ARCO IRIS

CD 1 - "Acto primero" (47:23) 1. "Obertura" (12:52) Wow! What an intro: a mini-symphony for an overture! Jazz-rock, to be sure, but most of the time I'm feeling more of a Psychedelic Prog Rock vibe. I'm surprised right off the bat that I almost like the saxophone sound and style used by Ara Tokatlian. Though I'm not so enamored of the electric guitar sound effects selected by Gustavo Santaolalla, I am very much impressed and won over by his command of the acoustic guitars. (22.25/25) 2. "La canción de Nahuel" (5:53) interesting blues-rock dirge--especially if it's supposed to be our "hero"'s theme song! (8.75/10) 3. "Canto del pájaro dorado" (3:30) the first half is contemplative, almost desert-pastoral, but then it turns to South American themes for the second half. Well conceived, performed, and engineered. (8.875/10) 4. "Viaje astral" (2:25) gentle electric guitar arpeggi with sax, synths, organ, citarin, flutes and other incidentals meandering around the village square before piano, percussion, bass, and group vocals funnel us into a "Take Five"/bossa nova-like motif. Feels short and incomplete. (4.375/5) 5. "Tema del Maestro" (2:52) flute and Spanish guitar provide a gentle folk tune for the arduous travels of our hero. In the second minute the Teacher enters with wisdom and advice. Nahuel leaves with a little better clarity of his mission-- and glimmers of how to accomplish/succeed. (4.5/5) 6. "Iluminación" (1:59) the melodic theme of the previous two songs is here carried forward and amplified by the band--especially by Ara's sonorous and nasal-sounding saxophone. (4.375/5) 7. "Hoy he visto al rey (Gira)" (3:29) finally we get to hear some of Gustavo's beautiful upper register voice on this Spanish-American folk song. Wonderful Simon & Garfunkel-like harmony arrangements with the background vocals. (8.875/10) 8. "Sígueme" (1:48) blues rock that sounds like both Blood, Sweat & Tears and Andrew Lloyd-Weber theatre music. (4.3333/5) 9. "El negro" (1:54) la musíca Sud Américan! Feels very colloquial. (4.25/5) 10. "Los campesinos y el viajero" (2:18) Caribbean rock that feels as if the band is trying to pull back to Anglo- European-style musical styles and sounds. (4.3333/5) 11. "El estudioso" (2:28) another cute little interlude. I feel like we're on a Canterbury Tales-like caravan pilgrimage-- with lots of down time within which the tired travelers have to tell their stories. The second half is an energetic instrumental piece that could support a story of rollicking (mis) adventure grossly hyperbolized. (4.375/5) 12. "Oración de la partida" (2:53) Flute, synth flute, and slowly strummed Spanish guitar present yet another more- regionally-representative (and significant) piece of music. Too bad it had to stay in dirge-mode the entire three mintues. (4.25/5) 13. "Epílogo: Salvense ya" (3:02) opening with some very nice PENTANGLE-like guitar and singing, the music remains idiosyncratically South American--especially with the melodic and harmonic choices made for their delivery of their Spanish lyrics. Great composition with some awesome vocal performances--on a par with some of the stuff created by Serge Fiori or some of the other more-passionate male folk singers. Sadly, it's just not Jazz-Rock Fusion! (9/10)

