GRANDES EXITOS

At various times throughout this ALAS cd, I am reminded of ELP, Miles Davis (circa "B. Brew"), Return to Forever, and some of the Italian prog bands, especially when these guys sing. Yet the manner in which they combine the various elements of those bands is unique and enjoyable, if a little perplexing at first listen.

You see, they kind of jump around in style, even within the same song. The first two songs (both of which hail from their first album in 1976) are loooong ones - 15:48 and 17:36! And they typify the ELP-Italiano-Miles Davis thing with kind of odd results at first. Initially, it was difficult for me to reconcile the near-silent, free jazz, rhythm-less sections that establish themselves in the middle of those songs. But then I realized the classical symphonic nature of these pieces, moving from scene to scene, and returning nicely to the place from which they started. (The last song on the cd makes good use of this technique as well.) These are mostly instrumental pieces, but some Spanish singing is present, and the wide array of keyboards (and trumpet!) is a real treat for us prog lovers.

The third and fourth songs here are shorter, in the 3-4 minute range. "Aire" was a bonus track on the re-release of the debut album, while "Rincon..." appears to be a previously unreleased track from around that same era. The vocals on these two tracks are a little Yessier (wordless on "Aire"), and the Chris Squire-like bass lines add to that notion. These are both great songs.

The last three songs here come from their 1983 album - too bad they couldn't fit the other 13-minute song from that album on this one. (They did have 11 minutes of cd space free, so even a long excerpt?....) These last few tracks have more of the Chick Corea electric piano sound, some nice touches of fretless bass in places, and even a tango groove here and there that reminds me of Weather Report. There are no vocals on these tracks, and not much left of the ELP style; but the last track (...Mosquito") is really cool with the flute/piano/acoustic guitar interplay. (I do believe that this is the only song on the entire cd with guitar.)

This was my first prog-fusion cd from an Argentinian band, and I must say that I was quite impressed. This is very interesting music - performed, composed and arranged very well. The official name of this cd is "Grandes Exitos", which literally means "great successes" (greatest hits?). Whatever - seek it out; alas, you do "need" this one.