SERÚ GIRÁN

A legendary, short-lived and very succesful Argentinian band, formed in 1978 by keyboardist Charly García and ex-Polifemo guitarist David Lebon, following the demise of La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros.Starting months are somewhat confusing, it appears that Garcia and Lebon travelled to Brazil to write songs for a new band and album.Garcia returned to Buenos Aires after some months and got impressed by the bass playing of Alas' Pedro Aznar, so he was invited to join the new project along with drummer Oscar Moro, whom Garcia new from their common stin in La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros.Originally they worked with singer Billy Bond in Brazil as Billy Bond and the Jets, but after an album Bond decided to dissolve the formation.Seru Giran originated from the disbanding and the remaining quartet worked on new songs, partly recorded in Brazil and partly in Los Angeles, USA.The self-titled debut of the band came out later in the year on Sazam Records.

Basically a Symphonic Pop album, ''Seru Giran'' reveals the talents of the involved members in many pieces, however the shorter cuts are following a more Pop Rock vein, apparently affected by the trends of the time, when playing progressive music was like a curse.Still Seru Giran tried to offer refined and sophisticated arrangements, even if the singing lines are too melodramatic and sentimental and occasional poppy tunes are detected throughout the album.The album is led by a soft orchestral atmosphere due to Gracia's always gifted keyboard plays and the involvement of Daniel Goldberg as a director of the orchestral moves.While the album is pretty short, two tracks exceed the 7-min. mark, ''Eiti Leda'' and the eponymous one, in an attempt by Garcia and the crew to revive the sound of LA MAQUINA DE HACER PAJAROS, flavored by some Orchestral Pop moments.These pieces follow a mellow Symphonic Rock vein with lots of piano, soft guitars and light synth flashes, backed up by a Classical background, which reminds me of 69'-days' KING CRIMSON.The rest of the tracks are more confusing with acoustic parts, discreet jazzy colors, still some symphonic ovetones (even reminding of GENESIS) and plenty of Pop thrown in, resulting a bunch of decent arrangements, still quite far from the true talents of the exhibition team.Generally the album lacks energy, being too smooth at moments, but the material is pretty good with many artistic parts, which hold a progressive interest.

On the thin line between Pop and Symphonic Rock.Equal to Italians FORMULA TRE or LA BOTTEGA DELL'ARTE, but the musicians here were much more experienced, so an even better result was expected.Still recommended to fans of the lighter side of Prog Rock.