 
COMPAY SEGUNDO No matter how much you might will it, Francisco Repilado, aka Compay Segundo, is dead. However the juggernaut of Warner Brothers music seems to think that there are fans clamoring for more versions of "Chan Chan," and there must be, hence this further installment of his music, recorded on two discs, one titled CLUBS 1995-6, the other THEATRES 1998-9. (The CLUBS disc wouldn't work in my regular CD player, being some kind of new-fangled "advanced" CD, so I had to play it in my TV's DVD player.) The set list is different from what you find on GRACIAS COMPAY, but his vocals are still shaky (this being the end of his career). However never-can-say-goodbye Compay fans will snap this up particularly because the CLUBS set is a good intimate live recording with banter. Personally I love this kind of chamber music: two acoustic guitars, bass, and percussion with harmony vocals doing son and guajira classics. I don't mind that the repertoire hasn't changed much in 60 years, because the songs of Miguel Matamoros -- "El Paralitico," "Son de la Loma," and "El Tren" -- always sound fresh. In the CLUBS Compay and his boys are just giving it their all for a small crowd of about 50 lucky listeners. The rapport is immediate, the minor glitches, flat notes and flubbed leads, don't detract. Compay as always speaks better than he sings and his guitar playing is muffed but endearing. The THEATRES set is very well recorded and features a larger ensemble, including the twin clarinets we encountered on the GRACIAS COMPAY album. But the Buena Vista hoopla had hit and Compay had slowed down. The repertoire is portentious, more self-consciously aware of history. Almost the whole of the second disc overlaps the GRACIAS COMPAY release. The band take things at a stately pace and his voice is a lot weaker, making the whole set much more tentative. This compilation is interesting but only the first disc is compelling. I wish they had issued it separately. So let's hear it, one more time, for the great Compay!! -- Doctor Rhythm
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