The year was 1982 and Top 40 pop music was just becoming something special in Mexico. Skip kid groups like Timbiriche and Parchis, teen idols were around early on. Menudo and Los Chamos were older and were seen as pin-up boys. So around the same time, an older pop singer comes out with an album to compete with some of these groups. Arturo Vasquez was a hot-looking pretty boy with dreamy eyes. You couldn’t help but fall in love with him.
Sometimes I find it funny where people’s music doesn’t match the image they were trying to portray. I remember Arturo back then when he was wearing his studded leather cuffs and trying to be a rocker, but what is on the record is nothing close to that image. I recently found this album at a second-hand music store and purchase the used album immediately so I could relive the 80’s.
I think the first song off the album, “Quiero Que Vuelva” is the best song off the album, by far. The first side of the album honestly is not bad until the last song. “Hoy Vendras” could have been left off the album for me. The fourth track is a cover of Men At Work’s, “Who Can It Be Now?”. It’s fun to hear the Spanish covers to songs that you know in English.
With a flip of the vinyl, we move on to the second side. I don’t want to say that Arturo Vazquez was a horrible singer back then, I just think the music might not have lent itself to his deep sultry vocals. Like I said, “Quiero Que Vuelva” is a great song and he does it well. What I find is that Arturo, at times, sounds like he is talking rather than singing.
Listening to the album now, I feel that it was right in line with the era of 80’s music, even for English artists. Mexico always seems like it is 10 years behind times musically, but honestly, this self-titled album doesn’t feel juvenile like a lot of my other music from 1982. It has a decent beat to it, though I still don’t think Arturo’s voice was right for the music.
If thinking about listening to this album, you will have to go find fan-made videos of the songs as the album is completely out of print and I don’t think anyone will be remastering it anytime soon. The album was released via Discos Cisne, which turned into Melody Records. Early albums are not finding a place in Melody/Fonovisa’s reissues.
Since that day, I have been study Latin pop and rock music and have become a Latin pop music historian through the publishing of articles, fanzine, and websites. My goal is to teach people about Latin pop music and the history behind it with my website, Siempre En Domingo.
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