Judging by the cover, I wasn't expecting much here, maybe some 50s style mambo covers that you sometimes find in dollar bins. Those could come in handy for reference, but I was very surprised see that this book is much (much) more than that. It starts with that aforementioned style of bright, semi cheesy covers, but it quickly moves into the tres cool latin jazz covers from the likes of Tjader, Mongo, and others. Then it explodes into the latin soul, boogaloo, dance section where you can checkout some of the rarest and most in demand records (which all happen to have standout covers, a definite correlation in Latin collecting circles). You get rare Fania, Tico, Cotique, Decco, plus a lot of smaller labels. I especially found the psychedelic-influenced covers to be both stunning and original. In the next section, the book blows off the binding with the Salsa (1970s-80) and latin rock (1960s-70s) sections withmore rarities, bunch of stuff I've only seen on the walls of Sound Library. The artwork here is quite memorable, and definitely an excellent resource for both the designer and collector. The book ends with a tasty Brazilian (love the cameltoe India cover), and a superfluous contemporary section (Kid Frost covers?), but even that can't taint this powerful little book. Full discography in the back. Softcover, over 200 pages. 7.75" x 7.75".

reviewed by the mgmnt