Hits and misses from down south.
Laszlo Matyas | 07/21/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The second volume of the Planetary Pebbles series focuses on ultra obscrure garage rock from South America. The songs are, for the most part, little more than standard garage rockers with (mostly) Spanish vocals. A lot of these tracks are by-numbers covers of British and American tunes. Aside from the occasionaly surprising song selections, these are mostly unoriginal and uninteresting renditions: Los In's "Mi Pequeno Libro Rojo" is an unspectacular copy of Love's rendition of "Little Red Book," and Los Walkers' "Mujieres Perdidas" is a yawn-inducing cover of the Yardbirds' "Lost Woman." Los Juniors are responsible for an annoyingly repetative rendition of "It's All Over Now" (here entitled "Hoy Te Toca Llorar"). Los Apson's take on "Time Won't Let Me" (a.k.a. "Con El Tiempo Y Un Ganchito") does capture some of the tune's catchiness, but it's still vastly inferior to the original, and adds absolutely nothing new to the song, while Los Romancieros' "El Bueno, El Mayo, And El Feo" is a heroically awful plod through the theme to "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." Some of the originals aren't too hot, either: Ruben Y Sus Emociones' "Mari Y Juana" is a dull, droning instrumental, and Los Hitters' "El Onvi" is a similarly dull number. Several of these tunes are standard issue, run-of-the-mill garage rock, the kind of bland and forgettable stuff that makes collecting this kind of music such a hit-or-miss affair.
Still, there are some jewels to be gleaned here: The Sicodelicos' two tracks, "Solo Tu Nombre Puede Cortar Las Flores" and "Gaslight" are incredibly catchy, slightly off kilter folk-rockers, while La Tropa Loca's "El Fanatico" is a mean little fuzz-guitar stomper. Los Canarios "3-2-1 Ah!" is a schizophrenic proto-psych soundstorm, and Los Doltons' "Santo" is both fun and cool (imagine that!). There's even a good cover: Los Johnny Jets' "Fiebre" is an amped up, supercharged rendition of "Fever." Con's Combo sound great on the wonderfully cheesy cruise-ship rocker, "Vas A Perdur Su Amor."
So, it's an O.K. set with some O.K. songs. If you're a garage rock fanatic, pick it up. Just don't expect any major revelations."
Track Listings (26) - Disc #1