ALTURAS DE MACHU PICCHU

One of my fondest memories of exploring adventerous music, was my foray into the music from Chile. I just kept discovering bands and albums that resonated with me, almost forcing me to continue exploring. Good memories. LOS JAIVAS might be the most well known of all the bands from Chile that I checked out. A talented Folk band that relies on a lot of ethnic instruments. Of the few albums that I have heard from this band, this one from 1981 stands head and shoulders above them all. Now consider that I am not a true Folk fan, I don't have the patience. So like most Folk albums that I'm a fan of, this isn't a pure Folk album.

And that really surprised me, I didn't see this coming based on what I had heard already. But the electric guitar, drums and mini moog in particular takes this album well beyond your typical all acoustic Folk records. This album excites me, partly because all five musicians add ethnic instruments, and half the time I don't even know what I am hearing. All are multi-instrumentalists. And their history is so interesting, with them living in Chile at first, then over to Argentina, then to France where this record was created and recorded.

It's worth reading Silly Puppy's review where he describes the background to this recording. It's just incredible the amount of work and hours that went into this. They were approached about doing this record, to which they declined, knowing that this was going to be a monumental experience that would be time and life consuming. They were hounded. Eventually accepting, and putting aside the record they were working on. This record is about the ruins in Peru, using the poetic texts from Pablo Neruda who was also from Chile.

My favourite tracks are the two shortest pieces that open and close the album. But my third favourite is that longest song at over 11 minutes, that is quite adventerous. And have you ever heard of a band opening their album with a song that they aren't even playing on? Well, that's the fact here as Alberto Ledo is the one man show on "Delaire Alaire". A fascinating track despite just being over 2 minutes long. Again it's those ethnic sounds that are so interesting. Pan flute, flute and percussion lead the way.

The closer "Final" at 2 1/2 minutes features piano and vocals. And it has this strange Symphonic vibe, almost like GENESIS with the vocals oddly enough. This one is different from the rest. And how about the waves of piano melodies on it? I've never heard that before. Besides that long 11 minute track I mentioned earlier, the other song that stands out is "Agula Sideral". It's almost haunting early but then brighter sounds arrive. Vocals will become the focus later, after the piano and percussion lead. The 11 minute track has some powerful moments with the electric guitar and passionate vocals. But this is a ride. An explosion ends it, which seems appropriate.

This was an absolute pleasure. And no doubt this record will be part of my "best of" Folk list, if I get to it. One of the most talented bands I've had the pleasure of hearing. They formed in 1963, first record 1971, last one 2001, but still playing live up until recently. A lifetime of creating and playing music. I want to rate this higher, but there's the other three songs that aren't on the level of my top four.

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