A CD copy of this album came into the store last month, and I took to it immediately due to the fact that the band and album share a name with everyone’s favorite hipster coffeeshop in Echo Park. The music contained on the gramophone record sounds nothing like the mind-numbingly bland “indie-rock” one would normally hear while drinking Chamomile or Yerba Mate tea at Chango. For the most part, it sounds like the first Santana records. That is to say, the style is something like salsa-infused jazz-rock. Chango was a six-member band that featured three percussionists, a bassist, a keyboardist and a guitarist. AllMusic writes that “side one contains the fiery ‘Walk on Hell’ and ‘Caminando,’ truly the group’s finest moment. The five songs on side two segue, alternating fast-paced numbers and slow instrumentals in true Santana fashion. ‘Solid Karma’ stands out…The god Chango, explain the liner notes, is ‘the representative of unbridled sexuality’ — the relentless rhythms of the previous 40 minutes were proof enough.” I know for a fact that Chango were based in Los Angeles, but I have no way of knowing if they were somehow involved with the creation of the coffeeshop.
Chango
Chango
ABC Records, 1975
MediaFire download link
Track Listing:
01) Fire Over Water
02) Walk On Hell
03) Bollo
04) Caminando
05) Mira Pa ‘Ca
06) Bembe
07) Solid Karma
08) Sacapa
09) Chango
