When baby actress turned singer Angélica María recorded La Novia de la Juventud in 1966, Mexican teenagers had been within the throes of rock-and-roll mania. Showing in minidresses or capri pants and turtleneck pullovers, her freckled face as recent as any Mary Quant mannequin, Angélica María was Mexico’s quintessential chica yeye – a fab chick – and so fashionable that she was christened the “girlfriend of the younger generation.”
Take heed to Angélica María’s La Novia de la Juventud now.
María had recorded a handful of earlier albums when her label, Mexico Metropolis’s Musart, paired her with Los Rebeldes del Rock, pioneers on the scene who obtained collectively in 1958 and have become well-known with their tune “La Hiedra Venenosa,” a canopy of “Poison Ivy” by The Coasters. Armed with a repertoire ripped from American Prime 40 and a frenetic backbeat, Angélica María and Los Rebeldes delivered an album in keeping with the instances that spotlights the singer’s private tackle pop. Many years later, this album disproves any notion that the British Invasion arrived late to Latin America.
Lennon, McCartney, and Ray Davies are among the many songwriters listed within the credit of “La Novia de la Juventud.” On “Ni un Viaje Más,” Angélica María sings over the acquainted chords of “Day Tripper” and a euphoric tambourine that’s virtually punk in its joyous disregard for timbre and tune. She drops her voice on the extra intimate “Quierame Otra Vez,” (“We Can Work It Out”). On her model of the Kinks’ “Tired of Waiting,” “Cansada de Esperar,” she appears like Nico on a Sunday morning.
Angélica María takes on American-made hits as nicely, together with “Este Lunes,” her bubbly model of The Mamas and The Papas’s “Monday Morning;” a surf rock cowl of “Love Potion No. 9” (“Brebaje de Amor”), and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Red Rubber Ball,” often called “El Sol de la Mañana” in Spanish. Angélica María’s vocals tackle a hoarse, up-all-night roughness on Roy Head’s “Treat Her Right,” right here titled “Tratala Bien.” She’s accompanied by screaming and clapping because the tune breaks out right into a fiesta.
La Novia de la Juventud additionally options the expertise of Lolita de la Colina, a Mexican songwriter then in her twenties who translated and tailored the English-language hits sung by Angélica María, and likewise contributed her personal tune, “Loca por un loco” (“Crazy for a Crazy Guy”) to the album. And the tracks embody “Yo No Se Que Fue,” a tune for go-go dancing by Angélica María’s pal Armando Manzanero, then an up-and-coming songwriter who would go on to turn into Mexico’s most iconic fashionable composer.
Angélica María Hartman Ortiz was born in New Orleans to American industrialist Arnold Hartman and Angélica de Jesús Ortiz Sandoval, a theater producer. She moved to Mexico together with her mom at a younger age after her mother and father divorced, and began appearing, in performs, movies and later, in telenovelas that had been seen all through Latin America. In 2008, she was offered with a lifetime achievement award on the Latin Grammys. And she or he would later, in 2023, turn into identified amongst American audiences for her position within the Netflix sequence The Lincoln Lawyer. However when “La Novia de la Juventud” was launched within the ‘60s, Angélica María was on her way to becoming a Latin music star, and outgrowing the teenage nickname that gave this album its title. As the demographics of her popularity widened, audiences came to know her as La novia de México (“Mexico’s Sweetheart”).
Take heed to Angélica María’s La Novia de la Juventud now.
