| Cover: | Antecedente.jpg |
| Antecedente | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Rubén Blades |
| Alt: | Antecedente.jpg |
| Released: | 1988 |
| Recorded: | 1987–1988 |
| Genre: | Salsa |
| Label: | Elektra |
| Prev Title: | With String |
| Prev Year: | 1988 |
| Next Title: | Nothing but the Truth |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
Antecedente is an album by the Panamanian musician Rubén Blades (credited with Son del Solar), released in 1988.[1] [2] The album was often reviewed with La Pistola y El Corazón, by Los Lobos, which also was a return-to-roots effort.
The album won a Grammy Award for "Best Tropical Latin Performance".[3] It peaked at No. 8 on Billboards Tropical Albums chart.[4]
The album was produced by Blades. His backing band changed its name from Seis del Solar to Son del Solar, with trombones replacing some of the synthesizer parts. Antecedente marked a return to salsa for Blades, who had remarked that he did not like how older studio recording techniques made the music sound.
Robert Christgau wrote that "Blades augments a revamped, renamed Seis del Solar with salsa trombones and begets a dance album for the people of Panama." Trouser Press deemed the album "rewardingly rootsy."[5] The St. Petersburg Times called it "a hot-blooded, no-nonsense salsa-style record brimming with gliding Latin rhythms, layers of punchy percussion and a relentless two-trombone backdrop—all topped off by Blades' plucky tenor."[6] The New York Times determined that "the music is full of life, trading away letter-perfect period authenticity for heartfelt spirit."[7]
The Washington Post considered the songs to be "not the fast, dizzying dance workouts of the barrio dance halls but a more sinuous sound that can accommodate both his evocative lyrics and his hypnotic syncopation."[8] The Globe and Mail labeled the album "a collection of dance tunes that forgo his usual political commentary for songs of love—of women, neighborhood and country."[9]
AllMusic called the album a "return to exuberant, dance-oriented salsa."