PINTA TU ALDEA

Argentina's prog and fusion output continues to impress me. From the confident symphonics of Espiritu to the mystical delights of Bubu's 1978 landmark Anabelas, the Argentines seem just a cut above their South American neighbors when it comes to blending the western world's musics. A stronger musical history? A more refined sense of the craft of art? Maybe, though you wouldn't know it from Gustavo Moretto's suspended synthesizers that pull open 'A Quiénes Sino'. But at just past the three-minute mark a glorious organ vamp begins battle with the high-fretted bass of Pedro Aznar and Carlos Riganti's snappy tinfoil drums, morphing into a serious bop peppered by Moretto's ivories with a tight-but-loose power.

'Pinta tu Aldea' treats us to the rich low vibrations of Dan Binelli's bandoneon, incorporating tango ~ or Nuevo Tango ~ evoking Piazzolla and introducing sounds to progrock that, when recorded in '77, were fairly new. Unusual time sigs and stop-&-start tempos for the boggling 'La Caza del Mosquito', a successful conjoining of tech-fusion with old traditions featuring Cecilia Tanconi's airy wood flute, and complex refrain 'Silencio de Aguas Profundas' closes this sophisticated show.

These guys found a way to sound thoroughly modern for 1977 and yet allowed their bountiful heritage to remain prominent in the arrangements. Pinta tu Aldea surprised me around almost every corner. Gorgeous stuff.