''Antecedente'' is an album by the Panamanian musician Rubén Blades (credited with Son del Solar), released in 1988. The album was often reviewed with ''

La Pistola y El Corazón LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'', by

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...

, which also was a return-to-roots effort. The album won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for "Best Tropical Latin Performance". It peaked at No. 8 on ''Billboard''s Tropical Albums chart.

Production

The album was produced by Blades. His backing band changed its name from Seis del Solar to Son del Solar, with trombones replacing some of the synthesizer parts. ''Antecedente'' marked a return to salsa for Blades, who had remarked that he did not like how older studio recording techniques made the music sound.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote that "Blades augments a revamped, renamed Seis del Solar with salsa trombones and begets a dance album for the people of Panama." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' deemed the album "rewardingly rootsy." The ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' called it "a hot-blooded, no-nonsense salsa-style record brimming with gliding Latin rhythms, layers of punchy percussion and a relentless two-trombone backdrop—all topped off by Blades' plucky tenor." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' determined that "the music is full of life, trading away letter-perfect period authenticity for heartfelt spirit." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' considered the songs to be "not the fast, dizzying dance workouts of the barrio dance halls but a more sinuous sound that can accommodate both his evocative lyrics and his hypnotic syncopation." ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' labeled the album "a collection of dance tunes that forgo his usual political commentary for songs of love—of women, neighborhood and country."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the album a "return to exuberant, dance-oriented salsa."

Track listing

References

{{authority control Rubén Blades albums 1988 albums Elektra Records albums