As is apparently evident from a few of my reviews, I really like At the Drive-In.
Relationship of Command is one of my favorite albums of all time, and I think very highly of
In/Casino/Out. That’s why when I finally decided to download
Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (If you can actually find this on sale, I’d still happily buy it), I was surprised to find that…I just didn’t like it. While I had my reservations about
Acrobatic Tenement, it was still a fun record, that had a loose sense of direction. While yes,
Alfaro Vive, Carajo! shares some of that, it is painfully obvious this is one of the first recordings of At the Drive-In, and . And sans
Hell Paso, it’s probably the only one you’re going to get your hands on.
One thing this record certainly exudes is energy and enthusiasm. With the lineup completely solidified by this time, much of the four total songs here feel as though they could be on
Acrobatic Tenement. Cedric, sounding like a prepubescent girl with a slight testosterone problem, is extremely frenzied, perhaps more so than anywhere else. While his screams are more ear piercingly bad than actually emotional, you still get a sense of how much he just enjoys making the records at this point. However, backup vocalist and guitarist Jim Ward suffers the “Sounds almost
exactly the same as Cedric” syndrome we’d see on later albums, but even more so here. It’s often difficult to make out whose singing what, at least on the first few listens. Does it really detract from the album? Nah, having two high energy, high pitched singers actually helps the album greatly.
However, musically, the album is fairly…repetitive. While the enthusiasm may have worked for Cedric’s and Jim’s vocals, the musicianship suffers from a lack of real variance. Omar (bass) is probably the highlight of the album; his rolling bass lines are nearly as audible as the riffs and leads, and fit perfectly with the brisk and frenetic tone of the album. Jim, however, suffers quite a bit from both shoddy production and plain unoriginality. While Omar mixes things up a bit in each song, it really sounds like Jim is using the same riff over and over, with very little variance. While there are moments of reprieve, it’s really Omar that differentiates the songs, and he doesn’t even show much in doing so. *Drummer* has some decent fills, but mostly is there just to keep beat on most of the songs, and since Omar (Bass) is really off in his own place of the time, he does a fairly good job of keeping the songs together. However, it’s readily apparent how young of a band is playing here, and with only 4 songs to showcase what they do, they really aren’t able to get it done.
The album certainly has its moments, with strange little choruses and complete drop-off bridges that leave you wondering, “What the hell just happened?” It’s just that the album isn’t
enjoyable. Yes, it’s fun, energetic, and in all honesty should be a blast. But they were just sloppy at this point, and while some may place a higher value on how “good of kids” they were at this point, being happy to make music, I still can’t see past the overall distaste left in my mouth after the album. It isn’t a bad EP by any means; if you are a fan of At the Drive-In, it’s suggested you at least try this out, as it’s very much an early version of
Acrobatic Tenement. Thing is, it lacks any real sense of what they want to do. As a mainly live act at this point, that is generally excusable, but today point, this EP is at the bottom of ATD-I’s discography. A fairly good bottom, to be sure, but a bottom nonetheless.
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