HECHO EN CASA

Nuevo Mexico, considered by authors as the first Mexican Prog band, were formed in 1971 by guitarist Carlos Mata, drummer Miguel Suarez and bassist Armando Suarez as Abraham Lincoln.While contacting a record company, they were pushed to change their name, thus Nuevo Mexico came onto surface and flutist Jorge Reyes was added in the line-up.Moreover their company started to infect the band's core, leading to the departure of Miguel and Armando Suarez (later they formed Al Universo) and the new formation included Raul Noriega on bass and Francisco Lopez on drums.The debut of the group ''Hecho en casa'' was eventually recorded in 1973, but for unknown reasons it was published only in 1975 on Orfeon Videovox.

Reputedly they were inspired by the music of YES, E.L.P., PINK FLOYD and other British monsters, but the only certain influences we can hear on their debut are JETHRO TULL with a touch of GENESIS in the long suite ''Sinfonia de rock No.1''.Otherwise the album is a mix of Hard/Psychedelic Rock with South-American Folk, heavily based on the flute work of Reyes and the psychedelic passages on guitars and rhythm section.Vocals are split in Spanish and English, a sign of the confusing period the band was getting through.The compositions are quite loose with many abstract parts and questionable structures, trying to get in the mix Classical-inspired themes with more loose offerings, which are dominated by percussions, guitar jams and hard-sounding rhythmic lines.The album still contains some piano and violins in sporadic moments in an attempt to come closer to British-styled Prog, but only the powerful flute exercises of Reyes are somewhat close to IAN ANDERSON's stylings with JETHRO TULL, especially in the groovy parts.In fact Nuevo Mexico's music tends to be quite experimental at times with an Avant-Folk mood often appearing in the horizon, another proof of their rather directionless musicianship.''El talon de Aquiles'' is propably the best of all tracks, somewhere between JETHRO TULL-esque Heavy Prog, Blues Rock and Folk.

Very uneven and unconvincing work.This was quite a daring group for the standards of the country, but the overall dated sound and the inefficient compositions are making ''Hecho en casa'' an album of limited interest, which should appeal to worldwide Prog collectors and die- hard fans of obscure Psych/Prog...2.5 stars.