FRÁGIL

Fragíl is a warm-blooded prog band from Peru, which in itself is remarkable enough for a spot in the South America special that is circulating on this site. Well, "Avenida Larco" discussed here, is actually just a fine album, and that is the true reason for its inclusion. We are talking about the debut album from 1981 by a group that had grown into an immensely popular cover band years before. It was a bitter pill for fans to see songs from Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson skipped in favor of original compositions in the Spanish language. However, now every Peruvian can be proud of the brave and courageous decision of their compatriots at that time. Let's move on to the album.

With Fragíl, you can hear that Peru is a melting pot of cultures. The music has an organic layer, and whether it's an acoustic guitar, a flute, or an indigenous percussion instrument, the music always sounds sultry. However, the main focus is on infectious progressive pop. It should be noted, though, that the strong opening track Obertura contains approximately zero percent of the catchy genre; it is as proggy as it can be. For a few minutes, the band's instrumentalists go all out before putting their considerable skills in the service of the songs.

Fragíl's ability to write a mega-hit is evident in the fact that the title track became a huge success single in their home country. The song, named after a bustling street in Lima's nightlife, depicts the image of skirt-chasers and voluptuous girls. Although this excellently sung song by Andrés Dulude doesn't exude the joviality you might expect from such a subject, that seems to have been the intention.

After this catchy number, it's time for the more subdued Mundo Raro. The atmosphere reminiscent of Genesis, as seen in a song like Afterglow, is also present here, although the bombast is not generously present. Fragíl opts for a lighter approach. Songs like Floral, Hombres Solos, and the instrumental Lizy also have this touch?beautiful acoustic guitars, atmospheric keyboards, folky environments, and dreamy flute.

Among the fuller tracks, Pastas, Pepas Y Otros Postres stands out. Be careful not to stumble over the many tempo and mood changes. One who certainly doesn't stumble is bassist César Bustamante, who, with his virtuoso playing, keeps everything neatly together. In Esto Es Iluminación, he opts for a more jazzy approach, and it fits the band perfectly. Wherever Fragíl's music goes or stands, Luis Valderrama always delivers excellent guitar work, keyboardist Octavio Castillo is significant, Arturo Creamer strikes the right rhythms, and Dulude immortalizes himself with his rhythmic way of singing. And then there's Oda Al Tulipán, where the Mellotron reigns. The closer of the album, Le Dicen Rock, is, due to its simple nature, a typical case of disappointment, and it starts so hopefully with a nice synth riff.

In conclusion, "Avenida Larco" is a fine album, something I already mentioned in the first paragraph of this review. During my research on the album, I read a few times that "Avenida Larco" is one of the best from South America. Honestly, that's a bit too much for me. I'll stick with fine. Okay?

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

Easily the best album that I have heard out of the country of Peru. Our own Ivan Melgar who has done so much on our site here especially when it comes to Symphonic music rightly boasts about this record from his own nation. FRAGIL named after "Fragile" from YES were a cover band touring across Peru playing songs from KING CRIMSON, CAMEL, YES, GENESIS etc. and gaining a huge following selling out everywhere they went. A great vocalist and four musicians who can play. This album is so melodic and warm with Spanish vocals and the title track became a hit in Peru and I understand why.

After composing some of their own music they started to focus more on playing that and less covers until they just played their own music. "Avenida Larco" is their debut recorded in 1980 and released in 1981. Under 40 minutes with ten tracks. GENESIS is really the only band who I hear at times in their music. After the opening instrumental we get that amazing title track then another beautiful piece in "Mundo Paro" with vocal melodies and a light sound. A gorgeous track.

"Pastas, Pepas Y Otros Postrus" is next with the fast paced vocals and catchy sound. Another winner is "Floral" with the opening winds and synths as strummed guitar joins in followed by beats and bass and eventually vocals. I like that guitar solo late. "Hombres Solos(El Casman)" is folky with mellotron flute and fragile vocals. Real flute on "Lizy" who turns out to be a baby as she cries late in the song. Mellotron and acoustic guitar as well.

The closer seems like a shot at a hit and I'm not impressed but I am with this album and it's a very rock solid 4 star affair.

Frágil was one of the most transcendent groups on the Peruvian scene of the eighties, and even to this day their debut album Av. Larco is still considered one of the best and most iconic albums of the national rock bands of all time.

Av. Larco is generally composed of short songs about urban themes, provided with great intensity and elaborate rhythmic sections, which are identifiable references of the English groups that influenced the members of the band (Yes, Genesis, among others), and whose discs arrived in Peru during the nationalist military dictatorship of the seventies.

