First of all, all the songs are in Spanish (except for the final instrumental "Junio '73", which is not in any language, save for the title, which is in Spanish, though). Now this might sound like a vain complaint: "Duh, of course it's in Spanish, it's a Cuban album," I almost can hear you saying. And under normal circumstances, that would not be a problem: I happen to speak flawless Spanish.

So, what's the problem, then? The singers in these album speak very bad Spanish. They don't pronounce half the "s" sounds, pronounce "r" where an "l" should go, pronounce "l" where "r" should go, don't pronounce "z", and countless other mistakes. The result is, quite simply, awful. To top it off they use words that don't exist, like babalao, or use words incorrectly, like in the "verse" (I feel this is a misnomer for such a lowly assemblage of words thrown together, actually, I feel my previous use of "assemblage" is also giving too much credit) in Calle Luna Calle Sol that goes: Saca los bolsillos, tu estás arrancado (I correct the Spanish), which translates as "Take out your little bags, you are started (as in a car starting up)". What the hell is that supposed to mean?

The music doesn't have enough instruments. Apart from the percussion, the bass and the piano, there are only two trombones, which play the lead parts. Colón should have assembled a bigger orchestra to play these songs, with more instruments, like accordions (which work very well in Mexican music, which is similar to Cuban music). Two trombones simply don't have enough range, and can't play more than a note each at the same time. The drum beats also sound quite primitive-- almost as if they were Western African. They should play some more sophisticated and complex rythms, such as jazz. Also, the singer, Héctor Lavoe, has too high a voice. He should use his lower register more. He also sings too nasally. Whoever his voice teacher was obviously didn't do very good a job. He also seems to improvise throughout the record, which shows a lack of a great vision of what the music and the words should be. He should try to take the time and make the effort to write good lyrics and not depart from them, instead of resorting to make-shift measures such as the ones he uses.

Anyway, the first song, the aforementioned Calle Luna Calle Sol, is about a bad neighborhood where people get robbed. I guess that, despite the terrible Spanish in it, we should be thankful for their warning not to go visit them there, since we could get robbed. Thus it does seem to have, after all, a good social message which we should all heed.

The second song is Todo tiene su final ("Everything comes to and end"), which follows in a distinguished Spanish literary tradition dating back to the Renaissance sonnets of Garcilaso de la Vega. That is, this is very old stuff any appropriately educated person should have heard thousands of times before, in which no contribution can be original.

Track 3, Guajira ven, exhibits a very refined language and poetic sensibility, with an impressive display of literary vocabulary. Not coincidentally, Colón didn't write this song, nor did Lavoe tear it apart with one of his improvisations.

Track 4, La María, first of all, must be criticized because of the title. The use of articles to accompany proper names is very unrespectful in Spanish; just from this way of referring to her you can conclude that this woman María must be a prostitute or something similar. Which makes for a clear conclusion: the words of "love" that Lavoe directs towards her are actually words of sin and sexual exploitation.

The fifth selection, Señora Lola, is a song about violent altercartions between males (just barely) of the species Homo sapiens. Lavoe threatens a guy with a machete with a machine gun, which is quite clearly not a nice thing to do. It also has quite negative attitudes about gender relations; Lavoe's concluding insult for his opponent is as follows (again, I correct the barbaric Cuban "Spanish"):

Tú dices que tú mandas en tu casa,
En tu casa tú no mandas nada, que va,
Dícelo Lola

("You say you are the chief in your household, / In your household you are no chief, oh no, / Tell him, Lola")

So not being the person whose orders are heeded inconditionally in the household, in the mind of the Cuban singer Héctor Lavoe, is an insult. To which I respond: Mr. Lavoe, your Cuba must be a horribly sexist and backwards country.

Next comes El día de suerte, track number 7. Here Lavoe reveals that he is an orphan, and that he has been in jail. He also contradicts himself; on the one hand, he sings

Para comer hay que buscar el real,
Aunque sea en contra de la sociedad.
A la cárcel me escribe mi amistad:
"No llores nene que tu suerte cambiará"

("In order to eat you have to find money, / even if it's by hurting society. / My friend writes to me when I'm in jail: / `Don't cry boy, your luck will change'")

But later in the song (which is too long, may I say), he sings:

No entiendo por qué la vida así me de tratar,
si yo a nadie nunca he hecho mal.

("I don't understand why life treats me like that, / since I have never done anybody harm.")

But it is evident he has done people harm; he himself admits it in the song!

Anyway, I feel little sympathy for Lavoe's whining in this song. The album reveals clearly his weak work ethic, with much improvisation a little composition.

Track number 7, Vo so, has a sensless title. No Spanish dictionary I consulted showed any of the two "words" in the title. Anyway, it's just more male chauvisnism as in La María.

Conclusion: I'm not impressed at all by Cuban music. It is sexist, it has too little musicians, who don't work hard enough at composition and are forced to make their way through by improvisation, and contradict themselves.