For OG fans, an old-school Aventura album that was long unavailable is finally seeing the light of day once again. On Friday (Jan. 19), the bachata group’s very first album was remastered and released on music streaming platforms.
Before becoming the world’s best-selling bachata group, Aventura released an album before 1999’s Generation Next. In 1996, Romeo Santos‘ first musical project with his bandmates Lenny Santos, Henry Santos, and Max Santos was an LP called Trampa De Amor. During that time, the guys performed under a different name, Los Tinellers, which was a way for Spanish speakers to say the English word “teenagers.”
In 2021, Aventura’s first manager Elvin Polanco gave an interview to Altanto TV where he talked about the story behind the Trampa De Amor album. Polanco was the first person to give the guys a chance as Los Tinellers. The cover art infamously features only two members of the band: Romeo and Lenny. According to Polanco, Henry and Max were caught in train traffic and couldn’t make it to the photo shoot. With the album being made on a shoestring budget, there was no time or money to schedule another shoot with all four members.
Trampa De Amor was a commercial failure when it was released in 1996. Polanco added that the album only sold five copies. Santos and his bandmates later turned to Julio César García to become their manager. García changed the band’s name to Aventura, and they released Generation Next in 1999. A few songs from Trampa De Amor were reworked and re-recorded for Generation Next, including Aventura’s breakthrough hit “Cuándo Volverás.”
Now Aventura fans can see how some of the band’s songs took shape on Trampa De Amor. The release of the album on streaming for the first time appears to have the blessing of all the members. On Spotify, the record label for the LP is listed as Lenny, Romeo, Henry & Max.