Grupo Fantasma,
Comes Alive



Label: Aire Sol Records

(4½ out of 5)

Grupo Fantasma Comes Alive — a name that nods at arguably the most famous live set of all time — is less an album than a dance party on a disc. Recorded with exceptional clarity and warmth in late winter 2006, this release drops you front and center at Austin's storied Antone's and dares you to stand still for almost 70 minutes.

There's little to say about Grupo Fantasma's live sound without resorting to sycophantic, clichéd superlatives. It's no less than a percussion-driven groove along post-World War II Latin music's path to and through the United States, drawing on influences like Dizzy Gillespie's Afro-Cuban jazz, Tito Puente's big band magic, and Carlos Santana's Latin rock fusion, and highlighted by fascinating diversions that range from 1970s funk to contemporary Tejano and hip-hop.

Spiced to perfection with the funky "JewMex" horn section, which borrows as much from Memphis as from Mexico City, and a pair of guitars that snake through and occasionally lead the celebration, Comes Alive is as exhilarating and enervating as any live album released in a long while. (If that sounds too good to be true, throw the disc into your computer at work, put on a cheap pair of headphones, hit play, and try as hard as you might to sit still. It's not going to happen.)

Whether you want something to buoy you through a long day at the office or to breathe new life into mundane weekend "get togethers," you will not be disappointed with this disc. Grupo Fantasma Comes Alive burns from beginning to end and — here comes the inevitable cliché — improves like a fine wine every time you play it.

Reviewed by Adam Black
September 7, 2006