Manic Hispanic - Menudo Incident (CD)

All Music Guide

In a world where punk rock finally seems irrevocably caught between the impulses of the anyone-can-do-it spirit and commercial success, there's always room for people who know how to celebrate the original spirit of the music. Manic Hispanic take it that one step further, though - consisting of a variety of long-serving Orange County punk rock vets of Chicano background, like the Adolescents' Steve Soto and the Cadillac Tramps' Mike Gaborno, with its debut the seven-piece act revisits a slew of US and UK slampit classics through distinctly vato lens. Dressed up in their finest fly gear on the cover photos, the members aren't out to beat down folks, though - this is pure love for the music that got them all going in the first place, with lyrics rewritten as needed, Brixton exchanged for the barrio, Broadway for Olvera Street. The recording is clear, the performances sharp, and while there aren't any surprises with the music per se, it's the (quite literally) accented vocals that make Th...e Menudo Incident such a fun treat. Just about anybody and everybody gets the nod here - the Clash's "Garage Land" becomes "Barrio Land," the Adolescents' "Amoeba" becomes "Amigo," the Buzzcocks' "Orgasm Addict" a song named after the band itself, Pete Shelley's nerdily rapturous wail on the instrumental break replaced with "Ay ay" Spanish lyric deliveries and other slight tweakings along the way - drinks, cars, slang, it's all there - helps make things all the more fun, while the nutty "Medley (Rodney on the ROQ)" purees six classics from the sixties and seventies into one big ol' bash. Fun bonus: the band original "Poem" at the end, which switches to a low-rider old soul tearjerker style musically to deliver a sweet story about an expected gangbang rumble turned into a 'drive-by smiling' - like the band's been demonstrating throughout, it's all about love, not hate. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide Read more Less