14 DE ABRIL

GOMA were a five piece band from Spain who managed to release just this one album in 1975. The title is the date the band was formed, and also the date the album was released, exactly one year later. This is an album with some different styles which is fine, but the production is not. The sound quality is lacking at times affecting my enjoyment. We get four of the guys singing lead or harmonies. And besides the usual instruments we get sax.

And that sax sounds like it was influenced by GONG around 1 1/2 minutes in on the opener, sounding quite silly. This after a guitar led start. After the sax steps aside we get another complete change as the organ leads the way. High pitched multi- vocals join in as well. More silly sax then it gets dissonant. The guitar lights it up before 6 minutes then a calm. It never does kick back in after this.

While the opener was a good track marred by some bad production, the closer which is almost the same length at over 11 1/2 minutes is just simply disappointing. Just not a lot going on for extended periods here.The opening reserved vocals and sound are boring to say the least. Going on far too long. A tough listen overall. Probably my favourite track is "Madre Tierra" and especially later when it turns heavy and the sax gets dissonant. Even the bass is on fire here. Lots of acoustic guitar on this track as well. The other middle track, also about the same length at over 8 minutes impresses more then those long opening and closing tracks.

A good album but that closer drags this down. Even if it was better this would be 3.5 stars at most. The production doesn't help in all of this. Not quite the lost classic I was hoping for.

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