LOS STRAITJACKETS "Rock en Español, Vol. 1" Yep Roc
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LOS STRAITJACKETS"Rock en Español, Vol. 1"Yep Roc
THE TITLE FOR THE NEW Los Straitjackets album, "Rock en Español, Vol. 1," is a subtle joke, for the phrase usually refers to the new wave of Latin American rock bands that emerged in the '90s. Los Straitjackets, though, are looking back to an earlier phenomenon. In the liner notes, the gifted rock-and-roll lyricist and essayist Louie Pérez evokes that brief period in the mid-'60s when Mexican rock bands were transforming songs such as the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night" and the Troggs' "Wild Thing" into "De Dia y de Noche" and "Loco Te Patina el Coco."
More than the language changed, for those largely forgotten garage bands from south of the border filled the songs with the giddy yelps and sprung rhythms of the music they grew up with. To re-create that era, Cesar Rosas, Pérez's bandmate in Los Lobos, has not only produced "Rock en Español" but also has sung the lead vocals on three songs, including the transformation of "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" into "El Microscopico Bikini."
Other guest vocalists include Big Sandy of the Fly-Rite Boys, who turns the Coasters' "Poison Ivy" into "La Hiedra Venenosa," and Little Willie G. of the mid-'60s Mexican American band Thee Midnighters, who turns the McCoys' "Hang On, Sloopy" into "Hey Lupe."
The four members of Los Straitjackets are Anglos, though they do wear brightly sequined Mexican wrestling masks when they perform. In the dozen years since it first recorded, the quartet has matured into a powerful instrumental unit. Guitarists Eddie Angel and Danny Amis use distortion as a kind of harmony, and all four musicians play with a forceful, percussive unity. When they combine with these great songs and singers, the results make one look forward to Volume 2.
-- Geoffrey Himes
Appearing Tuesday and Wednesday at Rams Head Tavern with Big Sandy and the Iguanas.
