'I like to dance and when I'm rocking 'n' rolling I'm the
Queen of the place!' So sings our new skirt-twirling
mini-whirlwind on legs. This is the album that launched the former
child actress and daughter of '60's latin pop legend Enrique
Guzman onto the pop scene - and 'pop' being the operative word
here because despite Alejandra Guzman's avowed intention to 'rock
the place', the music on this album is closer to power-pop than
actual rock 'n' roll. However, we're talking about a couple of
decades of musical separation and evolution here between Ale today
and her Dad in 'his' heyday. If the late '80's musical technology
and know-how had been available in the '60's, then I think that it
is safe to assume that much of Enrique's records would have
sounded like this album here, and BYE MAMA is a heady blend of
traditional rock and multi-layered, synth-laden, high-on-vitamins
pop.
However, it is Alejandra Guzman that we are concerned with
here, and if she herself was new to Mexico's mainstream music
scene, the name 'Guzman' was not. It carried with it a great deal
of musical heritage which Ale was obliged to live up to - and this
is not to mention the fact that her Mom was none other than
Mexican actress and living legend Silvia Pinal! As one might
imagine, our fledgling Pop Diva had a lot to put up with if she
was to prove herself as a musical and media personality in her own
right.
Personally, I think that it is to Ale's eternal credit that she
chose not to distance herself from the considerable achievements
of her famous parents in pursuit of her own credibility, but
instead chose to embrace the legend! This is aptly demonstrated in
her own raucous make-over of one of her Dad's rock 'n' roll hits
'La Playa' - the track is used to kick-start this album, and thus
her career in music. 'La Plaga' purports to be a 'live' track but
I strongly suspect that some in-studio jiggery-pokery has gone
into it. But whatever, it's the end result that matters and 'La
Plaga' not only set the power-pop tone for the rest of the album
but also succeeds in selling Alejandra Guzman as a dynamic, highly
charismatic pop personality to the masses. You immediately know
what you're in for here - and much of the music that follows 'La
Plaga', all studio originals, seems designed to reflect this new
personality.
One of the things I personally like about this album is that it
doesn't even try to pretend to be a work of high-art. BYE MAMA is
about fun and about Ale having a blast. This is best summed up in
the middle section of this album, tracks 4 - 7. All four are
good-time pop tunes and although recorded in the late '80's, they
draw their influences from the '60's and '70's - like 'Luz de
Luna', the raunchiest of them all and a very clever, sinewy pop
track. 'Bello Imposible is more monotone. This has the most
repetitive hook as is potentially the most annoying. You may find
yourself humming the tune to this one in your sleep, whether you
actually like the song or not! For me, the pick of the bunch is
'Sin Limites', a synth/drum machine driven gem of a track with
definite west coast influences and virtually impossible not to
like! Also very likeable is the elastic sounding 'Buena Onda',
which features some particularly slick keyboard
playing/programming and bounces along at quite a lick. But as I've
said, there is very little to choose between these tracks. All
four are highly infectious, tightly produced pop tracks and they
all sound like potential hit singles.
However, amidst all this delightful pop lunacy, Ale also shows
a more sensitive side to her nature. This is evident in the albums
two ballads. From Ale's point of view, 'Bye Mama' is the more
personal. It's a touching song of the life of a young daughter
living in the shadow of her famous film-star Mom. This seems to
have a parallel sympathy with Ale's own real-life circumstance
with Silvia Pinal. There may well have been moments when the child
Alejandra saw more of her Mom on movie posters and the silver
screen than she actual did in person - and I for one can't help
but wonder if Frida (Ale's own daughter) will be singing the same
kind of song when she comes of age? Equally poignant is 'Pablo'.
Although more fictional than 'Bye Mama', it is a moving account of
our heroine's attempt to talk her partner, the luckless Pablo, out
of sinking even further into his despair as they struggle to make
ends meet in life in the big city. This is just my opinion but I
think that 'Pablo' has the more timeless appeal, and it is a song
that would be equally at home on one of Ale's later
adult-orientated albums, such as ENORME.
So what else is there? Well, there's the political 'Hay Punkies
en Muscu', not a punk song as the title might suggest but a
dance/synth-rock hybrid with a social lyric commenting on life in
Gorbachev's Russia shortly after it opened up to the west, only
for us westerners to discover their street-life existence in was
not that different from ours. The subject matter is perhaps out of
sync with the rest of this album but it's a good track
nevertheless, and musically the most adventurous cut on offer
here. There's actually an instrumentally bit here towards the end,
just before the key shift, that is a dead ringer for Eddie Floyd's
'Knock on Wood'. If you've heard this and wonder 'Where have I
heard that tune before?' - Well, now y'know!
The pop strength does tend to wan a bit towards the end. By the
time we get to 'En el Calor de la Noche', we've already heard the
best of BYE MAMA. It's quite good but doesn't match the sheer
exuberance shown in the middle section of this album. Likewise,
the tired sounding 'La Gata en el Tejado'. In fact, these last two
sound so alike, they almost tend to blur into each other. 'En el
Calor de la Noche' did however make an effective contribution to
the 'Verano Peligroso' movie soundtrack.
This is a very confidence debut from Ale. Not surprisingly,
given the strength of many of these tracks and the sheer force of
Ale personality, BYE MAMA made an immediate impact on Mexico's
music scene - the teen market in particular. Several of these
tracks also formed the soundtrack (though not actually released as
a proper soundtrack album) to the movie 'Verano Peligroso' in
which Ale starred in the lead role. But despite this foray into
the movie world, it became clear that Ale's energies would be
directed towards music. At the time of writing this little essay
(August 1999), 'Verano Peligroso' still remains her only movie to
date. Of course, over the years that followed the release of this
album, and as Ale's musical stock grew in stature, many of these
songs have been almost forgotten. BYE MAMA (to date) was never
reissued in its original form after she split with Melody Records,
although many of the tracks can be found on various compilation
albums. It is also worth noting that none of these songs were ever
revisited on her 'LaGuzman' live album 10 years later. This is a
pity because there are some gems on here well worth rediscovering
- particularly 'Pablo' and 'Sin Limites'.
On the whole, a good album from a promising new vocal talent.
This girl could (and did) go a long way!
VERANO PELIGROSO - Dangerous Summer.
One song that does not appear on BYE MAMA but is worth
mentioning in 'Verano Peligroso'. This was the title track from
Ale's movie comedy of the same name. The song itself has the same
power-pop flavour as most of BYE MAMA - particularly those fun
middle four track mentioned above and it's a song that would have
fitted in perfectly within this set. But obviously it wasn't
included. This will have been due to the fact that the movie
wasn't released until 1990 (it may also be that the song wasn't
even written until after this debut album was released). The movie
was finally unleashed around the time of Ale's third album release
ETERNAMENTE BELLA.
As well as the title track itself, the movie also featured the
songs 'En el Calor en la Noche' (first used in the opening
credits), 'Buena Onda', 'Sin Limites' and 'Dame Tu Amor' (from
Ale's second album). These were all used intermittently as
background music throughout the movie. 'La Plaga' also featured,
and was a number that was actually performed/mimed by Ale in a
dance-club scene midway through the flick. 'La Playa' was already
a well established Ale standard by this time and it probably
helped to popularise the movie upon release.
Although 'Verano Peligroso' was originally released as a
non-album single, it can be found on the recently released 2CD set
JUGO DE EXITOS.