COMPILADO 2006

Nice compilation from this Argentinean band!

This is one of those bands that one can listen and listen and always find moments of pleasure. Espíritu, from Argentina was formed in the early seventies and recorded some studio and live albums, all of them with that latin American touch, however there is a clear influence taken from the symphonic giants from both, United Kingdom and Italy.

Now that our fellow collaborator Torodd interviewed Osvaldo Fravot, I was again interested in this band, whose album Crisálida has to be one of the most representative records from the Argentinean progressive realm. And thanks to this interview I could notice that if you visit their website, you can download for free a couple of compilation albums, "Compilado 2006" and "Compilado 2008", right now I am reviewing the first one.

For people who are not familiar with the band's music, the opportunity of a compilation album might help them to find out if the music is what they are looking for or not, though I am not a true fan of best of or greatest hits albums, I believe they can work as introductory albums for newcomers. So anyone who does not know Espíritu and don't want to spend some money, can go and download these samplers.

In this 2006 CD, what you will find is a mix of studio and live songs taken from different albums. "Imágenes Tenues y Transparentes" and "Un Viaje por los Recuerdos" were both taken from their "En Vivo" album from 2005. Both track show that their sound on stage is also great, so anyone who likes prog from South America would have loved to attend to one of their shows.

The other chosen songs, can be found in their three last studio albums: "Espiritu III" from 1982; "En Movimiento" from 1983; and "Fronteras Mágicas" from 2003. So as you can notice, this compilation album does not feature any song from their 70s albums. The music here has that special flavor from Argentina, if you are familiar with bands like Invisible, Crucis or MIA, you will enjoy for sure Espíritu. Their symphonic oriented music with great keyboards, excellent guitar works, along with that soft voice will please the listener.

My favorite songs are "Lento Juego de Luces", whose first seconds are not that great, but while the song is running it becomes more and more interesting; "Guardianes en Pie" whose keyboard sound shows their first class quality; and "Requiem X" which is a soft but beautiful melody in my opinion.

Let me tell you that this is not the best compilation album you will find, actually I would have changed some of the songs here for others I like more, however, as I told you earlier I believe this is a nice album if you want to know the band. If you have time, please download this, and download the 2008 sampler, which I will review right away. My final grade, three stars.

Enjoy it!

One of the finer things about this site is that one can learn about progressive bands that you would never have heard of otherwise. Espiritu, for me is one of those bands. This compilation is one of two that can be downloaded for free from the band's web site, and I thank them for that.

The opening notes of the first track give the impression that this band is going to be yet another Genesis imitation. But it doesn't take long before that impression is blown away with complex guitar, keyboard and drums. In fact, the best comparison I can make is to the vintage years of PFM. Yes, this is some highly technical, and well played symphonic prog.

My only complaint is that all too often the keyboards are way too low in the mix. It's not much of a complaint. 4 stars.