CD Music Shop

One day, at a flea market, I bought an RCA Living Stereo Sampler, released in 1961, featuring songs by mostly easy listening artists under contract to the label at that time.

Never will I forget my reaction at hearing the selection by Perez Prado, with whom I was not familiar then. The Ames Brothers had just finished crooning "Harbor Lights" when, all of a sudden, this pulsating Latin rhythm bursted from my speakers.

Immediately, I stopped whatever I was doing, and started snapping my fingers, moving my feet, and clapping my hands. Alone in the room! And I didn't even know how to dance.

Well, I grabbed the LP jacket to find out the name of the song and the artist. It was "Mambo Jambo" by Perez Prado, taken from the RCA Victor LP "Big Hits By Prado." I quickly headed to a local record store that stocked out of print LPs, but the only one that he had by Prado was his collaboration with Rosemary Clooney. Without hesitation, I bought it, and, that too remains one of my favorites today.

But, "Big Hits By Prado", which I eventually found, is simply his best work. I'm hooked on every song. How wonderful to have it finally on CD. It's a German import under a diferent title, but with additonal tracks, retaining the same glorious "living stereo" sound of the original album.

I have since collected many of Perez Prado's other RCA records. The cha-cha LP, the twist LP, the pachanga LP, and his cuban jazz LP with Shorty Rogers. "Pops and Prado" is my second favorite.