As we know from JC González’ article, the opportunity to record in Spain came quickly on the heels of the release of "Me sube la fiebre". The band had 8 brilliant new numbers, and the album was extended to the desired 12 tracks by including two traditional charanga numbers and re-recording two of the best tracks from “Me Sube la Fiebre”, the title track and “Para el Llanto”. As it turns out, this was a serendipitous turn of events for CH fans for several reasons. “Para el Llanto” fits beautifully between "Mi Estrella" and "Tremenda Atmósfera", helping to make the first half of this album such a perfect listening experience. In addition, the recording quality of the Barcelona session is much better on the Barcelona production. But most important, this version is 2 minutes longer and contains several additional coros and mambos. This brings up a very interesting aspect of the Timba phenomenon. “Albums”, as such, are a relatively less important part of the music scene in Havana. Most fans can’t afford to buy them, and in fact, very few musicians have copies of the discs they’ve recorded! For example, although we interviewed no less than 8 members of the group, we’ve still yet to discover the contents of an important early NG La Banda vinyl disc [“En la Calle Otra Vez” - and by the way, the first reader to send all of the information printed on the record jacket to kevin@timba.com will be eligible to have a Timba care package of rare CD’s and videos delivered free of charge!]. In any case, Timba songs are living entities in the Havana concert scene and tend to grow and change over time as they’re played and rehearsed over and over again, with the result that some of the best parts of some of the best arrangements can’t be heard on the studio versions. Here’s a short tour of some classic Timba coros and mambos which didn’t make it onto the original studio recordings:

Issac Delgado - Luz Viajera [audio example 31]
Issac Delgado - La Sandunguita [audio example 32]
Paulito F.G. - Llamada Anónima [audio example 33]
Los Van Van - Soy Todo [sorry...you'll have to see them live to hear it!]
Charanga Habanera ('98) - Usa Condon [audio example 34]

And by the time CH recorded Para el Llanto a second time, it had grown to include the following new musical ideas:

[audio example 35] - a great new coro: "busca tu pareja y tira mi pasillo"
[audio example 36] - an amazing rapid-fire reprise of early elements, tightly-integrated into the arrangement.
[audio example 37] - a false ending leading into another new coro "sólo quiero que te vayas, y que me dejes tranquilo, let's go!"

The rest of the arrangement of “Para el Llanto” is covered in great detail in our article on “Me sube la fiebre”.

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