Search - Love Depression :: Love Depression

Raucous Latin American Garage Psych from 1968

Reivaj | Boulder, CO | 08/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Love Depression is one of a long line of great psych reissues from around the world on Shadoks and Normal Records. Fans of the Latin American Love, Peace and Poetry compilation and the Mexican Love, Peace and Poetry compilation, Los Shain's, and other "Los" bands that have been reissued from the era will be duly pleased. The remastering is outstanding and the cover is a great period piece.



Recorded in Venezuela in 1968, the record has some interesting cover versions of some songs that are not often covered, like Hendrix's "Highway Chile" "51st Anniversary" and "Stone Free" with some great, raw fuzz guitar laid down by Álvaro Falcón. The rocking tunes, particularly "Gonna Ride" (the only original on the set) are the high points with the band exploding with energy. That said, the record is a bit uneven from the inclusion of several covers of soul music hits from the era (Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" among them) that radically change the pace and mood of the record. These covers, though played competently, do not highlight the band's best facet: their raw, rocking energy that turns a potential loser like "Kansas City" into an explosive garage rock experience. Some of the poorly picked cover songs ("Whiter Shade of Pale") notwithstanding, this record is highly recommended to fans of Latin American psych and garage from the era, with enough high points to merit consideration.

"