Rockambo

AMG Review of Rockambo

Tony Wilds
All Music Guide

Rockambo is the first truly modern, stereo album by Prado. It and later LPs make it clear why Perez Prado is the foot in the door for many younger, raised-on-rock fans exploring older music. It may be tempting to think of this as Latin-rock music, and to some extent it is. But really it is a change in tempo, more like Latin at the pace of twist music. It speeds by, with most tracks under two minutes long, leaving you hungry for more. All twelve of these are pulse-quickening scorchers, from "Rockambo a la Prado," awhich reprises "Why Wait," to "Samia," an exotic number perhaps based on the Afro-Suban "Similau." The organ and rest of the band are finally working together as if they had from birth. And there are all sorts of the flourishes that made Havana, 3 a.m. so great.