Valente & Ros - Fire & Frenzy

This collaboration between Caterina Valente and Edmundo Ros is certainly one of her greatest albums, rhythmic and romantic by turns. It was first issued on LP in 1960 in Germany (as LATEIN AMERIKANISCHE RHYTHMEN) and the USA (as FIRE & FRENZY), both of which were available in mono and stereo. Ironically, this British-made recording wasn’t released in the UK itself until 1964 (as LATINO), and then in mono only!

The current coupling is SOUTH OF THE BORDER, a 1962 album of Mexican songs performed by Caterina and arranged and conducted by Werner Mueller. This in turn could otherwise have been teamed with CATERINA VALENTE’S GREATEST HITS (1966), with which it has a number of links: same conductor, similar Latin-American repertoire, and one track (LA GOLONDRINA) which was originally intended for the former album but ultimately incorporated into the latter. Be that as it may, the existing FIRE & FRENZY/SOUTH OF THE BORDER combination is a perfectly enjoyable disc for aficionados of Caterina’s way with Latin-American material.