MEDINA AZAHARA

Medina Azahara is a very popular and interesting Spanish rock band that exists for almost 40 years: they were founded in 1979 and this spring 2018 Medina Azahara will give a serie of concerts in Spain (from Cordoba to Madrid). The only founding member in the recent line-up is the tall singer Manuel Marti­nez, who looks like a cross between David Byron and a Viking. But guitarist Francisco 'Paco' Ventura is another Medina Azahara veteran, he plays in the band for almost three decades (since 1989). Back to the late Seventies, singer Manuel Martinez and four other musicians wanted to make rock music, inspired by Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and Uriah Heep . The young band embraced the Rock Andaluz movement (from Andalusia in Southern Spain, blending the distinctive ethnic flamenco and rock music), speerheaded by legendary Triana. This was an important influence on their eponymous debut album from 1979. However, from their second album La Esquina Del Viento (1980) Medina Azahara turned into more harder-edged and catchy melodic rock with fiery guitar, functional keyboards and emotional Spanish vocals as their trademark. But due to the passionate Spanish vocals (with flamenco hints) and the colouring with Morish accents by the guitar and keyboards, their music kept nice Rock Andaluz undertones. To emphasize Medina Azahara their prog tendencies, the band also collaborated with: new flamenco guitar hero Vicente Amigo (.. en Al- Hakim, 1989), African musicians (Tanger, 1998), the Cordoba Symphony Orchestra (Aixa, 2003) and the Sevillian band Fondo Flamenco (La Memoria Perdida, 2012).

Of course this comprehensive compilation (although I miss the 'stage favorites' Busca and Otono) contains their most famous track Paseando Por La Mezquita. This has become the 'Rock Andaluz anthem': a known and propulsive flamenco chord is played with a powerful electric guitar, accompanied by catchy synthesizer flights featuring a strong Morish flavour and topped with passionate Spanish vocals, very exciting! Another 'must' is the inclusion of a Triana song (their strongest influence, especially on the first album), here we can enjoy a great rendition of Abre La Puerta: intense flamenco guitar, heavy guitar riffs, sumptuous organ and a sparkling synthesizer solo, what a wonderful tribute. The songs Palabras De Libertad, Necesito Respirar, Tierra De Libertad and Velocidad epitomize Medina Azahara their harder-edged and catchy up-tempo rock. To my delight this compilation also contains two tracks with flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo from the album ... En El-Hakim: Al Hakim... Otro Lugar (a Morish climate, expressive Spanish vocals and Mark Kelly-like synthesizer flights) and the compelling Desde Corrdoba (captivating interplay between flamenco - and electric guitar). Other interesting compositions are Cordoba (with the Cordoba Symphonic Orchestra, along moving electric guitar runs) and Danza Al Viento (Medina Azahara rock mixed with African percussion), both showcase the adventurous side from Medina Azahara.

If you like harder-edged melodic rock with prog tendencies (including the Rock Andaluz sound) and passionate Spanish vocals, this compilation is a way to discover the special Medina Azahara sound.

My rating: 3,5 star.

Medina Azahara has always fused rock, pop, prog rock and folk music into one musical expression. On this album, prog rock aka Genesis has been dropped altogether. What remains is a mix of commercial pop rock and folk music. The type of music that makes the dance floors in the rural areas fill up with more or less sober men and women. Every country has scenes like this and Medina Azahara has made a stab at this scene with this album.

The music here is not particular interesting. The rhythm section is laying down a four by four pattern and never deviates from that. Playing drums and bass on this album is as interesting as watching paint dry. Not that the guitarist have a much better job either. The vocalist is laying down his soul ikn the vocals and I do not think he sings about splitting atoms and the latest innovations in how to predict weather forecasts. My guess is that the vocals is about love in all it's variations. Love hurts, love is complicated, love makes you happy. These subjects which no members of ProgArchives even have the faintest ideas about (sorry guys, but Wikipedia is down today).

The quality of the music is not too shabby. Well, it is by no means good. But this album is not a turkey, although it makes the same kind of noises. It is Spanish pop/rock, no less and no more. A very weak two pointer it is.

2 stars (barely)

The band and music is unmistaken Spanish with Spanish vocals and Spanish folk rock sound. The music is a blend of Genesis aka Foxtrot and RPI bands like Banco and Le Orme. I would label Spanish symph prog as RPI's brother. No wonder in fact. Both countries are in the deep south Europe and in the Mediterranean Ocean area. Both are also bordering to the Arabian Africa spheres.

