''Heart of the City'' is the fourth album by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

group

Barrabás Barrabás are a Spanish musical group, most successful in the 1970s and 1980s when they were led by drummer and producer Fernando Arbex. The group's musical style was initially Latin rock with jazz and funk influences, and later developed into a ...

, released in 1975. The album charted at #149 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the US, and was later re-released on CD in Spain as ''Check Mate''. This album was the first to feature Daniel Louis on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, after the departure of José María Moll. "Checkmate" / "Family Size" and "Make It Easy" / "Take a Wild Ride" were released as singles. The instrumental "Mellow Blow" was one of the first

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

s to be released, and the first ever on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

.Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco Alan Jones, Jussi Kantonen - 2011 1907195912 "Barrabas supplied breezy dance-floor fodder via "Wild Safari,” “Woman,” "Hijack” (which Herbie Mann covered for America, garnering the most successful single of his career), and from their album Heart of the City, "Family Size,” “Checkmate,” .."

Track listing

#"Checkmate" (

Fernando Arbex José Fernando Arbex Miró (28 May 1941 – 5 July 2003) was an influential Spanish musician and songwriter from Madrid, who enjoyed success both with his own groups and also with other artists. While still in his teens, he was the drummer in Los ...

) – 4:28 #"Take a Wild Ride" (E. Morales, M. Morales, Ernesto Duarte, Daniel Louis) – 4:00 #"Along the Shore" (Duarte, José Luís Tejada) – 6:06 #"Make It Easy" (E. Morales, M. Morales) – 3:54 #"Family Size" (Arbex) – 3:21 #"Mellow Blow" (E. Morales) – 4:12 #"Thank You Love" (E. Morales, M. Morales) – 4:45 #"Four Season Woman" (Arbex) – 3:57

Personnel

*José Luís Tejada –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

*Enrique "Ricky" Morales –

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and acoustic guitars, backing vocals *Miguel Morales –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

and acoustic guitars, backing vocals * Ernesto "Tito" Duarte –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, bass guitar *Juan Vidal – keyboards, backing vocals *Daniel Louis –

, percussion *"The Waters" (Maxine, Julia & Patti) – backing vocals *Produced by

*Recorded at Blue Rock Studios, New York

Release information

*Spain –

Ariola Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola Express, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international ...

Eurodisc *Germany – Ariola 89 267 XOT *USA & Canada –

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...

SD *Italy –

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

W50165 *Disconforme DISC 1993CD (2001 CD) – (as ''Check Mate'') * Wounded Bird WOBR6118 (2008 CD)

References

* 1975 albums Barrabás albums {{1970s-R&B-album-stub