I get offered a lot of albums to review on a daily basis, with most of the emails being filed in case I need to reference them later, but without downloading the music. For some strange reason I decided to grab this set from a band which broke up in 1985, releasing just one five-track EP during their existence, and boy am I glad I did as this is great. Formed in East Los Angeles in 1979, the core of the Chicano punk band were singer Teresa Covarrubias, lead guitarist Rudy Medina, and rhythm guitarist Sidney Medina. They worked the circuit and in 1980 were rewarded by being signed to Fatima Recordz, the upstart label of another local punk band, the Plugz. This led to the EP, ‘Attitudes’, but as with most bands they eventually ran out of steam and broke up. Liberation Hall issued the 21-track ‘Straight Outta East L.A.’ compilation on CD and vinyl in 2017, containing most of their recorded material (some of which was only completed after the band had finished) and it has now been reissued on limited edition red & blue-swirled vinyl by RockBeat Records, an affiliate of Liberation Hall.
Teresa Covarrubias should have been a star, and this band should have been huge as they mix together Blondie with The Bangles and even Incubus Succubus as they create power pop/punk which is a load of fun throughout. This set contains the five songs from the EP plus another 16, and it seems both strange and criminal that the band did not get the big break they so richly deserved. Possibly their lyrics were too political for the bigwigs or was it the thought that by the mid 80’s punk was no longer fashionable, or whether their image was wrong due to what was happening in LA at the time. Nearly 40 years on from the breakup we will not be able to understand the thinking of the record labels of the time, but they missed out on a trick as while songs like “High School” are high octane Blondie meets Ramones there are others which are much more pop rock and could have been in the charts with the right promotion. This is a great set, and all power to Liberation Hall/Rockbeat Records for putting together a little gem which fans of the genre would do well to discover.
Rating: 7/10
