SUDAMÉRICA - O EL REGRESO A LA AURORA

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.

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