Los Illegals

  • Los Illegals
  • Internal Exile (A&M) 1983 

On paper, this looked great — an East Los Angeles Mexican-American rock quintet with a strong political consciousness and tremendous local following getting a major label deal. On vinyl, however, what comes across is characterless (except for a bit of Latin percussion) rock’n’roll with clumsy but righteous lyrics, some in Spanish. Los Illegals don’t give away anything in terms of skill, energy or integrity, but it’s hard to get excited about their Anyband guitar-laden rock and torpid songwriting. Mick Ronson co-produced.

[Ira Robbins]