LIBRE Y NATURAL

Heading for the recordings of a second album, Espiritu had to deal with a major departure, Gustavo Fedel left the band to join Generación Cero, he was immediately replaced by Ciro Fogliatta, member of the legendary Argentinian Beat band Los Gatos.Their new album was recorded at the Phonalex Studios, a regular home for major Argentinian Prog and Rock bands.It was titled ''Libre y natural'' and came out again on the Talent label in 1976.

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.