Bandera - Bandera (1989)

I have had the one and only album by Bandera (not to be confused with previous postee Banderas) for a very long time but never gave it a proper listen for some reason. So when I was ripping the Warren Mills album I decided to throw it on. It is a much better album than I gave it credit for! (Given that it's a vinyl rip and has a couple slight glitches due to wear, I suggest that you pick up a CD copy if you like what you hear, as there are many cheaply available on Amazon. ;) The group, originally known as Uno Mundo, consisted of singer Lagaylia Frazier, singer and guitarist Rosco Martinez and pianist Paquito Hechavarria. They came together in Miami, Florida, emerging from a scene that also spawned Gloria Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine. Lagaylia and Rosco were fresh young talent, while Paquito had long been established as a respected musician in his native Cuba. The threesome were signed to Island Records and worked with many of the people behind the eventual pop success of Miami Sound Machine, most notably producers The Jerks (Joe Galdo, Rafael Vigil and Lawrence Dermer). Indeed, their sound is very similar to MSM - dance pop with heavy doses of funk, jazz and especially Latin flavour. They released four singles: "I Wanna Know", "The Tease", "Voodoo" and "Cruisin' Down Collins", which is likely their best known song. While the songs were all local hits, they failed to generate much interest outside of Florida. Unfortunately the band was soon dropped from Island Records along with a number of other acts when the company was taken over by Polygram. The group split and everyone went their own way. Rosco pursued a solo career and had even greater success, reaching #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Neon Moonlight" in 1994. He released two albums that year, one self-titled English pop album and Aqui Estoy, a purely Latin pop album. Under just his first name, he released his second Latin pop album Bendita la Fe in 1998 , which was produced by Desmond Child, along with the single "Señorita (No Me Dejes Solo)". He has remained in music since, mainly touring with his bands Havana Mojo and The Rosco Martinez Band. Lagaylia has also remained very active in music. Her first major success as a solo artist was in 1994 with the song "Shower Me With Love" from the movie The Specialist, which reached #2 on the Billboard Dance chart. She also formed her own band and performed around Florida, but in 2001 she decided to move to Sweden. In Sweden she has had even greater success, performing frequently on television and twice submitting successful entries in the Eurovision song contest, "It's In The Stars" in 2004 and "Nothing At All" in 2005. She released an album independently in 2007 called Lagaylia Uncovered, and won the Baltic Song Contest with the song "Over And Over Again" in 2008. Also in 2008, she became a Swedish citizen. As for Paquito, he has kept busy appearing on stage and on albums by artists such as Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, David Byrne and Christina Aguilera. He has also released solo albums such as Piano in 1995 and Frankly in 2009, his proper debut as a solo artist at the tender age of 74!

Download Bandera

1		Lola
2		The Tease
3		I Wanna Know
4		Don't Know What You Got
5		Voodoo
6		Cruisin' Down Collins
7		Eye For An Eye
8		Watusi
9		Me & You
10		Eh-Oh! (Brazilian Tune)