SERIE DE ORO: GRANDES EXITOS

Very good compilation

It contains 5 of 6 songs from the first true prog album by ''Los Jaivas'' (1975), songs from ''Canción Del Sur'' and 3 singles.

Before buying this CD I had only ''Todos Juntos'' album. This compilation was my next LOS JAIVAS purchase and impressed me a lot, right after the first listening it was clear that this band is something special, even more - unique. Musicianship is superb, especially the work of Claudio and Eduardo Parra on grand piano and mini-Moog respectively. Gato Alquinta is not the greatest singer ever, but, as another reviewer mentioned, he knows how to sing. Gabriel Parra on drums and Julio Andrerson and Pajaro Canzani on bass (Mario Mutis did not play on '75 - '77 band's albums) provide great variety of rhythms. Ethnic woodwinds give the music strong Chilean feel.

Both prog and folk sides of LOS JAIVAS music are presented, and I can say in a good proportion.

Standout tracks for me are:

- ''Guajira Cosmica'' and ''La Conquistada'' have wonderful melodies, the latter, in my opinion, is the most beautiful song ever written by LOS JAIVAS;

- ''Tarka y Ocarina'' and ''Danza'' - both are great instrumental epics, showing band's virtuosity and compositional skills.

All other tracks are OK rock and folk songs. Though my least favourite is ''Dum Dum Tambora'', it is too long and repetative for my taste. If instead of it the song ''Canción del Sur'' was on this CD, it could be a 5-star selection of songs. Usually I don't rate compilations very high (at least if they don't contain rarities). But this set of songs is really good. 4 stars.

Although this is a compilation, it only covers a few years of LOS JAIVAS' career in the mid 70s, and is available for a reasonable price, two good reasons to pick it up instead of the original albums. It fills in the gaps nicely between "Todos Juntos" and "Alturas de Macchu Piccu".

The album basically has a dividing line between uncomfortably loud and numbingly repetitive quasi traditional material and some of the best progressive folk rock (with more than a few symphonic aspects), to come from Latin America, with everything from track 7 on being of high quality. It's not even chronological, but just the way the running order was chosen.

The nadir is reached with "Dum Dum Tamboura" which starts off promisingly before entering an infinite loop for the last 6 minutes of its 8 minute life. The apex is several tracks later on the glorious "La Conquistada", which reminds me the Argentinian MAGMA at times, and seems to have influenced PABLO EL ENTERRADOR in their most inspired moments. Lilting and emotional, it ranks as one of their best. The song that is closest in colour to "Alturas..." is "En La Cumbre De Un Cerro" thanks to its keyboards and fuzzy lead guitar. You can definitely see where this was heading. Other highlights are the richly constructed and diverse instrumental "Danza", and two included singles that combine the disco of the day with LOS JAIVAS' traditional sounds in an entertaining fashion, constituting a bold move politically if not musically.

This is a tough one to rate but I have to go with 3 stars, acknowledging that the latter half is pure gold and a grand exit indeed.