RSSJoe "King" Carrasco and El Molino [extended]
- Tex-Mex Rock-Roll [Lisa, 1978] B+
- Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns [Hannibal, 1980] A-
- Synapse Gap (Mundo Total) [MCA, 1982] A-
- Party Weekend [MCA, 1983] B
- Tales From the Crypt [ROIR, 1984] B
- Bordertown [Big Beat, 1984] A-
- Bandido Rock [Rounder, 1987] B-
- Royal, Loyal and Live [Royal Texicali, 1990] *
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Tex-Mex Rock-Roll [Lisa, 1978]
Like the Western swing it rocks and rolls, Tex-Mex is an acquired taste--often a little lightweight, but say that in the wrong bar in Austin and things might get heavy. Anyway, this is the real stuff, more striking than anything on Augie Meyers's dependable Texas Re-Cord Company label mostly because Carrasco writes songs of no special significance that might just as well have originated on the Rio Grande 100 years ago. Favorite titles: "Jalapeno con Big Red" and "Rock Esta Noche." B+
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns: Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns [Hannibal, 1980]
Genuine punk Tex-Mex, Sir Doug meets Them meets the Shadows of Knight meets Sam the Sham, and the only problem is that the Ramones thought of it first: toons stripped down to their hooks, with Kris Cummings's friendly Farfisa doodles replacing Johnny's monomaniacal strum and echoes of polka and norteņo in the jerky propulsion of the thing. Minimalism with roots, kind of--the irony in these calls to fun is a lot sweeter, a lot surer of its ground, than New Yorkers commonly get away with. A-
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns: Synapse Gap (Mundo Total) [MCA, 1982]
A man of simple beliefs, I count as good any album comprising twelve unprepossessing tunes I can hum after half a dozen plays, and my cheer increases when half of them pique my simple aesthetic sense. I hear Joe "King" is overreaching--defying the three-minute rule, polymultitracking, gimmicking around. But as far as I'm concerned nothing drags, nothing protrudes, and the Zorba solo and reggae number could come off a Sam the Sham album. In short, the main reason I prefer the debut is that it came first. A-
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns: Party Weekend [MCA, 1983]
Even when he was nervoused out Joe King always used to be fun because what kept him going was high spirits--at worst, a little extra adrenalin. Now he sounds as hyper and overextended as Richard Gottehrer's production. Good parties are such fragile things. B
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns: Tales From the Crypt [ROIR, 1984]
Seven numbers previewed on these "basement tapes 1979" made the Crowns' Billy Altman-produced debut, and though some claim the demos have more spirit, nobody's ever accused Altman of slick. Not that I'm accusing these of sloppy, but on songs alone I'll take the vinyl whenever a turntable is available. B
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns: Bordertown [Big Beat, 1984]
Problem with King's pared-down Tex-Mex party-up has always been that it leaves him nowhere to go--got away with baroque jokes for an elpee, but when he tried to pop it up he schlocked it up. Yet now he comes bursting out of his dead end with his spunkiest music ever, and the secret--I didn't believe it either--is politics. "Who Buy the Guns?" ("That kill the nuns yea yeah") and "Cucaracha Taco" ("When they drop el bomb on everyone") are only the most successful experiments on an album that manages to be silly/cautionary and harmless/seditious as well as hedonistic/humanistic and stoopid/smart. A-
Joe "King" Carrasco y las Coronas: Bandido Rock [Rounder, 1987]
That a "dumb" purveyor of Farfisa retro should transform his Chicago joke into anti-imperialist militance didn't flabbergast smart hedonism fans--only that he then produced effective anti-imperialist songs in his hedonistic silly-detail mode. And that he fails to do the same with slogans and a "better" band comes as no surprise at all. B-
Joe "King" Carrasco & the Crowns: Royal, Loyal and Live [Royal Texicali, 1990]
acceding to local custom, they beef up their party with horns, guitar solos, and the appropriate frat-rock faves ("Hey Joe," "96 Tears (Every Woman I Know)") *