Foxy - Hot Numbers

This month marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Hot Numbers, the third studio album from the Latin R&B group Foxy who hailed from Miami, Florida. This 1979 album spent sixteen weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 29. It also went to number 10 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

Foxy was Ish Ledesma (guitar and vocals), Richard Puente (percussion), Charlie Murciano (keyboards), Arnold Paseiro (bass) and Joe Galdo (drums). The group also had some additional help with horns and backing vocals on the album.


Side one opens with "Headhunter", a strong bass driven groove about a woman who masters men through her skills at oral sex. Yes, you read that right. The lyrics are hardly veiled at all. Welcome to the sexually charged world of disco, kids.

"Devil Boogie" has a Latin swing to its rhythm. In listening to this one, I can hear the sounds from Miami music scene that the Bee Gees adopted in the late 70's - the percussion, the falsetto lead, and the horns.

The fifty second "Give Me a Break" has a full-on salsa sound. Consider it a little palette cleanser if you will.

Things slow down a little with the sweet ballad "Nobody Will Ever Take Me Away From You".

The up-beat "Chicapbon", which closes out the first half of the record, had my head bopping along to the beat.

Side two begins with the hit "Hot Number"; the guitar-driven single went to number 18 on the US Billboard Dance chart, number 9 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart. The guys clearly had some female backing vocalists on this one, but I could not find any place online to get the appropriate credits.

"Lady" is a smooth, mid-tempo statement of adoration.

"Give Me That Groove" is another ode to dance music, a theme very popular in the disco genre.

The album closes with "Lady of the Streets", a mid-tempo number about a hard-working prostitute. This one has a bit of a reggae flavor to it.

Beside the hit single, I was not at all familiar with this album from Foxy. And, given how much I love disco that was an error on my part. One listen to Hot Numbers and I was instantly a fan. I like the various music influences at work here as Foxy dabbles in a variety of sounds that were filling their home state at the time. I am definitely going to pick up a few tracks to add to my music library very soon.