Mario Allison: Oye Como Va (Industria Electro Sonora, 197?, Caliente Caliente Caliente)
To me, you can’t beat Tito Puente’s cover of this Santana classic Tito Puente’s original but this version by Mario Allison and The Stars is charmingly stripped down while maintaining all the hook-y elements of the original.1
Manito: Tuck’s Theme (RCA Victor, 1972, O Incrivel)
One of the more random covers out of Brazil that I know of: Manito flipping on Bill Deal’s “Tuck’s Theme,” complete with both opening and bridge breakbeats. Manito’s LP has other moments like this, including a cover of Kool and the Gang’s “The Gang’s Back Again.”
365 Days of Soul, #113 and 114
- I can’t believe I’ve had this backwards this whole time. Yikes. Thanks to Gayle Wald for the correction. ↩
“you can’t beat Tito Puente’s cover of this Santana classic”
Dear Lord, please tell me this was a joke.
Sadly, no. Clearly, my memory has gone the way of the birds