The tropical entry in Sony Latin's
Viernes Social (Friday Social) series opens with a stone killer in Rubén Blades y Son del Solar's mid-burn salsa sizzler "Camaleón," off 1991's
Caminando. This is a hell of a way to start a tropical party. And while this cut is of the more traditional variety, there are contemporary sounds here as well, including
NG2's "Si La Ves,"
Elvis Crespo's "Suavemente," and the tropical version of
India's hit, "Sedúceme." On the ballad side,
Luis Enrique's steamy "Desesperado" is here, but so are some killer trad salsa jams including
Celia Cruz's reading of "Oye Como Va," and
Jerry Rivera's "Amores Como (with its cool quote from Pachelbel's Canon). One of the hip throwbacks to an earlier era is the neo-boogaloo of
Galy Galiano with "Enormorado Yo Estoy." This is a fine party mix, with a solid balance of old-school and nuevo tropical to satisfy most fans of the genre. ~ Thom Jurek