SI TODO HICIERA CRACK

This spinster release by would be Spanish prog masters entered my collection well over a decade ago but I never got around to formally evaluating it. I just remember I found it overly busy and a little too "up" all the time, which tends to exhaust me. Returning to it recently, I still feel there is too much going on too often, and, while the vocals are functional, I am now most appreciative of the breadth of the keyboards and flutes and the bass timbre in particular.

While influences from the usual Anglo and Italian suspects are apparent, as well as a few of the better timed Iberian artists, CRACK really does justify its own story for most of these 40 minutes. Like QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA to whom some have drawn similarities, they tended to top load the album, with the two major triumphs occurring at the start. The intensely masterful "Amantes de le Irrealidad" is mildly sullied by the way it chooses to bow out, with a timid vocal passage and no reprise of the exhilarating instrumental themes. For the rest, the melodic vocal and expressive keyboard approaches are similar but perhaps not quite as cohesive. Still, the virtuosity without showboating is worth it for most symph (especially YES) fans who don't mind some folk foundations.

While not quite moving or consistent enough to be a lost or even near classic. "Si Todo Hiciera Crack" deserved more success in 1980 but thankfully is now far better known thanks to all of us. 3.5 stars rounded up.