Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social Club

2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 180 Gram

Buena Vista Social Club is a studio album by Cuban bandleader and musician Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians, released on September 16, 1997 on World Circuit Records.

The album was produced by Cooder who travelled to Cuba to record sessions with the local musicians, many of whom were previously largely unknown outside Cuba. The musicians and the songs would later appear in the documentary of the same name Buena Vista Social Club by director Wim Wenders.

The music featured on the album was inspired by the Buena Vista Social Club, a membership club that was at its height during the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the musicians performing on the record were either former performers at the club or were prominent Cuban musicians during the era of the club’s existence. Other younger musicians on the record trace their musical roots back to pre-revolutionary Cuban music, mainly the famous Havana musical scene of the 1950s.

Buena Vista Social Club earned considerable critical praise and has received numerous accolades from music writers and publications. In 2003, the album was ranked number 260 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, one of only two albums on the list to be produced in a non-English speaking country. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. As of 2015, the album has sold over 12 million copies.