SERIE DE ORO: GRANDES EXITOS

It contains 5 of 6 songs from the first true prog album by ''Los Jaivas'' (1975), songs from ''Canción Del Sur'' and 3 singles.

Before buying this CD I had only ''Todos Juntos'' album. This compilation was my next LOS JAIVAS purchase and impressed me a lot, right after the first listening it was clear that this band is something special, even more - unique. Musicianship is superb, especially the work of Claudio and Eduardo Parra on grand piano and mini-Moog respectively. Gato Alquinta is not the greatest singer ever, but, as another reviewer mentioned, he knows how to sing. Gabriel Parra on drums and Julio Andrerson and Pajaro Canzani on bass (Mario Mutis did not play on '75 - '77 band's albums) provide great variety of rhythms. Ethnic woodwinds give the music strong Chilean feel.

Both prog and folk sides of LOS JAIVAS music are presented, and I can say in a good proportion.

Standout tracks for me are:

- ''Guajira Cosmica'' and ''La Conquistada'' have wonderful melodies, the latter, in my opinion, is the most beautiful song ever written by LOS JAIVAS;

- ''Tarka y Ocarina'' and ''Danza'' - both are great instrumental epics, showing band's virtuosity and compositional skills.

All other tracks are OK rock and folk songs. Though my least favourite is ''Dum Dum Tambora'', it is too long and repetative for my taste. If instead of it the song ''Canción del Sur'' was on this CD, it could be a 5-star selection of songs. Usually I don't rate compilations very high (at least if they don't contain rarities). But this set of songs is really good. 4 stars.

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