CD 2 - "Acto segundo" (51:37) 14. "Recuerdo di mi ser" (3:43) another delivery mechanism for some gorgeous, almost-monastic-like vocal music, here using spacious guitar and bass with echoed flute to back Gustavo and the others. (9.125/10) 15. "Los siete peregrinos" (2:34) this sounds like something the USA's THE ASSOCIATION could/would've done at the end of their production career. It's pretty. Too bad it never reaches the heights of an Association song. (8.75/10) 16. "Tema de Amancay" (2:09) flutes and picked acoustic guitar support the near-operatic vocalese of Danais Wynnycka--here playing Nahuel's muse, Amancay. (4.625/5) 17. "Busco a Dios en Mí y en el Sol (Hombre)" (17:10) John Coltrane-sounding sax opens this one while bass, organ, chorused electric guitar, and percussives jockey around for position behind Ara. Then, surprise, surprise, at the one- minute mark the band unleashes a campy Rockabilly theme over which Gustavo sings with some power. Okay, we finally get some music that sounds like (early) Jazz-Rock. (I'm not quite ready to offer the "fusion" mantle.) The blues Hammond organ, however, takes over in the seventh minute, relenting only at 7:20 for the fuzzy electric guitar but thankfully providing us some much needed relief from an overly-long three-chord vamp (but not really as the three- chord structure returns to anchor the fuzz guitar solo). At 9:05 everybody cuts out to make way for an all-hands-on- deck percussion jam. The talking drums are the most interesting, of course, but the animated vocalizations and many playful percussive ejaculations are pretty entertaining, as well. This section goes on until 13:45 when the guitar and organ begin to reassert themselves and drive the percussives back to their place in the rhythm section. Thereafter the music settles into a blues-rock motif that borders on pure blues due to the bluesy lead guitar solo, but then at 15:30 the jumps onto a downhill autoroute for a bit before coming back to Earth with a rockin' blues-jazz vamp. A little too messy and rudimentary for superlatives. (30.5/35) 18. "Deserción del viajero" (0:49) sounds like a Los Jaivas call-to-prayer. 19. "La duda de los campesinos" (2:11) the continuation of the previous song. Sounds like a Serge Fiori vehicle for strong vocal delivery of his foreign language message. (8.75/10) 20. "El aliento de Dios" (3:17) another cool Prog Folk song that very easily compares to the 1970s output of Harmonium or some of the softer RPI bands like Maxophone or Celeste. (9/10) 21. "El viajero delata a los peregrinos" (2:17) the one-minute intro for this one sounds so much like something from an early URIAH HEEP, DEEP PURPLE, or PROCOL HARUM song. Then it turns more acoustic exploration like an early Jazz- Rock experimentalist like Terje Rypdal or Larry Coryell. (4.5/5) 22. "Persecución de los peregrinos" (6:51) what starts out with a proclamatory royal horn blast turns into another interesting, texturized, ambient jazz-rock exploration of space and acoustics. Around 1:15 the YARDBIRDS/LED ZEPPELIN blues-rock bass, drum, and guitar riffing begins, laying down a three chord pattern that provides the low end support for saxophone and, later, two channels of concurrent electric guitar soloing. Must've been fun for Gustavo. At the four-minute mark the music is smoothed out by some organ while Gustavo and one (or both) of the other men take turns with the lead vocal. A weird little theatric "bridge" at 5:43 interrupts the otherwise-five-minute flow of the two-chord Yard-Zep motif. The song is most interesting for its theatric vocal contributions to Nahuel's story. (8.75/10) 23. "Viaje por las galerías subterraneas" (2:44) charango, bowed double bass, and soprano saxophone tell this unusual little colloquial story. (4.375/5) 24. "Salida al inmenso lago - Iluminación" (1:31) a female vocalese-with-guitar bridge that takes us from the charango theme to a rather melodramatic theme that kind of tells me that we're nearing the end of our story. (4.875/5) 25. "Reencuentro con Amancay - Oremos" (2:13) opening with an odd little "singing in the bathroom stall" routine from Gustavo, it then turns into a Spanish guitar supported vocal ballad delivery. Nice construct with wonderful voice and flute arrangements. (4.875/5) 26. "Las colinas y el Maestro" (0:46) the flute and guitar duet conclusion of the previous song. 27. "Epílogo: Sudamérica" (3:29) again, the feel of this spirited song and full orchestrated rock arrangement makes me feel as if I'm in the audience at the performance of a stage musical. I would stand and clap for this one. (8.875/10)

Total Time 99:00

I know 1972 was still fairly early in the development of Jazz-Rock Fusion as its own entity, but I find myself feeling almost 100% that embracing this epic concept album under the J-R Fuse umbrella is a mistake. This feels to me much more akin to the outputs of Psych, Canterbury, and Symphonic prog rockers than to those of any or all of the artists experimenting with or even dabbling with the new Jazz-Rock Fusion combinations and permutations. The fact of so much straight-time blues-rock-based rhythm structure is one of the key points in defense of my declaration. As a matter of fact, I'd call this album's music much closer to Québec band Harmonium's last studio album, Heptade, than anything I've ever heard from the true closet of Jazz-Rock Fusion albums. Though I am not a fan of the saxophone, Ara Tokatlian's Elio D'Anna (OSANNA, NOVA)-like sound and style is one that I often find enjoyable.

B-/3.5 stars; though I am very impressed with the band's creativity and vocal and acoustic instrument talents--and I enjoy very much the experience of listening to this music--it does not stand up at all well as a Jazz-Rock Fusion album. It does qualify, in my estimation, as either a nice rock opera representative of either the Prog Folk or Blues-Rock domains. I will not deny the significance this album, band, and music might have to Argentinians and/or Sud Américanos, but in terms how it fits into and/or contributes to the Progressive Rock or Jazz-Rock Fusion lexicons, I'd call this more akin to Proto-Prog like It's A Beautiful Day, The Collectors, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, or Spirit. Still, I'm going to bump this up to a four star rating due to the overall entertainment value. The vocals and ingenious song designs alone may be worth it.

