ESPÍRITU

Five studio albums were released at the time, as well as some live records. "Fronteras Mágicas" (2003) is the last studio work of the band and that is a pity, since the performances of everyone definitely tasted for more.

The remarkable thing about "Fronteras Mágicas" is that the album, if you look at the prog content, scores significantly lower than predecessors such as "Crísalida" (1975) and "Libre Y Natural" (1976), but still comes out as the overall winner in my opinion. Espíritu knows how to create a tasty mix of passionate pop and Pink Floyd-like prog on "Fronteras Mágicas", music with a well-dosed amount of theatricality that always is creative and virtuoso.

For example, the first song Polarians is already a special feature. It comes across as a bit boring at first, until you fall under the spell of the wonderfully driving bass work of Federico Favrot (the son of ?). While the drums stoically go their own way and the electric guitar provides a smooth flow, we hear a song in which it seems like only the background vocals have been mixed in. It doesn't sound wrong, by the way. Thanks to the nice guitar playing, which is very reminiscent of the performances of Andy Glass with Solstice, the sparkling Sin Fronteras can be regarded as a very successful ballad. The wide range of singer Pablo Guglielmino also makes this song rise above itself. Una Palabra also is an entertaining song, not so much musically but because there is a 24-karats mondegreen in it. It is about the chorus where in the vocals the Dutch sounding phrase 'kè toch zo'n kyste an die oor' can regularly be heard. (I have such a cyste on that ear).

As far as I know, there are no mondegreens in the prog. Furthermore, this song has a great passage with nice solos on the Moog and guitar. Espíritu does not fail anywhere and knows how to weave the variation into it in such a way that the end result is a homogeneous album.

Para El is a beautiful piece of Steve Howe-like acoustic guitar work and the smooth Nada Que Decirte has a vibrant organ solo. In addition to the regular songs, the almost instrumental Frio has, besides bass and drums, also electronic drums and Chapman stick in the arrangement. This makes Frio an extremely catchy song, especially since the guitar sounds so incredibly cool.

Also high on the ladder of variation is the key number Caleidoscopios, the candy store of keyboard knight Ernesto Romeo. It is a fine piece of craftsmanship from a musician who knows how to give every song what it needs. Guitarist Osvaldo Favrot is also a benefactor in that respect. In Psicosis 2002 he brings a welcome cloves to the intro where he comes up with King Crimson-like chords. Of course, the band saved the best for last. A beautiful theme on the grand piano is nicely built up for more than six minutes, especially the synthesizer sounds stand out. As icing on the cake, Osvaldo Favrot starts his guitar for an unparalleled solo.

For me, "Fronteras Mágicas" is an album that contains everything I like about music. Things like melody, craftsmanship, passion and catchy but just as idiosyncratic structures are commonplace here. It's up to you.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

Especially when I've been listening to CRUCIS a lot lately and they also released two great albums the same year this one was released in 1976. I just think CRUCIS is the better band with the better songs. After ESPIRITU released their debut in 1975 their keyboardist left for another band so that's the only change from the debut as we get a new keyboardist. A five piece including the vocalist who I do like. At 32 minutes spread over eight songs it is a short one.

We get an under 2 minute intro track where organ, bass and drums standout. A top two song is the next one, the title track and it all works so well, the vocals especially. Some good contrasts between the calms and powerful sections. Check out those vocals before 4 minutes. Oh my!

The longest piece "Deselectriza Tu Mente" is my other top two. This one is all over the place but there's some incredible moments here. Some fast paced guitar early on as the bass and drums support soon to be joined by vocals. When the tempo slows it's still nasty. There's an instrumental section before 4 minutes that sounds so much like CAMEL to my ears.

That sixth track sounds so much like YES, well at least the first 1 1/2 minutes before it changes completely. There's a bit of crooning going on on a couple of tracks that I'm not into. That fourth track is great once we get past some of those vocals I was just talking about.

CRUCIS are still my go to band when it comes to Symphonic from Argentina but there's so much to enjoy here, always worth a listen.

All 8 tracks run together, but if they shifted the boundaries near or far I would be none the wiser. I'm not sure when post-it notes were invented but am a bit surprised they aren't in the credits. I wish they had channelled every ounce of energy into one engrossing number and the rest be damned, but instead beckon the listener to wade in the reeds for the occasional inspired moment strewn about willy nilly, the sort of thing one might search for again in vain. Really, there was this killer 5 seconds and I'm sure it was in track 4.5 somewhere! Oh well, back to that LA MAQUINA album I guess, or better yet TRIANA.

