
***Twenty-one tracks (72 minutes), the best of the rare singles recorded by bands like FREE LOVE SYSTEM, LOS TEXAO, LOS INCOGNITOS, MADERA FRESCA, and OPUS, who thrived in Arequipa, Peru during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Get your Peruvian beat fix with groovy tracks from Los Incógnitos and Los Texao. Want some face-melting psychedelia instead? check out Los Texao’s ‘Stone’ or their fuzz-guitar laced instrumental ‘Swarlb’—both a musical style called “Niebla” (Fog), because of the effect produced by the band’s rotor amps and reverb and echo effects. Prefer a more laid-back style? then you’ll love Free Love System. Looking for some heavy grooves? “La Pelea del Gobernador” (Los Texao) or “Un Paseo por el Recuerdo” (Free Love System) might do it for you. Sixteen-page booklet has mini-biographies of all five bands in Spanish and English; all tracks are from the master tapes, with the exception of Madera Fresca’s freak out “Any Time”—a classic at parties—and their acoustic version of “La Lenta que Apura,” both rescued from the obscurity of a rare cassette. The first regional rock compilation from Peru's rich and mostly undiscovered musical history, but certainly not the last!