Los Chucos Suaves / Tequila

One of the highlights from our current Jukebox Mambo compilation and a song which really deserved a 45rpm release in its own right, Lalo Guererro's 'Los Chucos Suaves' is perhaps the definitive recording in the short-lived Los Angeles sub-genre of Pachuco music - the sounds which emanated from the Mexican youth sub-culture of the same name in the late 1940s. A hybrid of American Jazz, Pop and Latin American rhythms, with songs sung in Spanish and dense in chicano slang, the movement was an intriguing sub-plot in the emergent narrative of rock and roll in the mid-century.

Guererros 'Los Chucos Suaves' was the anthem to the young pachuco's and pachuca's of LA - young hepcat Mexican's who decked themselves out in voluminous zoot suits. Guererro sings of how these cool kids are ditching the jitterbug and the boogie woogie in favour of the cuban rumba and danzon dances. It's a unique, swinging number which always catches the ear and is guaranteed to set the dance floor off. On the flip side is a terrific rendition of the Champs 'Tequila', with added lyrics from Lalo Guererro, sung in Spanish and a loose, jazzy approach giving this well-worn rock & roll instrumental staple an earthier, more rustic appeal.