Friday, May 31, 2013

Un Amor Canta al Amor

Patricia Gonzalez – Un Amor Canta al Amor
Remo Records, LPR 1561, New York
Printed in Guayaquil, Ecuador
My collection of Latin American records is growing steadily largely due to my frequent trips to Miami. The predominant language is Spanish there and in the thrift stores nearly half of the records come from one Latin American country or another. It's a bit messy, browsing through the shelves in thrift stores in Miami (that of course are the lowest ones in the entertainment section of the store). The condition of the records is mostly poor, often the wrong disc is inside a jacket, if there's a jacket at all. Sometimes you'll find the back half of the jacket in a different location than the front half, and the vinyl in yet a third location. It is hardly a deterrent for me. I may assume that those records in good shape represent less popular ones, and I assume too that I often like less popular records better than popular ones. And that introduces me to this gem I found last week in a Goodwill on Tamiami Trail on my way out of town. The gem is an LP by the Ecuadorian singer Patricia Gonzalez titled Un Amor Canta al Amor. The singer is pretty obscure, there's not much presence on line, and as far as I can tell, there's no other record by her. But it's one of the best. And if you decide to visit Miami and try to snatch the next gem from under my nose...do me favor and also visit the WDNA 88.9 FM radio station. The gallery of which houses a bunch of musician's paintings. Many of them modeled after images on sleeves of Latin records that I picked up on previous visits to that wonderful city.