Medina Azahara is combining their Genesis like keyboards with flamenco and other folk rock from this region. The guitars are mostly heavy. The music is proper rock with some pop influences. The music is much more crossover rock than symphonic prog.

Y Amanece En La Ciudad and the good keyboards here is the best song on an album which ticks over nicely with some good music. Their vintage keyboards driven sound is really good too. This is a good album and a good example on what Spanish symphonic prog anno the 1970s sounds like.

3 stars

Spain is more a confederation of independent nations than a nation itself. I find Spain a very fascinating country seen from afar and I have a lot of time for Spain. This band is from Cordoba in Andalusia, a region and nation in the far south of Spain. Their music is called Andalusian Rock. Exciting stuff, in other words.

And the music here is indeed very special and indeed a subgenre within the symphonic prog genre. Genesis, ELP and Yes copies, this is not. But still well within the symph prog genre. The music is both melodic and rhythmic with a very large slab of flamenco and folk rock. The opening song is much more a hard rocker than the rest of the album so don't think this is a hard rocking album. The music on the rest of the album is very melodic and keyboards driven with Spanish vocals on the top. This interplay between hard rocking guitars, melodic keyboards and superb vocals is something we also find in Rock Progressivo Italiano. Hence, those who likes Rock Progressivo Italiano will also like this album and this band.

The overall quality is very good, bordering to great. Hacia Tí with it's moog is a great song and closest to what I feel is missing on this album; a real killer track. But this is indeed a very good debut album which has made me order some more albums from this band.

3.75 stars

They were originally born at the end of 70's very influenced by another famous band from Andalucia, Triana. The voice of Manuel Martínez is very similar to the Jesús de la Rosa's one, and so are the oriental music influences. Maybe Medina Azahara were less flamenco, and more arabic, but similar anyway.

But Medina Azahara suffered a change in their mussical style... From the andalucian prog-rock of the beginning, they evolved to a more conventional heavy-rock, but still with the arabic touch and the curious Manuel's voice. And "Sin Tiempo" is just that, a heavy album from beginning to end, without any prog element, but with a strong spanish feeling.

The sound of the album is not spectacular, being the guitars a bit weak in my opinion... Although Paco Ventura is a very talented player. You only have to hear the fantastic solos in Solo y Sin Ti... And the songs are also ok, being Todo Tiene Su Fin and Necesito Respirar the two most famous Medina Azahara's hymns. The lyrics are cheesy and sometimes even ridiculous, but they are listenable.

So although this album is good, I can't recommended to any prog lover, because is just not prog. Just for curious heavy searchers.

Best songs: Solo y Sin Ti (a fine ballad), Todo tiene Su fin (a great version), Junto a Lucía (cool hard rock track) and Necesito Respirar (the chorus is too repetitive, but the song is good)

Conclusion: "Sin Tiempo" is very far from the Triana influenced first years of the band, so you will not find prog here... Just a curious hard rock / heavy album with some cool andalucian and arabic arrangements, and with some fine tracks too. Just for collectors.

My personal rating: ***

ProgArchives rating: **

To be honest, there were much more downs than ups in their discography. The proghead should only bother with their first two albums, which are on the symphonic side as well as with ''En Al-Hakim''.

Most of their work is just straight Spanish pop-rock. At times tinted with a harder sound (''XX''). It is again the situation with ''La Estación De Los Sueños''. The opener was a good surprise though (but short): fine Middle-Eastern influence could have lead to a work in the vein of ''En Al- Hakim'', but it won't be the case, unfortunately.

Still, this album is substantially better than their last several poor albums (''Aixa'', ''Tierra De Libertad'' and ''Tanger'' which I all rated with one star). Some flamenco oriented vocals during ''Niña Dime Tú'' and ''Sólo Momentos'' are bringing these songs into good territories but several tunes are really painful (the AOR ''Al Diablo Con El Cielo, the pop ''Sólo Soy Un Tonto'').

A true prog feel I don't have while listening to this album, and it won't reconcile me with the band. This hard to even metal Spanish rock is not appealing to my ears. And believe me: I have desperately tried all of their records so far (which means a total of twelve albums). As usual, some very good guitar breaks are highlighting average songs and only therefore, I will rate this work with two stars. Nothing too important is featured on this album to be honest. Like during many other ones.