Conjunto Bernal - 16 Early Hits (CD)

All Music Guide

Never heard Conjunto Bernal before but, damn, this is wonderful in-the-pocket Tejano music, perfect for those who love Los Lobos' accordion/bajo sexto norteno workouts. The songs come from the same 1955-1965 time frame as Arhoolie's 24-track Mi Unico Camino but there's no duplication and these don't sound anything like second-rate leftovers. Far from it--the tantalizingly brief 43 minutes of music here makes you eager to hear more. The two-paragraph liner notes adequately sketch the fundamental story down to the group breaking up in 1972, when accordion player Paulino Bernal became a born-again Christian and abandoned secular music (the devil's music must lurk in many forms). The group's big 1958 hit “Mi Unico Camino" opened John Sayles/' Lone Star and it's not a great stretch to suspect that Tejano-leaning rockers like Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers were hearing Conjunto Bernal right along with Flaco Jiménez when they were coming up. Now, Tejano or norteno or Tex-Mex or conjunto is a pr...etty by-the-book style so the shock is how fresh and open this music sounds. It doesn't feel reined in or locked down by genre rules as Paulino tosses off nice solo moves on “Voy Perdiendo" and “La Ultima Palabra" just rockets along nice and rangy and light. Part of it is an inventive accordion style mixing unusual chords flavors with single note flurries--broad notes playing against staccato bursts offers plenty of intriguing soloing possibilities, as Paulino demonstrates on his polka instrumentals like “La Margarina" or the exuberant “La Coneja."There's another reason but it's not Eloy Bernal capably holding down the bajo sexto fort. Let's give the uncredited drummer on these tracks some because he does more than just keep time and beat. It's active but nothing fancy, based on rolling tom toms and it gives the music all sorts of snap and new dimensions, be it on another polka instrumental “Melinda," the near-ballad “Pensamiento" or the rat-a-tat punctuations in “Dios De Mi Vida." The last song broadly hints at Paulino's future conversion but “Castigame" returns to secular love so there's a gospel/bluesman duality at play here. The bolero “Por La Misma Senda" is haunting and brooding with staccato accordion interjections and “Quiereme Un Poquito" a rapid-fire, goodtime declaration of drunken love. “La Turicata" features soprano sax or clarinet intertwining with the accordion--it's another distinct touch, lively and bright. Read more Less