RAY BARRETTO’S 1968 TOUR DE FORCE ACID RETURNS WITH A WIDE MONO VINYL REISSUE

A defining title in the Latin soul canon, the remastered album features such classic selections as “El Nuevo Barretto,” “A Deeper Shade of Soul,” and the fiery title track

Craft Latino is pleased to announce a wide mono vinyl reissue for Ray Barretto’s 1968 masterpiece, Acid. Produced by the legendary Harvey Averne, this album is a cornerstone of the Nuyorican boogaloo sound and a seminal title in the evolution of salsa music, the album includes such classic tracks as “A Deeper Shade of Soul,” “El Nuevo Barretto,” and “Acid,” and boasts an all-star line-up of salsa greats, including Adalberto Santiago, Bobby Rodriguez, Orestes Vilató, Roberto Rodriguez, and Louis Cruz. Fans and crate diggers can also find a limited-edition Orange Sunshine color pressing (only 350 copies), as a stand-alone or bundled with a collectible “Acid” T-shirt, featuring the album cover art, available at Fania.com, in addition to a Fat Beats limited-edition (only 300 copies) Marbled Yellow color vinyl variant.

Set for release on May 22, Acid is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and features all-analog (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Dave Polster and Clint Holley. Rounding out the package is a tip-on jacket that faithfully replicates the album’s original psychedelic cover art.

One of the most revered percussionists of his time, conguero, composer, and bandleader Ray Barretto (1929–2006) was not only a defining force in Latin music but also one of the most recorded conga players in jazz history. Born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican parents and raised in the Bronx, Barretto came of age admiring the swing of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, alongside the rhythms of Arsenio Rodríguez and Machito Grillo. He cut his teeth playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente, before becoming a house percussionist for such esteemed labels as Blue Note, Prestige, and Riverside, appearing on albums by giants like Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, and Kenny Burrell.

Barretto launched his own group in the early ’60s, scoring his first major hit with “El Watusi” in 1963. By the middle of the decade, he had become a leading figure in boogaloo—a precursor to salsa that reflected New York City’s cultural melting pot, fusing Afro-Cuban rhythms (specifically the son montuno and cha-cha-cha) with soul and R&B. In 1967—with nearly a dozen albums already to his name—he signed to Fania Records and assembled The Ray Barretto Orchestra, a Cuban-style dance band, known as a conjunto.

1968’s Acid, which marked his debut for the label, found Barretto at his most adventurous, exploring a diverse array of musical styles. Featuring songs in both English and Spanish (sung by Pete Bonet and Adalberto Santiago, respectively), the album epitomized the Nuyorican (New York-Puerto Rican) sound, offering a rousing blend of Latin soul, funk, boogaloo, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and jazz. Recorded live in-studio without overdubs, the album delivers an air of spontaneity, thanks to top-tier performances by a celebrated line-up of musicians, including bassist Bobby Rodriguez, timbalero Orestes Vilató, trumpeters René Lopez and Roberto Rodriguez, and pianist Louis Cruz.

Acid opens with the high-energy son montuno “El Nuevo Barretto”—whose opening bars Carlos Santana would famously borrow for his iconic cover of Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va.” It then shifts into R&B territory with the irresistible “Mercy, Mercy, Baby,” a prime example of boogaloo’s cultural fusion, before tracks like “Soul Drummers” and “Teacher of Love” continue blending English lyrics and swinging horns with Afro-Cuban beats. The most enduring of these is “A Deeper Shade of Soul”—later sampled by Urban Dance Squad for their 1990 hit “Deeper Shade of Soul” and featured on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories soundtrack in 2006.

The centerpiece, however, is the title track. Crafted around a simple, hypnotic bass line and punctuated by playful exchanges from the musicians, “Acid” builds into a fiery jam, with a scorching conga solo from the bandleader himself, while the rest of the group (particularly Lopez, Rodriguez, Vilató, and Cruz) have ample room to shine. The album’s improvisational spirit reaches its peak on the avant-garde closer, “Espíritu Libre.” Opening with a percussive dialogue between Vilató and Barretto, the jazz-forward track unfolds over eight-and-a-half minutes, navigating through shifting time signatures and a series of standout solos that showcase the band members’ chops.

Acid became a bestseller for Barretto and remains a defining title in Latin soul. While the album has long been considered a boogaloo classic, the conguero’s musical explorations pushed Acid far beyond the confines of the genre. Instead, it would serve as a bridge between the boogaloo craze and the salsa explosion that was about to arrive in the ‘70s, influencing numerous artists along the way.

In a retrospective, All About Jazz wrote, “Once he dropped Acid onto the music world, Barretto firmly established a reputation for himself as an innovator in his own right. Like the drug itself, Acid had a mind-expanding influence on everyone, allowing for a far more adventurous and eclectic edge to slip into New York’s Latin music scene…. Acid remains one of the most far-out fusions of Latin and soul music ever conceived.” AllMusic hailed the album as “a great document of the late-’60s confluence of Latin, funk, and soul.”

In the years following Acid, Barretto continued to expand his musical horizons under Fania with albums like The Message (1971), Que Viva la Música (1972), and Indestructible (1973), while maintaining his role as a key member of the legendary collective Fania All Stars. Along the way, he remained a sought-after percussionist, playing alongside acts like the Bee Gees, the Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. A prolific innovator, Barretto released more than 50 albums during his five-decade-long career, including nine with his celebrated group, New World Spirit. Among numerous honors, the GRAMMY®-winning artist was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1999, while in 2006, he received the prestigious Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Click here to pre-order Acid.

Click here to find the exclusive bundle including the Orange Sunshine limited-edition color vinyl with a collectible “Acid” T-shirt.

Tracklist:

Side A

1. El Nuevo Barretto

2. Mercy, Mercy Baby

3. Acid

4. A Deeper Shade of Soul

Side B

1. Soul Drummers

2. Sola te Dejaré

3. The Teacher of Love

4. Espiritu Libre

About Fania:

Highly influential, both musically and culturally, Fania Records spread the sound of salsa music from the clubs of New York City to the rest of the world and became a revered global brand in the process. Fania’s master recording catalog is the definitive home for genres such as Latin big band, Afro-Cuban jazz, boogaloo, salsa and Latin Soul, and includes artistic giants such as Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe and Rubén Blades. With the creation of the international supergroup known as the Fania All-Stars, the label’s signature musical style became known as the “Fania Sound.” Fania’s rich master catalog also includes the Pete Rodriguez’s boogaloo classic “I Like It Like That” which was sampled by Cardi B in her #1 hit “I Like It.” Additionally, three Fania Recordings, Celia & Johnny by Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco, Azucar Pa’ Ti by Eddie Palmieri and Live at Yankee Stadium by the Fania All-Stars, appear in the National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.” For more info, visit Fania.com and follow on YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.

About Craft Latino:

Craft Latino is home to one of the largest and most prestigious collections of Latin music master recordings and compositions in the world. Its rich and storied repertoire includes legendary artists such as Antonio Aguilar, Joan Sebastian, Pepe Aguilar, Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, La Lupe, Ruben Blades the Fania All Stars and Daddy Yankee, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Musart, Fania, TH, Panart, West Side Latino and Kubaney, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation, ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover.

Craft Latino is the Latin repertoire arm of Craft Recordings, the catalog label team for Concord. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com.

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Al Mega: I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!