Y... Sigue la Máquina Dando / Y... Sigue la Maquina Dando

Norteño enthusiasts have often commented on the stylistic similarities between the recordings of Polo Urías y Su Máquina Norteña and the recordings of los Rieleros del Norte, and those similarities are no coincidence. Urías enjoyed a great deal of exposure in the regional Mexican market as the lead vocalist for los Rieleros, and when he formed his own band, Polo Urías y Su Máquina Norteña, in 1995, Urías kept moving in a Rieleros-minded direction. True to form, Urías maintains his Rieleros-influenced approach on 2006's Sigue La Máquina Dando — and that means favoring norteño that is hardcore, although not hardcore in the narcocorrido sense. Narcocorridos (corridos about drug trafficking) have been big sellers for norteño heavyweights such as los Tigres del Norte (who wrote the book on narcocorridos back in the '70s), Grupo Exterminador, los Tucanes de Tijuana and the late Chalino Sánchez, but that isn't where Urías is coming from on this 34-minute CD. Urías, however, is hardcore in that his norteño doesn't have the abundance of Latin pop gloss that one expects from Bronco, Mojado, Intocable or Conjunto Primavera, and his strong ranchera credentials are never in question on "Demasiado Tarde," "A Partir de Hoy," "El Ranchero Norteño" or "Ojitos Soñadores." Nor are they in question on inspired performances of José Alfredo Jiménez' "Hay un Momento" and the Felipe Valdez Leal standard "Por una Mujer Casada." The only time this album comes even close to grupero territory is on the keyboards-drenched Version Balada of the song "Supe Perder"; most of the time, Urías comes across as someone who likes his norteño straight-ahead, and that mindset serves him well on this engaging, if somewhat predictable, disc.