Various We've Got A Groovy Thing Going - Latin Soul Of Bobby Marin (2-LP)

(Vampi Soul) 24 tracks

Those in the know are aware of Bobby Marin's work and the fact that he was responsible behind the scenes for some of the best boogaloo and salsa songs of the 60s and 70s. But no one has yet explicitly headlined Bobby's name and paid him the tribute he deserves on the cover of a Latin soul compilation.

This compilation includes twenty-four essential boogaloo, Latin funk, rock and Afro-disco gems, each bearing the stamp of quality: “A Bobby Marin Production”, including songs by Ricardo Marrero, the Ghetto Brothers, Ocho, Louie Ramírez_ A freshly curated overview of his fascinatingly complex back catalog in these genres. There have been numerous Latin soul and boogaloo compilations since the late 1980s, and of course much has been written about the history of this music, and an excellent documentary (“We Like It Like That” by Mathew Ramírez Warren) has brought the music to a wider audience. When people talk about the “first wave” of Latin soul and boogaloo, they usually only mention the bands and their leaders, the singers and the songs. But what about the producers, composers and arrangers behind the music?

Over the years, Bobby Marin, one of New York's finest old-school Latin music producers, has occasionally been given well-deserved recognition, popping up sporadically in articles or liner notes (Wax Poetics, Fania, Gladys Palmera). However, he is not a household name to the general public, not even among fans of boogaloo. There are even some contemporary Latin soul compilations out there, most of which contain material licensed, produced and/or written by Bobby (or his brother Richard), and you have to tip your hat to Bobby's friend Dean Rudland for his work in this area, as well as Rocafort Records for unearthing the long-lost Nitty Gritty Sextet album.

But until 2024, no one has explicitly headlined Bobby's name and given him his due on the cover of a Latin soul compilation. This collection aims to change that, giving the man his Latin soul 'props' for the first time on a freshly curated overview of