INVISIBLE

Third album - El Jardín de los Presentes from 1976 is their best one for sure, or at least to me and is their most well known and in same time their last one, they disbanded in early 1977. On their previous albums they were a trio, he joined here the excellent guitarist Tommy Gubitsch who gives a jazier sound and atmophere and the result is great. Also there are some latin fusion elements thrown in and is quite enjoyble and solid in same time. Intricate and complicated arrangements even has some laid back parts, most of the time is complicated and well written. El Anillo Del Captain Beto defines Invisible sound with intelligent and catchy parts, very nice, Ruido De Magia is another highlight. Definetly one of the better bands from Argentina from glory days of prog with particulary this third album as their best.

3 stars for style.

"El Anillo Del Captain Beto" sounds so incredibly good and the Spanish vocals are so moving.The drums beat lightly while the bass throbs and the guitar gently plays. A gorgeous track. "Los Libros De La Buena Memoria" opens with sounds that echo as reserved vocals come in. Some accordion before 3 minutes. A mellow tune. "Alarma Entre Los Angeles" is an instrumental with drums and guitar leading the way early.This one's more dynamic but then it settles in tastefully. Some intricate guitar here as it solos throughout beautifully. "Que Ves El Cielo" is a good track that's laid back with vocals.

"Ruido De Magia" is another gorgeous sounding tune with vocals.Tasteful guitar as the bass throbs.The tempo picks up briefly then it turns dreamy. So moving 4 minutes in. "Doscientos Anos" is pastoral with the focus on the vocals. I like the vocal melodies before 3 1/2 minutes. "Nino Condenado" has a good intro, I like the bass and drums. Vocals before 2 minutes. It kicks in after 2 1/2 minutes. Nice. This is the most powerful passage on the album and it returns around 5 1/2 minutes in.What a song ! Check out the guitar late. "Las Golondrinas De Plaza De Mayo" has this nice laid back rhythm with vocals. An uplifting track.

A must in my opinion for fans of beautiful, melodic music.

Spinetta's spanish vocals may remind you of the greatest italian singers from the 70's , but in my opinion his voice is one of a kind. The music is really complex if we take into account that Invisible is just a trio and they didn't include any keyboards on this record. The opener Jugo de Lucuma features some really nice interplay between Pomo and Machi and Spinetta's surreal lyrics really go well with the mood of the song. El diluvio y la pasajera is one of the standout tracks on this release. Starts with some acoustic guitar and does not feature any drumming in the first four minutes , reminding me of Harmonium. It's incredible how they could create a song as good as this one with just bass and guitars! After that point , there comes some jazzy drumming and Spinetta delivers a killing psychedelic guitar solo. The next track Suspension opens with a Black Sabbath/ Led Zep riff and there is quite a contrast created by the majestic vocal work in the beggining. Tema de elmo lesto is a short instrumental and personally , I think is the worst song of the six included here. It sounds like a jam session and the drumming is not as inspired as it's on the rest of the record. However there are some outstanding Luis guitar solos that somewhat save this song. The next track is my second favourite here Asafata del Tren Fantasma has some of Luis best lyrics on his career ( and this guy has edited almost 40 albums including solo works so that's quite a compliment) The track is really tranquil but the band manages to build some tension around it with sudden breaks. Lastly , we have Irregular which is , alongside Jugo de Lucuma , the jazziest track of this release. I really like Pomo's and Machi's performance on this tune.

Overall , I think this record has some minor flaws but it's one of the best jazz fusion oriented albums to come out from my countryin the 70's.

NOTE: The other two tracks that are listed on this site ( La llave del Mandala , and Lo que nos preocupa es esa abuela... )are just bonus tracks that were originally released as singles. In my opinion , this tracks are average at best as any bonus track.

This record is a bit more accesible and less darker than his debut album. It opens with an amazing epic called Encadenado al Anima and then features shorter songs all of them with a jazzy approach. Encadenado.. opens with a spacey section driven by Spinetta's guitar and Pomo's subtle drumming. Luis's vocals share a lot in common with Jon Anderson and some of the greatest RPI singers of the 70's. Suddenly the song breaks into a faster section to become subtle once more this time with some smooth synthetizers on the back. This song is a memorable epic since it has several mood changes and is really well composed. Also I want to add that the lyrics for this song were inspired on a poem written by Luis's father.

The title track is an absolute classic of argentinian rock and one of Spinetta's most popular song. It's just 3 minutes long but holds an undescriptable beauty. If I were to describe this one , I would say it's a cross between some of the early KC ballads like Lady of the dancing water or Cadence and Cascade and some of the most gentle PFM or Celeste moments. The third song Pleamar de Aguilas is not sung by Spinetta but bassist Machi. And altough his voice is a lot different from Luis the result ain't bad. Some may say this song is a little whimsical but it features very good guitarwork from Luis and nice vocal harmonies as well. En una lejana playa del Animus is probably the most laid back song on this record. Being 9 minutes long it starts with some jazzy improvisation and then features some spacey guitars. Luckily the mood of the song changes with a powerful chorus and from that moment on turns on a rocker driven by Spinetta's fantastic guitar solos and Machi's bass groove . Lastly , the record closes with another 3 minute acoustic song with jazzy chord progressions called Dios de Adolesencia. It's a really simple , yet beautiful song which happens to be my favourite on this record.

For those looking for Argentinian prog , Durazno Sangrando is the place to go.It's an essential record from both my country and South American prog.

So,speaking about the tracks we have to deal with a variety of rock styles,but the overall mood of the album closes to the genre of late 60's/early 70's psych.The opener ''Jugo de lucuma'' is an average jazz/rock track,while in ''El diluvio...'' the band delivers pure psych/prog with soft touches of LED ZEPPELIN.In ''Suspencion'' the heavy guitar and bass lines remind of the doom/stoner of early BLACK SABBATH and ''Tema de elmo...'' which follows is a ZEPPELIN-like unnecessary boring instrumental track.''Azafata'' is another average too long track with the only interesting thing is some great psych bass lines and drums.''La llave...'' is another SABBATH-like track of little interest,while in the classic rock- influenced closer ''Lo que nos ocupa'' we meet again the familiar ZEPPELIN sound...

In general I would say that this is a decent album but unfortunately I wouldn't recommend it to any progressive rock fan as this album is mostly straightforward classic rock with psych and jazz elements and very few prog touches...Collectors or fans of psych/classic rock might find it interesting,pure prog fans should avoid,as there is nothing revolutionary,captivating or adventuruous to find in this release...2 or maybe 2.5 stars...

This is the third and last album by this trio , who has now become a quartet due to the inclusion of guitar virtuoso Tomas Gubitsch.When listening to Spinetta's albums lyrics are a very important aspect so probably non spanish speakers won't be able to appreciate this at first , specially with this album that manages to build a very prominent porteño feel (by the way porteños are the citizens of Buenos Aires).

That being said , the album is mainly a blend of rock , jazz and tango. You can appreciate that due to the work of guest mucisians like bandeonists Juan Jose Mosalini and Rodolfo Mederos.If I were asked about the album's standout tracks I would say that they are the opener El anillo del Capitan Beto , whose lyrics are about the loliness a common man who was a bus driver feels when he is put on a space voyage , reminding his relatives and little every day stuff that he misses so much.

The other standout tracks are Los libros de la buena memoria and the instrumental Alarma entre los Angeles.Lastly I'll add that this album is a landmark in argentinian and latin american progressive music and deserves to be listened by every fan.