Lunna (1987) (AyM SP-37022)

Harry

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Staff member
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Somehow or other, about a week ago, I was looking at something on YouTube. The typical YouTube page has the main video playing in the upper left, and along the right-hand column, there are always suggestions for you based on past videos you’ve watched, or something related to the video you’ve called up.

On this day, a video called “Si Vivir Contigo” appeared with the name Lunna and this picture:

scan0016.jpg


I’d never heard of Lunna, but the picture was somewhat intriguing to me. Something about the eyes seemed to be telling me to click on this video. I did, and was presented with something that sounded like it was straight out of the late ‘80s. It reminded me of a cross between the Latin albums that Lani Hall put out in the ‘80s and the ones issued by Maria Conchita Alonso. I began to wonder if this could possibly be one of the AyM Discos records from that era. Sure enough, with a little research, I found that it was indeed an AyM record from 1987, catalog SP-37022.

Like with those other albums, I found that I liked this track. Once it started playing, a bunch of other videos with the same picture popped up in the right column. One by one, I played these tracks, and with each one I found that I liked the way this lady sang. YouTube uploaders had put up eight of the ten tracks from the album. The more I heard, the more I needed to both find out more about the album and find an actual copy of it.

As it turned out, the album was Lunna’s one and only AyM recording and it was nominated for a Grammy. Some of the album’s songs were apparently well-known and loved in her native Puerto Rico. She was born with the name of Maria Socorro Garcia de la Noceda and later took the stage name of “Lunna”.

Looking at the album’s credits, I spotted a few names familiar from those Lani Hall/Maria Conchita Alonso albums, and even Herb Alpert’s FANDANGO. It was produced by Jose Quintana, K.C.Porter, and Cuco Peña. Songwriters included Anahi, who had co-written Herb’s “Noche De Amor”. So the album fit right in with that Latin Pop of the ‘80s that I’ve come to enjoy. Even though I don’t know much Spanish, I’ve always had the ability to appreciate records by the way they sound and not so much what the lyrics are saying.

The album was released at a time when it was available in three formats: LP, CD, and cassette. Searching the Internet for a copy turned up not too many options. Apparently I’d just missed an eBay LP copy that was still sealed for just $9.99. Drat! More searches turned up a sealed cassette for that same amount. That one is still on the way from Los Angeles. It seems to be stuck in some kind of “weather delay” from last Saturday. It’s kind of worrying that there have been no updates on its status since then.

Meanwhile, I found a quite acceptable LP copy down in Caracas, Venezuela. Surprisingly, it arrived in just two days from ordering it. It was a lot less money than the $80 someone on eBay want for an autographed copy. So I’ve had fun most of today dubbing the record into digital.

Finding an original AyM Discos CD has proven quite a challenge. The best I’ve been able to find listed anywhere is a re-issue of the CD by Polygram/EMI Latino.
 
Thanks Harry for sharing this This is the kind of 80s music that i love and best of all it keeps me young. Lunna Really Rocks here.
 
With persistence, I located a CD for this title. It was an obscure site but they seemed legit. The CD pictured looked to be the EMI version with a pink border:

LunnaCDFrontEMI.jpg LunnaCDRearEMI.jpg

Figuring that locating ANY CD might be problematic, I went ahead and ordered it. I have one of Maria Conchita Alonso's discs in the EMI Latin series.

The disc arrived and boy was I surprised. It was not only still sealed, but was the AyM Discos USA version, CD-37022.

LunnaCDFrontAyM.jpg LunnaCDRearAyM.jpg

The disc was made in Japan and sounds superb. Great luck!

I did some sound comparisons between the nice vinyl I found from Venezuela and the new CD. Both sound great, although I've noticed that the LP from Venezuela seems to have the stereo reversed. With an LP one way and the CD the other, how to determine which is correct? Well, the cassette also arrived a couple of days ago. It was manufactured in Mexico by Polygram and I used it as the stereo tiebreaker. It agreed with the CD, so I'll assume the LP is reversed.

It's not the first time I've gotten something from South America with reversed stereo. That Carpenters O MELHOR disc from Brazil also had backwards stereo. I'd make a joke about being south of the Equator, but I believe Venezuela in north, as is some of Brazil.
 
For anyone curious about this new obsession of mine, I've assembled a playlist of the album's tracks. The first nine sound fine, but the tenth is a taken from a videotape of the original music video, so it doesn't sound that great. But you'll get a feel for the album and how well Ms. Lunna sings from this YouTube playlist.

 
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