ROCK REVIEW; Rooted in Mexico, a Band With International Flair
By JON PARELES
Published: December 4, 2002
Jaguares, one of Mexico's leading rock bands,
billed its Town Hall concert on Monday night as an acoustic show,
reflecting its new album, ''El Primer Instinto'' (BMG U.S. Latin).
Without the imprimatur of MTV, the album unplugs the best-known songs
by Saúl Hernández, Jaguares' leader, singer and guitarist, for both
Jaguares and Mr. Hernández's previous band, Caifanes. On Monday, the
audience came to sing along; as the band played quietly, fans' raised
voices could be heard more clearly.
Mr. Hernández's songs take
on grand topics -- passion, the meaning of life, the omnipresence of
death -- with a gothic sweep. ''I will pray for you until I make the
sea rise/ I will change the face of the ancestral mystery,'' he sang in
''Imagíname.'' His voice is hoarse and ragged, as if it's been through
lifetimes of suffering. Between songs he spoke quietly and earnestly
about struggles for a more just and democratic Mexico and about the
influences on Jaguares' music, from the Beatles to 1970's rock to
Mexican boleros. He had to ignore shouted requests and chants of
''Méjico! Méjico!'' as he spoke.
Most of Jaguares' music looks
across the Atlantic, to English and Irish bands like the Police, Led
Zeppelin, U2 and Pink Floyd. Only a handful of songs, among them ''La
Celula Que Explota'' and ''La Vida No Es Igual,'' showed Mexican
musical roots.
For the first part of the concert, Jaguares
performed quietly, picking or strumming acoustic guitars over a subdued
rhythm section, and the new arrangements were rarely an improvement. In
trying to make the songs more intimate, Jaguares also scaled down its
impact and exposed musical flaws, like out-of-tune vocals and guitar.
Too many of the new arrangements traded arena anthems for soft rock.
Perhaps
Jaguares also thought something was missing. Halfway through the
concert, the band switched to electric guitars and surged into songs
like Caifanes' ''Afuera'' and Jaguares' ''Cuando la Sangre Galopa.''
Although the band sometimes fell into hard-rock clichés, the more
expansive sound captured its ambitions far better.