Gobs of spirited play notwithstanding, this effort lacks cohesion and focus, but perhaps they prioritized this and emerged from their chrysalis in subsequent releases. I am in the minority here in any case so by all means give this a whirl if the opportunity presents itself and my criticisms seem like trifles to you.

Stylistically this one follows the vein of the previous release, establishing the band as one of the not so frequent entries in the Argentinian Symphonic Rock scene.With Fogliatta making heavy use of the same keyboard equipment as Fedel, Espiritu played a very YES-influenced Progressive Rock with big time symphonic arrangements, flashy keyboard parts, decent interplays and a normal taste of the South-American lands due to the Spanish vocals and laid-back acoustic passages.I would definitely expect some sort of originality, but the guys never escaped from the strong YES-rooted textures, which sees them making use of dominant, upfront bass lines and quirky keyboard splashes with the Moog synthesizer in evidence.In fact the more pastoral parts of the album also happen to be the more original ones, eventually giving space to a more Latin-spiced sound with a poetic lyricism and a rural enviroment.That's not to say that the richer movements are of a lower interest, the band sounded pretty great at moments, offering some very good instrumental parts with a couple of extraordinary guitar performances by Osvaldo Favrot, always in a YES vein, and cool keyboard lines on organ and synths.Lots of fine interplays to go along with some top notch complex ideas and Carlos Goler's outstanding drumming, which even flirts with jazzy patterns.

YES-influenced Prog Rock.You shouldn't expect that by a South-American band, but Espiritu did play so.At least they were pretty good and always made some room for some local acoustics during the gentle moments.Nice and recommended album.

The opening notes of the first track give the impression that this band is going to be yet another Genesis imitation. But it doesn't take long before that impression is blown away with complex guitar, keyboard and drums. In fact, the best comparison I can make is to the vintage years of PFM. Yes, this is some highly technical, and well played symphonic prog.

My only complaint is that all too often the keyboards are way too low in the mix. It's not much of a complaint. 4 stars.

It seems like this compilation album is mostly concentrated on the final half of their albums. Albums which is more in the Italian pomp pop tradition than in the RPI tradition. I am not a fan of Italian pomp pop, btw. Some of the other songs here are also more in the classic British prog tradition (Genesis springs to mind) and RPI tradition (Banco springs to mind). This blend still makes this compilation album from this Argentine band an interesting listen and should spur people onto discovering the rest of their albums. Which I have done.

In this world wide web age, can we get more of free compilation albums like these, please ? I believe Espiritu (and Ifsounds and Elegant Simplicity) will benefit greatly from free compilation albums like this. After all, they cost next to nothing to put out on the net.

In the meantime, enjoy this album and discover a band from Argentina which is well worth your attention. I am sure there is something on their two compilation albums most people will love.

I am now moving onto their studio albums. Something I would not had done without these two compilation albums.

3 stars

This is the second free compilation album that Argentinean band Espíritu offers in their website. So if you are interested in getting stuff from one representative band from the Latin American scene, you have to check this out.

Nowadays, it is a great advantage for us, the listeners that musicians are closer to the technology and internet sites, so now we can listen to their music if we just visit their sites and click on some link, as easy as this. It is also a strategy that some bands use in order to fight piracy, so it is better to offer some (just some) music for free. Espiritu, in a wise decision decided to put in our hands (or ears) these two compilation albums that will lead us to know their music in a deeper way.

Now, the only thing I did not really expect, was that they did not include music from their first two albums: "Crisálida" from 1975 and "Libre y Natural" from 1978, those two albums includes some of their best music in my opinion, it would have been nice if songs like "Sueños Blancos Ideas Negras" or "Libre y Natural" were included. Actually, here there is a live version of "Deselectriza tu Mente" but I prefer the studio version this time.

So, as the previous compilation, this one also offers tracks from "Espiritu III"; "En Movimiento"; "Fronteras Mágicas"; and the live album "En vivo 2004". The music is mostly symphonic rock with that Argentinean flavor, but with keyboards and guitars that in moments will remind you to some RPI bands, or even some 70s acts from England.

My favorite songs here are "La Casa de la Mente" which is the longest song from the two compilation albums, and that shows their creativity and intensity; "Ella de Visita" which starts as a soft ballad, but later turns rockier and more interesting, with great guitar riffs; and "Frío" which is a more experimental, yet interesting song.

To be honest, I prefer a little the first 2006 compilation, but this is also nice, another good album that can help people get involved in Espiritu's music. So again, I recommend you to go and download them. My final grade, three stars.

Enjoy it!