1. "Quiero Llegar" (3:51) using a bossa nova/"Take Five" rhythm pattern and palette foundation, some quite lovely folk vocals give it a SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL '66 kind of feel, but then at 1:45 the music takes a turn into a more rock and surfer-rock form for an extended instrumental passage. The first minute of the instrumental passage is early-60s sounding while the final minute takes on more of a DOORS sound and feel with the introduction of a rock electric guitar to deliver a rather aggressive solo. The delicately delivered vocals alone are worth numerous repeats. (9/10)

2. "Hoy Te Miré" (2:21) almost pure folk music with its all-acoustic instrumental palette (simply-strummed acoustic guitar, bass, vocals and background vocals). At 0:58 there is a sudden speed up with an electric lead guitar, but these instances are very brief and only happen twice and are followed by a return to the delicate folk music of the opening only with a zither-like instrument replacing the strummed acoustic guitar (citarina?) (8.875/10)

3. "Camino" (3:57) Prog Folk of a rock nature that turns blues rock with the instrumental final minute. I'm a sucker for these indigenous clay flutes used in South American music. A surprisingly well-composed and rendered song. (8.875/10)

4. "Coral" (1:16) an interesting blending of church/monastic choir vocals with ethnic/indigenous traditions. (4.375/5)

5. "Te Quiero, Te Espero" (2:36) delicately picked electric guitar chords with perfectly-matched electric bass support the delicate harmonized folk vocals of Gustavo and mates. Great, heart-wrenching melodies and harmonies. Reminds me of the power of Tracey Thorne's early solo music. Piano enters at the end to carry the melody home. (9.125/10)

6. "Luli" (0:41) Dana's operatic vocal is a little more warbly with her vibrato than I'm comfortable with. (4.25/5)

7. "Canción De Cuna Para El Niño Astronauta" (4:02) great soundscape created by classical guitar, saxes, and heavily- reverbed "room" of drums, electric bass, electric guitar and one extraordinary lead vocalist. (Still Gustavo?) A song that could have fit in perfectly with the psychedelic rock wave hitting San Francisco in the late 1960s. Awesome. (9.75/10)

8. "Y Una Flor (El Pastito)" (1:57) delicate anachronistic acoustic folk instruments like harp and recorders help found a folk sound for a song that is more folk or liturgical than prog but still excellent and impressive. (4.5/5)

9. "Tiempo" (5:42) sax and rock band instrumentation (heavy electric bass) set up a blues rock flow over which Gustavo sings with a fire and aggressiveness that he doesn't use much on the rest of the album. At 1:30 the music shifts into a little more rock-oriented blues-rock for a brief passage before settling into a full-on psych rock/R&B passage with lots of free-form additions to the music--including wild purcussion and vocal sounds and some proficient wah-wah guitar soloing--all delivered over a very solid and groovy bass and drum rhythm pattern. Nice! Then there are a couple more odd shifts that let me know that this song is really a suite--the final passage being piano and flute delivering a pastoral finish. (8.875/10)

10. "Y Ahora Soy" (11:59) opening with an ominous bass arpeggio that is repeated over and over as it is joined by electric guitar, saxophone and theater/orchestra-like drums. At the one-minute mark the band switches gears to introduce a more jazzy palette and motif over which saxophonist Ara Tokatlian lays down his "vocal" melody for about 90 seconds. Then there is another stop and pause before the citarina and clay flute enter to introduce a more ethnically-traditional theme, but this lasts only about a minute before Gustavo and the rock band rejoin to present some awesome blues-rock music in which vocals, sax, and wah-wah-ed electric guitar take turns playing off one another. A sudden stop and pause at 5:27 seems to want to last, but then everybody comes back in full volume to continue the exposition of the same blues-rock motif--both the heavy and more-plaintive side of it (chorus and verse, respectively). At 7:20 another stop and pause clears the palette for entrance of a Latinized instrumental passage (that sounds like "Tequila") over which Ara saxophone and an interesting variety of percussion instruments weave and solo. At 9:30 that lead instrument becomes a distorted electric guitar. Not anything mind-blowing in terms of ground- breaking or musicianship, this is merely an interesting "first" epic. (21/25)

Total time 38:22

The vocal skills and sensibilities exhibited by these artists are definitely advanced: they all carry their tunes with near- perfect pitch, perfect harmonies, perfect inflection and pronunciation, and perfect dynamics; the vocals alone make this a wonderfully enjoyable listening experience. The infusion throughout this album of more ethnic instruments, melodies, and vocal stylings that are more traditional to South American cultures is something that adds tremendously to its inherent charm.

