Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. El Sobre Verde - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
2. El Beso - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
3. Te Quiero y, Olé - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
4. La Reja Andaluza - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
5. En 'Er' Mundo - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
6. Los Nardos - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
7. Gito - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
8. Soldadito Español - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
9. Paso Al Fandanguillo - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
10. El Gato Montes - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
11. Cordoba - Manuelo Montez Orchestra
12. Islas Canarias - Manuelo Montez Orchestra

Disc 2:

1. World Without Love - Enrico Domingo
2. Mambo Italiano - Enrico Domingo
3. Mambo Franco - Enrico Domingo
4. Enrico's Whistle - Enrico Domingo
5. Can't Take My Eyes off of You - Enrico Domingo
6. Jungle Mambo - Enrico Domingo
7. Mambo Inn - Enrico Domingo
8. Mambo Riviera - Enrico Domingo
9. Mambo Continental - Enrico Domingo
10. Ripples - Enrico Domingo
11. Kool Mambo - Enrico Domingo
12. Mambo Jumbo - Enrico Domingo

Disc 3:

1. El Musico - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
2. Tea for Two - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
3. Dance of the Hours - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
4. Vendedor de Bananas - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
5. Amada Mia - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
6. Ojos Oscuros - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
7. Swanee River - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
8. Vacaciones en Caracas - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
9. Volare - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
10. Tiritomba - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
11. Hello, Dolly! - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra
12. Blue Cha Cha - El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra

Disc 4:

1. It's All Right With Me - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
2. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
3. Eyi Wala Dong (That Happy Feeling) - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
4. Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
5. So What's New? - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
6. Swing With Me - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
7. Mack the Knife - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
8. Let's Face the Music and Dance - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
9. It's De-Lovely - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
10. Rose Marie - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra
11. Fascinating Rhythm - Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra

Disc 5:

1. Bali Ha'i - Peres Blanca Band
2. Stranger in Paradise - Peres Blanca Band
3. How Deep Is Your Love - Peres Blanca Band
4. Perfidia - Peres Blanca Band
5. Sweet Dreams - Peres Blanca Band
6. I Just Called to Say I Love You - Peres Blanca Band
7. Venus - Peres Blanca Band
8. Night and Day - Peres Blanca Band
9. Amor Do Verano - Peres Blanca Band
10. Yellow Bird - Peres Blanca Band
11. Golondrina - Peres Blanca Band
12. Song for Guy - Peres Blanca Band

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99936 in Music
• Released on: 1995-02-08
• Number of discs: 5
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

Social Dancing
A decent collection of strict timing dance music at a good price. Music is unglamorous but clean. Not good for show dancing, more for quiet social dancing. Fox Trot CD is mostly fast, better for Quick Step. Rhumbas are slow, more like Bolero.

Almost two and a half stars
Here are the details broken down BY DISC. Please see my individual review of each disc (and more than fifty others) if you need more information.

Disc One: Three stars. Decent Paso Doble for practice.
Surprisingly good for a few dollars. None of these will really grip you and make you have to dance. But they will help educate you about the range of music included in paso doble. All tracks are played by the Manuelo Montez Orchestra. These are not "strict tempo." They range in tempo from 55 -64 beats per measure. (This is only available in this boxed set.)

Disc Two: One Star. Synthesized mambo and poorly done.
Enrico Domingo and his big band? Ouch! It sounds like a cheap keyboard to me. There isn't a single big band track on this entire disk. And there really isn't a single useful track either.

Disc Three: Two Stars. A poor choice for practicing cha cha.
El Gato's Rhythm Orchestra is very hit and miss. Some of this is fun. Except for the first track, I like much of this as music. But this is NOT a good disc for most dancers, and a terrible disc for beginners. Many of the tracks have radical tempo changes in the middle of the song. Tracks 9-12 are faster than competition tempos, and so better as slow mambos for beginners.

Disc Four: Three stars. Okay foxtrots for the money.
Bertone's Ballroom Orchestra is pretty decent. This disc is better for listening than for dancing. Current competition standards encourage a range of about 28-33 bpm for foxtrot, and none of this falls into a useful practice range.
If you have a big floor, and people don't mind a faster tempo, this could be fun for parties. The ninth track is a fast and very danceable recording of "Its delovely."

Disc Five: Three Stars. Decent rumbas for the money
These have a clearly heard bass line, and so they are good for beginners as they struggle to hear the "slow, quick, quick" beat of the rumba. The last two tracks are too fast according to current competition standards.
All tracks are played by the Peres Blanca Band. Judged for musicality, these rate two and a half to three stars, with the exception of the second track. This is a very danceable recording of "Strangers in Paradise."

For the money, I would suggest the Solid Gold Collection: Strictly Ballroom Dancing (2005). This has 41 well played instrumental tracks, and it is only $12. Hmmm. Something to think about.