Latin Rock

Whatever happened to Latin rock? The Cuban origins of "Louie Louie" are well known, and of course "Tequila" is a classic mambo riff. Despite the tireless efforts of Perez Prado and others, Latin rock never really took off, in the U.S. at least, the way Latin jazz and Latin soul did. So we are stuck with hearing the same old English versions for the millionth time.

The varieties of Latin rock include Spanish covers of rock oldies, such as "Bule Bule" ("Woolly Bully"); originals; Latin standards arranged as rock ("Tequila"); the fuzztoned psychedelic side of mod, 1960s Mexicali brass; and the heavier, funkier Latin rock of the late 1960s and early 1970s. While overlap with Latin twist, Latin soul, and Latin funk is inevitable, most of the records below are basic rock.

Rock and roll, pure and simple, means the hoary old chestnuts of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. In the early 1960s, Los Teen Tops made what may be the definitive '50s-rock cover album(s). Several years later an uncredited band on Exitos del Rock repeated many of the titles and added at least one by the Beatles. In both cases justice is done to the originals, even beyond the novelty of Spanish lyrics. Los Toppers, big fans of motor bikes apparently, chose less obvious covers, but their original "Yo la Quiero" cranks.

Among Mexicali brass albums there are plenty of crossovers with rock, and not just the Ventures doing "Lonely Bull." The psychedelic flavor of fuzztoned guitar shows up on pop albums as well as soundtracks for biker movies.

In later, heavier rock, everyone knows about Santana. But there is also Malo, led by Carlos Santana's brother Jorge and featuring the great Francisco Aguabella. Macondo's one-off album from 1972 is one of the very hippest, funkiest, and hardest. Rock was very deliberately incorporated by Latin-soul star Harvey Averne, and there are plenty of more obscure bands such as Black Sugar. Latin-funk stars El Chicano certainly rocked, and their "Tell Her She's Lovely" stands as the greatest Latin funk tune ever to penetrate commercial FM radio.

Buying: Later albums by El Chicano and Macondo are not hard to find, although they should be. For early Latin rock LPs, especially rare imports, cross your fingers that the seller has not bothered to listen. Late-1950s, Champs-like, chicano-rock instrumentals are plentiful.