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In the notes to Joe's early '70's album "Singin' Some Soul" -the main bulk of this album along with 8 EXTRA TRACKS!- Fania label boss Jerry Masucci comments, "Here Joe really lays his soul out on the line. I won't even mention the songs I feel are great - they're all pure dynamite!". And indeed these songs all highlight his subtle vocal prowess. There's no boogaloo madness here, just Joe investigating his 1960's soul influences. Mongo Santamaria's Marty Sheller orchestrates the brass and string arrangements, and it mixes Bataan originals with cover versions of tracks by Smokey Robinson, the Seven Souls, the O'Jays and others. Unwed Mother, a Bataan original, illustrates his empathy for society's misfits, including struggling single female parents. "There's no time to cry," encourages Joe, "a new days gonna come!". In Young, Gifted And Brown, Joe sings a semi-autobiographical tale of underclass hope and disappointment. And Crystal Blue Persuasion? Joe blows Tommy James' million-selling original out of the water. The extra tracks include Ordinary Guy in the very first version from his debut LP "Gypsy Woman", Poor Boy, (a battle between rich and poor, purchased love Vs true love), the killer, epic Joe's elegiac meditation on solitude What Good Is A Castle, Coco-E (only in the CD!), Es Tu Cosa, twisting the Isley Brothers' funky It's Your Thing into a bittersweet lament, and Uptown ("Uptown" is of course East Harlem, Joe's stomping ground, and this is a nostalgic, autobiographical trip through his youth in which Joe sings of the tenacity required to triumph in a tough world. "It's gonna be my town!" he whoops). New York indeed became Joe's town because he sang about that crazy city and it's inhabitants with such affection and sympathy. Gil Scott-Heron once lauded him as the "Mayor of the Neighbourhood" and even the fiercest critics of Latin soul and boogaloo still venerate his body of work. Joe's amassed such respect because he expressed timeless, tender emotions that affect everyone. And if there's a sadness in Joe's voice and music, it's always balanced by a warmth and sweetness. Here's some soul - musica del alma - from sweet Joe Bataan.
