CINTAS EN DIRECTO

The band explains that the objective of this record was to show how the band could jam. The album doesn't feature any studio tricks. First takes, that's all. The members were not isolated in a studio room with the idea to show the spontaneity of the band as if they were playing live.

One of my favourite song form this album is by far the beautiful "Un Mundo Feliz" (but it was already released on their debut album). Like all the songs from this release, it sounds raw (a bit too much IMO) but its intro is so poignant.In terms of new songs, the full Tull oriented "Un Punto Más Allá Del Infinito" deserves your attention. One of the good songs.

The poor "Melanie" was recorded during the "Sueños De Metal" sessions. When you listen to it, you understand why it was rejected form the original album. Press next.

There is also one live track on this album, but frankly to listen to "Chac Mool" playing a rock song (or intending to do so) is not the best experience you would like to face. Press next, again.

"Chac Mool" tells us that "Cintas En Directo" represented a refreshing experience for them and that they hoped it will please us".

I cannot really cope with this statement. But the closing number is brilliant. Even if "Chac Mool" is referenced in the prog folk genre, they have recorded some spacey numbers as well. This one is again fully reminiscent of "ASOS" from Floyd. A fantastic trip and by far my fave out here.

Two stars.

Chac Mool was a very representative band from my country, mainly in the 80s, their music was successful at that time, so they could perform in several TV shows and they gained some popularity and nice audience, sadly, their music changed a lot within their albums, first they were playing progressive rock, with some symphonic roots, later a very nice addition of some spacey elements, and finally they turn to pop rubbish. At the 2000 year, the band with different line-up appeared again to create an extraordinary album that I would recommend to anyone. But now, I will talk about their 1982 album called "Cintas en Directo".

This album contains 7 songs and a total time of 35 minutes, so it is relatively short. It opens with "El Fantasma del Museo" and well I have to say that since the first song, we can notice that the recording sound is very poor, sometimes sounding amateurish. This first song is pretty nice, it shows some changes within itself, not very complex but with fine instrumentation, what I like the least are the vocals, but I enjoy several passages.

"Lo Enterraron Vivo" has some good moments, mainly when the keyboard appears, there is a keyboard solo somewhere, and it sounds nice. There are moments where the song's sound is very 80s, you know what I mean.

"Melanie" is a simple song that has some spacey effects which are actually unnecessary, and I don't want to be mean, but the vocals are horrible here, not their best song at all.

"Un Mundo Feliz", in contrast to the previous one, is much better since the very beginning, with some nice effects as background and the first couple of minutes sound as an improvisation, then the song begins to build up an structure, and creates a very nice piece though the music may sound quite simple, I like it.

"Ofrenda" is a song that offers you a kind of electronic, spacey sound, synths effects, bass lines a constant soft drumming and a warm flute sound here and there, creating a very good atmosphere "Un Punto más Allá del Infinito", starts with flute and bass in the same line, it could be a nice song if it hasn't vocals, the music is not that bad, but the vocals in a funny style are horrible, again. The last part of the song is pretty good actually.

"El Rey del Rock" is the last song of the album and it is a live track, very poppish and catchy, honestly nothing to be proud of.

This is a weak Chac Mool album, they made better things but anyway I would not consider this as a bad album either, not as bad as their Caricia Digital. 2.5 stars would be fair, but this time I will low the rating to 2, I only recommend it for fans.

Enjoy it, anyway!