Mana - DONDE JUGARAN LOS NINOS Vinyl

Mana: Fher (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica); Vampiro (acoustic & electric guitar); Ivan (synthesizer, Hammond B-3 organ, piano); Juan (bass); Alex (drums, bass, percussion, background vocals).
Additional personnel: Ramon Flores (brass); Jose Quintana (piano, bass); Luis Conte (percussion); Sheila Rios (background vocals).
Producers: Fher, Alex, Jose Quintana.
Recorded at Devonshire Studios and Ocean Way, Los Angeles, California in Spring 1992.
On DONDE JUGARAN LOS NINOS ("Where Will the Children Play?"), these pop-rockers from Mexico show that having a great time and a credible social conscience can indeed go hand-in-hand. Loaded with hits, this is surely one of the band's most celebrated, exciting albums. Their driving ragga-rock mixes with synth-laden pop, acoustic balladry and a youthful, Mexican romantic sensibility. Fher's light, breathy voice takes flight over Cesar "Vampiro" Lopez' (of later Jaguares fame) choppy, deliberate guitar-playing while Alex offers steady, tight drumming that's always full of little accents and subtleties.
The album opens with the party favorite, "De Pies a Cabeza," ("From Head to Toe"), which proffers soft love verses that give way to a thrilling double-time chorus with Fher calling out "Yeah, wha-yo-yo-yo" to the sound of happy horn lines. "Oye Mi Amor" is another classic--if the late-'70s Police sang a song in Spanish about joining bodies in sexual union, it would sound like this. Surprisingly credible perhaps, the title track is an urgent call for attention to environmental destruction and the right of future generations to a healthy planet.

• Genre: Int'L & World Music
• Format: Vinyl