RECUERDOS DE MI TIERRA

Duende! MEZQUITA are impressively talented, energetic and emotional- and very Spanish. If YES had been formed in Cordoba, they might have sounded a bit like this; fans of 70s SANTANA or Morricone's soundtracks will have no problem adapting, but the latin influnces here are obviously deeper. It's actually closer to Carlos Montoya than Carlos Santana, a rock iteration of the moorish dance traditions- one can hear the same influence in West African highlife, Algerian rai, etc.

A near-perfect combination of instrumental intricacy and songcraft- the vocals are also pretty passionate, solo or in a surging harmony as in "Recuerdos", and often act more like an instrument than a narrative (at the very worst they don't detract from the music). Electric guitars sound ragged, in a good Steve Howe way, and are played slightly loose compared to the ultra-tight rhythm section. The lead lines in songs like "Recuerdos" and "El Bizco" are melodic rather than jazzy or dissonant, with tumbling surf-rock cascades of notes. "El Bizco" gets pretty rocking- I'd love to see these guys play live. Acoustic guitars sound fabulous (of course) especially when layered with the strings, as in "Desde Que Somos Dos", which also features some choice drumming. "Ara Buza" drives hard like a dance song, and I'm almost positive that's either the Musitron or a clavioline/ ondeline they're been using for some of the synth solos- nice to hear that sound outside of "Telstar", "Runaway", or "Please Mr. Postman". "El Suicidio" is heavier on the rock until the wailing vocal section slows things to a portentious half tempo to accent the theme of the song. The keyboards on the whole are very well done, from the warm synth solos to the ambient organs- both of which are at their peak on "Obertura".

I really can't rave enough about this band; most of my favorite elements of prog rock, and culturally rich to boot- I hope they have the huge following they deserve. If I really wanted to nitpick, I'd say that the overall sound doesn't vary much...but with such a good sound, it's not much of a complaint. It's a struggle between 4 and 5 stars- the music is really that good- but I'll have to hold one star back to see how this works on me over time.