Willie Colón: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (180g) [FANIA]

Why you'll love it

A 180g gatefold reissue of Willie Colón's 1975 album for Fania. Héctor Lavoe and Rubén Blades both sing on it and Yomo Toro plays cuatro, which makes it the hinge between two of salsa's great partnerships.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold sleeve
• Nine tracks across two sides

About the album

The cover tells the joke: three portraits, Yomo Toro as the Good, Willie Colón as the Bad and Héctor Lavoe as the Ugly, a nod to the Sergio Leone film. Inside is one of the most important records in Fania's catalogue. Lavoe cut his vocals after coming back from the Kinshasa concerts in Zaire and was about to go solo, so this was his last outing with Colón for a while, and a young Rubén Blades stepped in to sing, starting a partnership that would change salsa again a few years later.

Colón's trombones lead a band that swings hard and tries everything: the jíbaro sound of Toro's cuatro, the dancefloor kick of "Toma" and "Guaracha", and the sweetness of "Que Bien Te Ves". It's a record about change that never stops grooving. We'd tell you who in the shop is the Ugly, but we'd like to keep our jobs.

Tracklist

Listen

Out October 23, 2026 on Fania (cat# CR01041), a reissue of the 1975 album.