B/four stars; a very solid and eminently enjoyable debut album from these talented and adventurous musicians. I am left feeling quite excited to continue to move forward chronologically in my exploration of Arco Iris' discography!

'Aurora Del Sur' is very beautiful, but sad instrumental where most of the melodies are played by sax, but there is also great flute playing. In 'Dai Moneda' the album mood changes, it's almost too cheerful to me. But it has also some really great melodies. In 'Blue Jay' direction changes again back to the same as in the first piece. Really touching instrumental track! 'Desde El Jardin' is sounding traditional Argentinian piece with very modern production. Sadness & beauty continues in 'Danais'. 'Nubecita' is again very positive piece and can be too much for the people who hate typical South-American folk music. I like it! 'Desde El Silencio' is really impressive, there you can imagine to be in the middle of Amazon! Next 'Tatunu' continues in a same, really moving direction. In 'Tierras Colorades' we go again into positive moods, but this time music hasn't got so much typical South American feeling, but very relaxing and melodic. What a sad, moving melodies then in 'Para Que Jueque Jo'! Also this piece has some great rhythm changes. In 'La Flor Del Ceibo' you can imagine to lay in some peaceful shore. 'South- American' mood comes back in 'Te Digo Si Te Digo No', where sax leads it to jazz direction. 'Ven Amada Ven' is absolutely profound ending into this album! Can't help tears come into my eyes!

I really love this instrumental album as every other Arco Iris records I have heard! But have to say production is a little bit clean and cold sounding and that was the reason at first this great music didn't achieve me. As the most of Arco Iris albums, this is all the way folk prog, not at all jazz rock / fusion. Well yes, sax is the main instrument playing in a very virtuoso way. Anyway to proglovers I recommend to listen 'Agitor Lucens V' instead of this album, because 'Desde El Jardin' is one of the lightest albums of Arco Iris. These songs can easily put for example in elevators, they really don't irritate in any way. But naturally quality of 'elevator music' would rise a lot! I believe this album work well to the last album just before sleeping time. If this really will be the final Arco Iris album, it is a good swan song from the magnificent band!

And then is this album. A fusion beast that needs to be pùt among the best albums of history. The musicianship is impressive, original, catchy and eclectic. Imagine the pastoral passages of Premiata Forneria Marconi, and the Canterbury fusion of Bill Bruford, add some Pink Floyd emotional guitar work and sound experimentation and you will have Arco Iris.

Extremely recomended.

The album shows also a nice sense of flow and continuity overall, with each track preparing the listener for the following, gaining momentum and rewarding the listening of this record as a whole.

There's in addition some nice acoustic folk moments, for example 02 Vasudeva, and 07 Mañana campestre, two of the best known Arco Iris' songs

Packed with short 2-to-3-minute long, folksy instrumentals, this masterpiece could be described as a concept album in a similar vein as The Snow Goose by Camel. These short bridges build up to two epic jazz suites, Obertura and Hombre, my two favorite songs from the album.

Since I do not understand any Spanish, especially the lyrics, I cannot say much on what this album represents, except for the titles. From what the titles translate to, I assume the album describes some sort of spiritual journey that the main character (probably the person singing) experiences. In the first segment of the album, the protagonist learns what he needs to know in order start his journey (is his name Nahuel? is that a different character? who knows) from his "maestro" (teacher). The second segment entails the character's journey along with the pilgrims, whom he follows to "las colinas" (the hills) with his master. Correct me if I am wrong.

Overall, there is not much more to say about Arco Iris' magnum opus, though I wish there were a sequel (unlikely).

The star player here is Gustavo Santaolalla, frontman and main guitarist of the group, though sax-master Ara Tokatlian deserves credit too. As it stands, this would be their last major collaboration under the Arco Iris name; following the completion of this album Gustavo, tiring of the strict demands of the mystical commune Arco Iris lived in (led by their muse Dana), would exit the band. Further departures would follow, and in the long run this would lead to Ara and Dana relocating to the US and taking the group in a New Age/jazz fusion direction.

As it stands, then, Agitor Lucens V finds the original form of Arco Iris at its peak of development.

