En la Boca del Volcan

For a band who started off punk and always thrived on a spare, economical attack that never came remotely close to self-indulgence, Seguridad Social sure went overboard when they got the chance. En la Boca Del Volcán, recorded in Los Angeles with prominent session musicians and loaded with horns and backing vocals, sounds like a lifetime dream project that went awry. The songs are still concise but they veer every which way — usually far away from the band's strengths. The ballad "Radiante Estrella" almost touches on MOR pop, while "Sigo Tu Luz" rocks with strident soul horns and gospel backing singers; it sounds like one of those old embarrassing attempts by rockers to get down and funky. "Cancion de Lluvia" is a rainy-day acoustic song before horns, funky soul, and sweeping strings enter the mix, and "El Payaso" brings in unnecessarily complex chord changes and Queen-style massed backing vocals. Even Seguridad Social's bread-and-butter rockers sound more leaden than usual, and while the Jamaican-oriented material is generally OK, only the closing "Salta" really gets the equation right in melding ska with a full horn section and some ragga rapping. Maybe the departure of guitarist Alberto Tarín had something to do with the problems of En la Boca Del Volcán; Aristides Abreu is a capable replacement but he's not really integrated into the group yet — and it shows. Maybe severing ties with K.C. Porter and producing themselves accounts for the bloated arrangements and unfocused grab bag of material, but Seguridad Social's dream project turned out to be closer to a misguided, L.A.-bland nightmare.