How to handle inconsistent naming song titles on cover art?

MusicBrainz
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1

Specifically, this concerns the song titles on the release “Esta Loca” by Latino Party.

  1. The title on the cover of the release is just “Esta Loca”. This is the way it was entered into MusicBrainz as well.
  2. There are three versions of the song on the release. On the backcover two are named Está Loca! (with accent and exclamation mark) and one Está Loca (just the accent)
  3. The printing on the medium gets even weirder as the songs are all suddenly titled “Huevos Esta Loca” (no accent or exclamation mark but sudden inclusion of Spanish eggs)

Está Loca indeed.

A quick perusal of Discogs shows that many other releases show the same inconsistency. For example the cover art of the Spanish edition shows the same pattern. Note that at Discogs the release group is entered as “Esta Loca!” (with exclamation mark, but without the accent).

So do I get to choose my own permutation or are there some guidelines I am unaware of?

Thanks.

2

One solution would be to ask the Artists. But 1990 is 29 years ago and the Artists might be unavailable.

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On the cover it is an artistic adjustment that is making the text a neat square in capitals. So no accent or exclamation mark.

If the spine also drops the ! then I’d title the album as “Está Loca”

I would write it as seen on the back cover. Two Está Loca! and one Está Loca

Usually that track list is the more trustable. (Think that is in a guideline somewhere when you get clashes like this)

I don’t speak or read Spanish, but the accent is part of the correct spelling. It would make it important to include it.

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My, it certainly appears that “Polydor” has milked this group for all their worth! I would agree with @IvanDobsky’s remarks. I have un poquito Spanish knowledge so I checked with my Spanish speaking friends who said they always use the accent in writing Está. As far as Huevos being added, they had no clue. One did mention that Huevos is occasionally used as a slang word with several “street” meanings. She also thought it could just be descriptive of the group being “crazy eggs”.

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It would indeed be best to have some of the members of Latino Party clarify this issue, but I am not getting my hopes up about being able to contact one after 30 years.

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I agree it is most intuitive to give primacy to the track list on the back cover, so I will be going with that. If somebody can come up with a link to guidelines stating this rule explicitly, that would be swell.

Yes, it seems defensible to at least have the spelling be correct in Spanish. Too bad even native Spanish-speaking people can’t make sense of the eggs.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody.

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