Operation Marea Negra

1932. Sono passati esattamente dieci anni da quando John Madden, ispettore di Scotland Yard, ha affrontato gli incubi del suo passato - la morte della prima moglie e della figlia uccise dall'epidemia di Spagnola, i ricordi tormentosi della prima guerra mondiale - risolvendo un brutale caso di omicidi seriali nella campagna inglese. Madden ha lasciato la polizia e ha sposato la coraggiosa dottoressa che lo ha aiutato a risolvere il caso e a ritrovare equilibrio e serenità. Ma ora cominciano i delitti: brutali, spietati, commessi da una mano invisibile contro piccole vittime innocenti.

The intuition of Rafael and Raimundo Amador which the blues and flamenco could be merged into convincing hug without compromising their essences became certainty in this album, planetary consecration of Pata Negra. Both had participated in this unique anomaly that was poison and had released three albums whose echo continues to be heard today, but here threw the rest and, in turn, sealed the death certificate of the group, death touched by ill sibling relationship.

The debut from Mano Negra is more than a band wanting to be the Clash. It's the sound of a band becoming the Clash (it compresses all the musical sprawl of Sandinista! into a single disc), then going on to find their own sound, most especially with tracks like "Indios de Barcelona" and "Mala Vida," both of which would become staples of their repertoire. "Killin' Rats" is a perfect mix of hip-hop and rock, while their take on the traditional "Rock Island Line" (the song that launched the skiffle movement of the '50s) flows through several musical styles in the course of three minutes. There's nothing that complex about it, but the best rock & roll has always been simple. But there's an undeniable fire about Patchanka – they sound as if they've just discovered rock, and they play as if their lives depended on it, with Chao singing (probably one of the few to take Joe Strummer as a vocal model) and the rest of the band offering soccer-style chanting as a background. They're not afraid of anything, they're immortal, and they swagger – and they're often funny, as in the over-the-top fake applause that permeates "Mano Negra," the album's opener.