Joe Bataan - The Missing Years

[Disco Funk]

For the longest time, I though Joe Bataan became some kind of hermit after recording his 'The Bottle' track and LP. It was his LP entitled Salsoul that was adopted by the label of the same name. So it was strange that he disappeared completely until pretty much the end of disco in 1980 when he did Joe Bataan II and then followed-up with Mestizo.

But then I came across an LP by The Anvil Band, which was released on a Salsoul sub-label called 'Free Spirit'. Upon listening to the songs, I could tell that some of it was Vince Montana Jr tracks, Floyd Smith, and then Joe Bataan. They were all instrumentals, so the only clue to who made them was in the writing credits, and I think production credits were also listed. Bataan's disco efforts on that LP included 'Continental Square Dance', 'Begin The Beguine', 'The Tunnel', and 'The Men'. It made me wonder if these were leftovers from some aborted, unreleased Bataan music project from around '76 or '77 (the Anvil Band record was released in '78).

Eventually I also uncovered some more Bataan work. He was part of the group LaSo, which I think was an abbreviation for 'Latin Soul'. Great tunes form that group, with tracks like 'LaSo Square' (he seems to have a thing for Square Dance related tunes), 'Mom & Dad', and a nice cover of 'Another Star'.

I've also come across a CD that was released a few years ago under the artist name 'Latin Soul Orchestra' which features a lot of tracks from the LaSo LP, plus some previously unheard gems (I still have to figure out if they were released under alternative artist names).

So it looks like Joe Bataan was kind of busy during the disco era, but for whatever reason, he didn't put out anything on Salsoul again until the 80s (the LaSo project was released through MCA records). I wonder if he was having difficulties with Salsoul? It might explain why there was material released on the Anvil Band that sounded like instrumental versions of what was probably meant for a Bataan LP.

Here are a couple of tracks from that great mid-to-late 70s era. If I missed name any other aliases or projects he did during that 'Missing Years' period, I'd definitely love to hear what else he did.

For the record, I think the vocal version of 'Continental Square Dance', which was included on the Unidisc reissue of the '74 Salsoul LP as a bonus cut, was probably previously unreleased (the only 45s of it I've seen listed are recent pressings), and I think was recorded a few years later.







Disco Funk

[needlefingers]

I have an album from him titled Subway Joe which is from 1968 on Fania Records. It's Latin beats (Boogaloo) and he does the English vocals.

In a google search, I found his Wikipedia entry. Supposedly, he co-founded Salsoul, but sold his interest early.

Check it out.

Joe Bataan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Joe Bataan gave a free concert here in the city a year or two ago and I went. It was great. Mostly latin, but he did Rap-o Clap-o.