How Blades and Clapton Dished Out Salsa and Cream

Ruben Blades was tagged a salsa revolutionary when he was introduced to American pop fans a few years ago. But what made his music so radically different from the salsa mainstream?

And most pop fans know of Eric Clapton’s pre-Cream stints with the Yardbirds and John Mayall. But how were his Creammates Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker cutting their musical teeth before joining Clapton in the archetypal British blues-rock trio?

When you follow pop music from around the world, you’ll often be listening to a final blend of traditional and contemporary elements. But the middle link in the chain, the initial attempt to adapt an original, age-old style to modern themes and instruments, often gets lost. Actually, it usually gets delayed until an artist or style gets enough attention to spur record companies to go into the vaults and come out with the answers.

Records that zero in on these vital transitional stages are the focus of this edition of “On the Off Beat,” a periodic review of roots, ethnic and non-mainstream pop music from around the globe.

WILLIE COLON/RUBEN BLADES.

“Canciones del Solar de Los Aburridos.” Fania Records. This 1981 album teamed Blades with salsa star Willie Colon on an eye-opening collection of assured performances that offer far more than repeated trips through the dynamic rhythms of clave city. The seven selections are more mini-epics than standard pop love songs. The broad sweep and constant shifts in the arrangements reflect that--in the interplay between Blades’ vocals and the backing chorus on “Madame Kalalu,” in the fat, brassy trombone riffs, and in the choppy chord sequences that break up “Y Deja . . . “ and “De Que?”

GRAHAM BOND ORGANISATION.

“The Sound of 65/There’s a Bond Between Us.” Edsel (import). While Clapton was earning his reputation via the Yardbirds’ rave-up versions of classics like “Smokestack Lightning,” Bruce and Baker were approaching the British blues sound from the jazz side with this influential quartet. Dick Heckstall-Smith’s gruff tenor sax and the late Graham Bond’s flashy organ, squawking alto sax and ragged, unrestrained vocals rounded out an unusual instrumental mix; it’s weird hearing a guitar-less version of “Hoochie Coochie Man”--let alone one that works. Both albums in this mixed-bag, two-record set were initially recorded in 1965, but the similarities end there. “Sound of ‘65” was recorded in a single day, and the group assuredly rips through a powerful collection of swinging riff blues, more complex melodies like “Spanish Blues” and the original version of Cream’s “Traintime.” “There’s a Bond Between Us” has patchier performances and less distinctive material.