*** Various artists, “Cuba, 1923-1995,” FTC. The...

*** Various artists, “Cuba, 1923-1995,” FTC. The title of this two-CD compilation is a tad misleading. You would imagine it to be a definitive anthology, taking you from the very beginning of recorded Cuban music into this decade, with space devoted to all the important eras and movements in between. Instead, you get 34 tunes covering the time from the ‘20s to the ‘50s, one song from the ‘60s and two from the ‘90s.

That said, there are musical treasures here, from a 1930 version of the Ignacio Pin~eiro classic “Suavecito” recorded in New York by the Cuarteto Machin to a tune by the wonderful, original Trio Matamoros, plus immortal recordings by legends such as Maria Teresa Vera, Arsenio Rodriguez and Bola de Nieve. The spotty sound of the vintage records is likely to turn the novice listener off, so this collection is recommended for connoisseurs only.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.