I wonder how many FM radio listeners picked up this album based on the heavy rotation of the title track and were either confused or disappointed by the rest of the record. Even so, this was another step in the right direction for a band that had risen like a phoenix just a year prior to record the stellar 'John Barleycorn Must Die' and were now all enjoying a resurgence of interest in their back catalog, not to mention the various side projects they had been involved in (Blind Faith, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Spencer Davis Group, Family among others).

The lineup expanded for this release, although the core group of Steve Winwood, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi remained though Capaldi's participation was heavily augmented by the troubled yet brilliant session drummer Jim Gordon and percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah (who would remain with the band until their 1974 demise).

And that title track is surely the showcase of the album, a brilliant, sparse jazzy tome with instrumental highlights by just about everyone in the band. If I remember right there was a radio-edit version of this song that eliminated many of the instrumental breaks as well as most of the long, slow lead-in and closing; but the original is well worth listening to in its entirety to fully appreciate the exceptional showmanship and technical talent of this impressive assemblage of artists. This song appears to this day on most 'Top XXX Songs of All-Time" lists.

The follow-up "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" is a rare Capaldi composition and while it includes several extended instrumental passages including some funky blues guitar from Winwood, it doesn't come close to the majesty of 'Low Spark'.

"Rock & Roll Stew" comes off a bit better mostly thanks to a wicked bass line courtesy of former Family & Blind Faith bassist Ric Grech and Kwaku Baah's funky percussion, as well as a echoed vocal track delivered by Winwood with some serious bite. The follow-on "Many a Mile to Freedom" is closer to the folksy tempo of earlier Traffic songs but with nary a trace of the psych touches that graced their first couple of albums. Wood comes across once again with some great though somewhat strained flute passages, as he does on the closing "Rainmaker", which makes an abrupt tempo shift midway to emphasize Winwood's grooving guitar atop Wood and his saxophone and Kwaku Baah's hand percussion. This is a sound the band would explore more fully and with great success on their final album 'When the Eagle Flies' a few year's later.

This isn't quite the unexpected masterpiece 'John Barleycorn' was a year prior, and truth be told the band was a commercial success in the U.S. by this time and were probably under pressure to deliver more radio-friendly music than what most of these tracks turned out to be. But it is still one of the top studio performances of the band and so deserves a four (out of five) star rating for the combined performances of six very solid musicians. Very well recommended.

peace

I never been a fan of Spanish music except for the incredible acoustic guitar, but the vocals (specially when close to Cante Hondo) have too hard accent for my taste (something that probably English speakers won't notice), so each time I had the chance to get a TRIANA album used to let it pass. But about a month ago while checking the Symphonic band list from Prog Archives found TRIANA and bought "Hijos del Agobio", more for curiosity than for real conviction, and thanks God I did it because their work is outstanding

Jesus de la Rosa (who died in on October 13, 1983 on a car accident) had a very nice voice, and his accent is moderate in comparison to what I expected, the band has an absolutely unique approach to their music, their essence is clearly Spanish and Gypsy with a Moorish touch but is softened in most of the cases by the excellent use of Mellotron and synths giving a Symphonic atmosphere that lead to their wrong inclusion in this sub-genre instead of Folk Prog where they can be found today.

After the economic disaster of their first and excellent album "El Patio" (Between April and December of 1975 they sold only 75 copies) and after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco (A well known enemy of free expression) TRIANA released "Hijos del Agobio" with the advantage of cultural opening and reaction of thepeople against 40 years of oppression, this album sold much better but not enough to make them leave the status of cult band among university students and young people hungry for the new smell of liberty.

What songs impressed me more? Most of the album so lets give an overview.

My introduction to TRIANA was "Hijos del Agobio", the self titled track starts with a beautiful mixture of lush keyboards and a subtle acoustic guitar playing the background, incredibly enhanced by the peculiar voice and accent of Jesús de La Rosa, by moments it seems the band is taking the path of a classical symphonic sound but sudden explosions of Spanish soul make us remember we're in front of one of the most representative bands from this country, the vocals are extremely emotive and blend with magic the expectation, hope and fear for a new unknown era.

The second track is the legendary "Rumor" which became the first TRIANA single, this time the ethnic Flamenco sound is more evident as if they were opening their true identity to the rest of the world, still we can easily find the Symphonic sound, but the true nature of the band is there for all of us to listen.

"Sentimientos de Amor" is a beautiful ballad more oriented towards the classical guitar sound than to the free gypsy spirit, this time Tele Palacios with his Moog creates the effect of a second acoustic guitar to add a touch of sublimated Prog Rock, again a masterpiece, with all the flavor of Spain and the brilliance of a good Symphonic band.

Probably the only song that I really don't like too much is "Recuerdos de Triana", based only in percussion, some confusing vocals and shouts by Miguel Angel Iglesias (Atmospheric voices and shouts of "microphonic" relief) plus some electronic sounds a la Pink Floyd.

!Ya Está Bien¡ is an interesting blues variation and "Necesito" is a track sung by the guitarist Eduardo Rodriguez, none of them spectacular, but keep the interest of the listener, just enough to mention them but not to make a detailled comment.

Now it's time for one of the strongest tracks "Sr Troncozo", the whole spirit of musicians as Segovia will always remain alive in this kind of songs, emotional, heartbreaking and purely ethnic, the acoustic guitar almost makes me cry. The vocals are not so close to Cante Hondo replacing this approach for a more conventional style enhanced by palmas (hand clapping), simply delightful.

"Del Crepúsculo Lento Nacerá el Rocío" closes the album with a bombastic ending that blends excellent guitar solos and spectacular synth, the perfect track to finish a great album, a bit short, but as we, Spanish speakers say: It's better to leave the audience the taste of the honey in the lips.

Honestly I didn't expected so much of "Hijos del Agobio" because for what I had heard,. their debut album also known as "El Patio" is supposedly much better, but if this is the example of a "not as good as" release, I can't wait to listen the rest of the TRIANA discography. Four solid stars.

Edit July, 20, 2008: Rised to 5 stars by the author after revision of all their material of the band, this album is superb.