Almendra - Almendra (1969/2003 Remastered Ltd. Mini LP Edition)
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Album: Almendra - Almendra (Remastered Ltd. Mini LP Edition)
Released: 1969 (2003)
Genre: Psych-/Prog
Sony Argentina 8287 6726742
Classic album which impulsed the Argentine Rock movement. Essential for Rock in Spanish collectors. New mini-lp format. - Viajero Inmovil Records
Though nobody thought about it when the whole thing started, nowadays everybody agrees that the Argentine rock movement was stablished by three groups: Los Gatos, Manal, and Almendra.
While Los Gatos played beat-pop, and Manal played urban blues, Almendra (Almond) played something completely creative, innovative and... different. No other group had sounded that way before! Almendra played beautiful melodies and magnificent lyrics, sometimes mixed with extremely moody sounds and sometimes mixed with extremely furious -but always melodic- lines.
Almendra was formed in 1968 after the break up of three teenage school groups: Los Sbirros, Los Mods, and Los Larkins. The initial rehearsals were held at the Spinetta?s house in Belgrano (an upper-middle class neighbourhood of Buenos Aires). By mid 1968, they met producer Ricardo Kleiman, who signed them for a single. (Kleiman was the owner of an important clothing shop -Modart- and ran a radio show -Modart en la Noche /Modart at Night- that aired the latest editions of beat and rock music of the world).
On September 20th, 1968, "Tema de Pototo" (a.k.a. "Para saber c?mo es la soledad") b/w "El mundo entre las manos" was released. "Tema de Pototo" is a beautiful beat ballad about a friend they thought was dead. Both sides feature orchestral arrangements by Rodolfo Alchourr?n (a producer’s request). This was the starting point of the brief career of one of the most wonderful groups in the world!
By the end of the year, "Hoy todo el hielo en la ciudad" with a great fuzz guitar work by Edelmiro, hit the stores. The b-side features "Campos verdes" from which a promotional film was made.
Due to their performance at the Festival of Auc?n, in Peru (something completely unusual at that time) the single became a huge success in that country. They even appeared on a TV show in Lima.
Back in Argentina, Almendra played during the summertime -that is, beginning of 1969- in Mar del Plata (a beach city 400Km South of Buenos Aires). Their debut in Buenos Aires was on March 24th, at the DiTella Institute (the avant-garde cultural centre of the 60s). Almendra spent the rest of the year performing at different venues, until September 21st (the first day of Spring -also the Student’s Day) when they played at the Pinap Festival. Pinap was the name of a beat magazine, and this Festival was the first major event of Argentine rock.
Meanwhile, the group was recording their debut album. An odd event marked the completion of it. Spinetta had drawn an original enigmatic face character for the cover. Days afterward, the record company told the boys that the drawing had been lost, so they were planning to use a photo of the group instead. Obviously upset, the musicians looked for the lost drawing and eventually found it discarded in the garbage! Spinetta stayed up all night reproducing his original artwork and took it to the record company the following day. They offered no excuses the second time!
The extraordinary debut album was finally released on November 29th, 1969. Along with the infamous drawing, it included an insert with the lyrics and technical information. The black & white back cover pictured the group live at the Pinap Festival.
This LP is astonishingly beautiful. All songs are excellent. It is really hard to try to explain them!
The opening track is an argentine rock hymn: "Muchacha (ojos de papel)", an acoustic Spinetta song devoted to an old girlfriend that still thrills the listener. Next comes the superb 9 -minute long "Color humano", written by Edelmiro, featuring his now famous long fuzz guitar solo. Molinari would name his next group after this song.
"Figuraci?n" is a soft tune brilliantly sung by Spinetta with Pappo on backing vocals and Emilio del G?ercio on flute. The energy and fuzz guitar returns with the superb "Ana no duerme", one of the best tracks of the album. Santiago Giacobbe guests on organ.
Side two begins with the sweet "Ferm?n", another beautiful song where everything is well done: the guitar, the organ (played by Edelmiro), the vocals... followed by a lullaby tune "Plegaria para un ni?o dormido" with yet another inspired Spinetta lyric.
I am personally fond of "A estos hombres tristes", a song with changing rhythmic and melodies. Emilio wrote and sung lead in the next one, the pleasant "Que el viento borr? tus manos".
The LP ends with the slow and beautiful "Laura va", yet another great Spinetta song full of urban moods. Rodolfo Alchourr?n was called on again for his fruitful orchestral arrangements and Rodolfo Mederos played the bandone?n to complete the sound of Buenos Aires.
This indisputable masterpiece is one of the best albums ever recorded in South America and a must to anybody interested in the music of these latitudes... - The Magic Land - A-Z of Argentine Groups & Artists 1966/1977
1 Muchacha (ojos de papel) 03:07
2 Color humano 09:11
3 Figuracion 03:31
4 Ana no duerme 02:44
5 Fermin 03:18
6 Plegaria para un nino dormido 04:03
7 A estos hombres tristes 05:58
8 Que el viento borro tus manos 02:36
9 Laura va 02:47
LUIS ALBERTO SPINETTA - Guitar, vocals and piano
EMILIO DEL GUERCIO - Bass, vocals, organ, piano and efects
EDELMIRO MOLINARI - Guitar, vocals and organ
RODOLFO GARCIA - Drums, vocals and percussion
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