"Aconcagua (Amanecer)" is almost instrumental, but has some non-lyrical vocals. It starts with pan flute, but soon there comes also electric instruments. I have never been in Argentina, but I can imagine to be in Argentinian forest, when listening this piece. Really cheerful piece! Very traditional Argentinian folk music feeling mixed with jazz continues in next "Chacarera Dance". It also has very personal and glad vocals from Ara Tokatlian and magnificent flute playing! It carries really great way it´s whole ten minutes length. "Danais" has really mystic atmosphere with really powerful vocals from the bands female member. It sounds as the night has come into that Argentinian forest. Same very natural and beautiful atmosphere continues in the title song, where the intensity rises in the end. This piece also carries it´s whole ten minutes. In "Gob" album mood changes into carnivalesque direction. Like there comes some parade in the middle of forest. Again piece has very interesting playing in it´s whole length. "Aconcagua (Atartecer)" is short, funny ending of this intensive album!

Although this album doesn´t fully achieve the greatness of the bands early albums, it´s anyway really strong effort when thinking what kind of music was mostly made in the eighties. All the way this is really balanced and meditative album and I really love it´s acoustic nature. I think this band has put into wrong category in Progarchives. It should have been progfolk, only true jazz fusion album is "Los Elementales" as far as I know. Well, I hope progfolk fans will find this really awesome band! I think it´s little sad this band seemed not found as much international attention as for example Los Jaivas or Os Mutantes. Really it deserves that!

Album title song starts with acoustic guitar, that has soft phase effect. Soon comes pan flute. So far sounds great but then comes electric drum that is awful. Fortunately there are also "real" percussions. Anyway I like this very gentle piece. In "Caravan" continues mix of modern and traditional acoustic sounds but this time there isn´t anything irritating. Awesome piece! "I See the Light" starts with synth thunder sounds. Atmosphere changes after that into some kind of "eighties ballad", not bad, but after two really great instrumental pieces this band´s first English sung piece is a little bit wrong place. Also it´s quite mediocre. Luckily in "Camino Del Inca" albums mood changes back to the instrumental goodness.

After almost 20 years existence Arco Iris decided to make a version of "El Condor Pasa" that is tradiotional, very popular South-American song. The most famous is Simon & Garfunkel version. But have to say they made a good version! It starts very slow, band just plays first something else, then flute starts to play melody very quietly. This melody has always moved me! I really like this version, when it´s not becoming powerful even in the end. I think many versions suffers from pathos. "Sunrise Chacarera" is another awesome instrumental with very relaxing atmosphere. In the middle there is interesting brass and percussion part. Finally in "Algarroba" we hear Danas great vocals! I just began to think she hadn´t involved at all in this album. Anyway her entry seems to be lesser than in "Faizan Azul". "Soaring Over the High Planes" is quiet but beautiful ending of this awesome album!

Maybe this album is little bit weaker than "Faisan Azul". That predecessor has more intensity and depth, but on the other hand quiet relaxation of this album really moves me! So I have to give four stars also to "Peace Pipes". Instead of this almost instrumental album I really recommended "Agitor Lucens V" or "Inti-Raymi" to the beginners, but Arco Iris fans this album is highly must! Really it´s sad this band is so underrated and specially these eighties albums seem to be!

To me this interesting formation from Argentina sounds like a kind of answer to famous Chilean prog folk band Los Jaivas, blending folk with progressive ideas. Their story started early 1970 when Arco Iris made impression on a music festival in Buenos Aires, especially with the legendary composition Blues De Dana. Things started to roll and the band delivered a serie of wonderful and acclaimed albums. Arco Iris disbanded in 1975 when a part of the group went to California for a musical adventure (between 1977 and 2003). In 1997 this 'USA Arco Iris line-up' was awarded for their fine contribution to the culture in California during twenty years.

This review is about their live album En Vivo Hoy from 2000, it contains tracks from their album Peace Pipes (1987) and Peace Will Save The Rainbow (1998), and the abovementioned Blues De Dana as an 'encore'. Arco Iris delivers a New Age-like blend of prog and folk, it sounds wonderful and very pleasant with a wide range of (mainly acoustic) instruments: lots of percussion (conga, bongo and djembe), flute, saxophone, acoustic guitar and many flutes, including the panflute. In comparison with the studio-albums Arco Iris sounds more powerful, dynamic and also progressive on stage, due the extended live versions featuring more shifting moods and soli.

This is wonderful melodic and harmonic, often mellow New Agen inspired prog folk.

My rating: 3,5 star.