A CD copy of this album came into the store last month, and I took to it immediately due to the fact that the band and album share a name with everyone’s favorite hipster coffeeshop in Echo Park. The music contained on the gramophone record sounds nothing like the mind-numbingly bland “indie-rock” one would normally hear while drinking Chamomile or Yerba Mate tea at Chango. For the most part, it sounds like the first Santana records. That is to say, the style is something like salsa-infused jazz-rock. Chango was a six-member band that featured three percussionists, a bassist, a keyboardist and a guitarist. AllMusic writes that “side one contains the fiery ‘Walk on Hell’ and ‘Caminando,’ truly the group’s finest moment. The five songs on side two segue, alternating fast-paced numbers and slow instrumentals in true Santana fashion. ‘Solid Karma’ stands out…The god Chango, explain the liner notes, is ‘the representative of unbridled sexuality’ — the relentless rhythms of the previous 40 minutes were proof enough.” I know for a fact that Chango were based in Los Angeles, but I have no way of knowing if they were somehow involved with the creation of the coffeeshop.
Chango
Chango
ABC Records, 1975
MediaFire download link
Track Listing:
01) Fire Over Water
02) Walk On Hell
03) Bollo
04) Caminando
05) Mira Pa ‘Ca
06) Bembe
07) Solid Karma
08) Sacapa
09) Chango
February 9th, 2009
thanks for the nice review,i’ll come visit the cafe tomorrow!!pepe gomez/chango’s founder/singer/drummer/thanks
October 21st, 2009
I REMEMBER PEPE GOMEZ WHEN HE PLAYED DRUMS IN THE “FABULOUS DRONES” AT THE STAGE IN MIAMI THIS WAS THE BEST BAND EVER. HOW CAN I GET A COPY OF THIS CD ??
November 14th, 2009
are there any more cd’s around for sale on this band chango.
November 30th, 2010
TO STAR OFF WITH I WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF CHANGO. THE BEGGINNIG OF THIS INTERVIEW BOTHERS THE HE’LL OUT OF ME, BECOUSE PEPE GOMEZ OMITS TO TELL PARTS OF THE REAL STORY AND WAT REALLY HAPPENED WEN WE ALL PACKED UP AND HEADED OUT TO WOODSTOCK TO A TWO STORY LOG CABIN WER A 34 TRACK STUDIO WAS BEING BUILT AS WE WERE GETTING READY BY PRATICING EVERY DAY TO MAKE OUR DAY VIEW AT A PLACE CALLED “JOYOUS LAKE” WER PEOPLE AND ACTS LIKE MRIA MOULDER OF MIDNITE AT THE OASIS FAME , PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND, THE BAND, THE BUCKINHAMS ETC WOULD PLAY. HERES WAT PISSES ME OFF !! MY NAME IS HENRY SERRA THE LEAD SINGER OF THE WARLOCKS FROM 1969- 1970,AND FOR THE RECORD THE DRONES HAD NOTHING ON US AS OUR MUSIC WAS SOUL AND FUNK. WITH INTREQUET HARMONIES THAT THE DRONES COULD NEVER DO. EXAMPLE GRUOPS LIKE THE FIFTH DIMENSION. THE TEMTATATIONS SMOKY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES ETC ETC IAM 62 AND YOU ASK MOST PEOPLE IN MIAMI THAT EXPERIENCED OUR MUSIC AND THEY MIGHT REMEMBER THE DRONES , BUT THE WARLOCKS AS A COVER BAND WAS UNTOUCHED BY NO GROUP AT THAT TIME DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THE VOCALS AND HARMONIES AND THE MUSIC ITSELF!! HERES MY BEEF!!! PART OF THE SONGS BEFORE ILEFT THE GROUP I EITHER COLABORATED IN WRITTING THEM OR FOR EXAMPLE THE SONG ” MIRA PA CA” I CAME UP WITH THAT TITLE AND THE ORIGINAL LYRICS TO! AND THE SONG ” CHANGO” I CAME UP WITH THE TITLE TO IT.!! AND IT WAS ORIGINALLY NAMED “CHANGOS GONA GET YOU!!!! I SAW THE VINYL COPY OF CHANGOS FIRST ALBUM AND COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT PEPE WOULD NOT GIVE NE CREDIT FOR TAKING PART IN WRITTING THESE SONGS. BUT I BELIEVE THAT THERE WAS A LIL JEALOUSY STEMING FROM HIM BECOUSE HE WAS A GOOD SINGER BUT I WAS A BETTER SINGER!! IF ANYONES ITERESTED IN KNOWING THE TRUTH IN THE BEGGININGS OF THIS GROUP MY EMAIL IS dauofmiami@ gmail.com. I DON’T WRITE THIS OUTA BITTERNESS I WRITE THIS COUSE THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH AND IAM TELLING IT !! GEORGE WAS A GREAT GUY AND A GREAT LEAD GUITARIST MIXING AMERICAN ROCK WITH LATIN RIFFS, BUT WAT MADE HIM DIFERENT WAS THAT HE WAS OF GREEK DECENT, AND WEN HE INCORPORATED THE THREE IT WAS A LIVELY SOUND HE’D GET OUTA THAT GUITAR!! IAM GLAD THAT THEY ARE BORN AGAIN!!!
HENRY SERRA
January 6th, 2012
I used to work delivery and would come across a security guard at one of my stops. We would always chit chat about music. H e gave me a cassette one day and told me to tell him what I think. The cassette had Santana, Tierra, Malo and Azteca. All I had heard of and liked. On side B was a band named Chango. Never heard of them before. Wow. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Flash forward almost 15 years and i forgot what ever happened to that cassette. Thanks so much for making songs available. Again, like a kid in a candy store.