This compilation is about how music travels and is skewed by Chinese whispers across time and place. It bills itself as ‘the most complete compilation of Peruvian underground 1964 – 74,’ and whilst it clocks in at over thirty tracks over two discs, I’m working off a 14 tracker sampler. The diversity of these tracks does suggest however that Peru enjoyed a rich and vibrant music scene across the decade, very clearly inspired by the psychedelic rock, pop, soul, funk and jazz emanating from the UK and US yet also taking a few steps of their own. It’s a rare groovers delight. If you’re after skewed psych soul reminiscent of Iron butterfly, or raw slabs of steaming funk complete with that super cool and highly distinctive South American fuzz guitar, or even Latin garage rock stompers you’ll find them here. You can hear the Hendrix influence on tracks as diverse as Los Datsun’s urban funk monster ‘En El Sol’, or more overtly, bordering on homage on Pax’s Sittin on My Head which would be the way Jimi would have sounded had he been born in Peru as opposed to the US. Then there’s a few curve-balls like Monik’s ‘Maybe I Know’, a bubble-gum do wop girl band that sound like they’ve stepped straight out of the fifties and sing in English. While we’re expecting Latin funk freak-outs like the urgent opener ‘Cacique’ from Cacique or even some of the raw garage rock offerings, the sheer diversity of styles and approaches here lends a feeling of greater scope and offers a much more rewarding listening experience than compilations of a similar ilk.
Bob Baker Fish
