With MCA putting much of its rock promotion muscle behind metal and hard rock in the early 1990s,
Chagall Guevara seemed to get lost in the shuffle. It's unfortunate, because the band showed some potential on this little-known CD. Not at all predictable, the melodic rockers have a very wide variety of direct or indirect influences -- the album makes it sound like they were listening to everyone from
Bob Dylan,
the Rolling Stones and
Alice Cooper to
INXS. "Murder In the Big House" has an especially
Cooper-ish groove, while "Take Me Back to Love Canal" exemplifies the band's more punk-influenced side, and "Rub of Love" hints at
Lou Reed.
Chagall Guevara should have done a lot better commercially. ~ Alex Henderson