Consumer Guide Album

Freddy Fender: The Best of Freddy Fender [ABC/Dot, 1977]
Alamo diehards claim that stardom's turned Freddy into a Nashville clone, but I prefer this to the Starflite LP he cut as a local hero. It's not just that the horns no longer sound like they're coming in on another station, either--I believe in the material and I think Freddy does too. Like any overworked recordmaker, he's had his share of clinkers, but they're avoided here, and if he has to hug a stuffed (and spineless) cactus on the cover for image's sake, well, that seems authentic enough to me. A−