This is not the place to start with Latin Rock. As the Rolling Stone quip says, Mexican New Wavers predominate - resulting in a dated form of crossover. That said, the New Wave influence sounds fine in contrast to the hard rock flavors on a couple of tracks. Rhino took care to assemble songs that give lyrical space to socio-political themes, but they did not present us with the cutting-edge in Spanish-language crossover music, EXCEPT for the tracks by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (who will hopefully go back to this vibe after their last concept album) and Mano Negra. That leads to the real problem with this compilation: most of the best fusions being achieved in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries at this time are not based on 80s pop and rock styles. For all the attitude and energy of these bands, this disc fails to conquer.