Concert, that was recorded and released. A few members survive and tour as The Buena Vista Social Club. Omaha Portuondo, the only woman associated with the project, who sang with Ibrahim Ferrer, is still alive at 94.

They all live on in the grooves of these records. A highly recommended set as much fun to listen to now as it was almost 30 years ago. The new packaging is a major enhancement to the original Classic Records box set. A classic. Highly recommended.