Despite the very good level and great versatility of the musicians who recorded Av. Larco (the powerful voice of Andrés Dulude, the bass line of César Bustamante, and the progressive guitar of Luis Valderrama), I must especially highlight the notable contribution of Octavio Castillo, not only for his fundamental keyboard-work but also for the entire structure of the album, giving it a characteristic and unique sound.

Excellent themes such as the atmospheric and introspective Mundo Raro, linked by the keyboard as a common thread to the dynamic Pastas, Pepas y Otros Postres, the wonderful halftime of Floral, the ballad Hombres Solos (El caiman), or the parade-like Oda la Tulipan, are essential to understand the importance of Frágil in the history of local rock.

But without any doubt, the song that gives the album its name, Av. Larco is Frágil's anthem par excellence. Preceded by the enormous and magnificent Obertura introduction, in less than 4 minutes the adrenaline flows through the veins of Av. Larco. From its incisive initial keyboard, it travels vertiginously through excellent instrumental and vocal development, to vanish among the police sirens in the dawn after a long and eventful weekend night. Simply extraordinary.

Probably the fact of being an album in Spanish made it less possible to access the English-speaking market extensively, but Av. Larco is undoubtedly a monumental album and 100% recommended, especially for those who enjoy the more symphonic side of rock music.

Frágil have been one of Peru's most important progressive rock bands for over twenty-five years, and to show that they are not at all pretentious this live album was recorded in 1999 with a 26-piece philharmonic orchestra. The booklet and all of the songs are in Spanish, so I can't tell you a great deal about what is going on, but I do know that the band are a five piece with Andrés Dulude on vocals and acoustic guitar (and he seems to wear quite strange make-up), César Bustamante on bass, Luis Valderrama on guitar, Octavio Castillo (keys/flute) and Jorge Durand (drums).

I have been racking my brains and can't think of any other South American prog bands that I have heard, the closest I can get to is Cast from Mexico, but I do know that when prog bands tour over there they get a rave reception. This is one of those annoying live albums that does fade in and out a bit (I know that it is rarely an actual concert, but I like to imagine that it is) yet the music does manage to make up for it. The crowd are obviously huge fans and on "Mundo Raro" it takes a while for Andrés to start singing just because all of the crowd are doing it for him.

This is not exciting or ground breaking prog, but rather music that takes lots of influences (at one time the guitar sounded exactly the same as Gary Chandler's) such as Camel, Tull, Genesis and mixes it with a Spanish feel and local sounds to make music that is enjoyable and listenable without being hard work. The orchestra are used mostly as an extra keyboard player although it can take on a more driving edge when the brass is more to the fore. Overall while not essential it is a very pleasant album.

Originally appeared in Feedback #70, Oct 02

Sometimes an album sneaks up on you. This one did, and it took only a few listens for it to find a cherished place in my collection.

First, let me fully admit that Fragil do have a Pop element to their music. Not the vapid top 40 pablum fed by Corporate Radio, but in the sense of having an excellent melodic sense, i.e the ability to write songs that stay with you long after you've heard them. As such, it is no surprise to read Ivan mentioning that Avenida Larco had been a hit single in Peru.

How would I describe their sound here - imagine if Genesis had built on their approach from And Then There Were Three, reined in the wall of sound synths, balanced it out with acoustic guitars, and displayed the melodies more prominently. Or a less pompous sounding Saga. (not that I mind that sort of sound for Saga) . Or a less morose H era Marillion without the massive synth washes. Again, not to say I dislike that aspect of Marillion, just a comparison. I can't speak of the lyrics, as I speak no Spanish. But the ambience is generally an upbeat one.

One caveat - if you are a purist, and cannot tolerate the slightest hint of Pop music, this is not the album for you. If you can be open to some Pop's ability to fit in well in a Symphonic prog style, this is worth your time.

Best of all, you have MP3s and videos available here that will decisively give you an answer to whether this is music for you.

Put a little South America sun into your prog. Give this a listen !

There are not a lot of Peruvian bands so even if this effort needs to be mentioned, one will not spend a memorable moment listening to this work (whatever you may or not understand the lyrics).

The intro "Cholita Linda" is a kind of tribal rock track (whatever this might mean) and really a bad opener. "Cuento Real" is much better though : nice vocals, good melody and complex theme. "La Guerra del Quien Soy Yo" starts like a Genesis track (when they were three) and like most of it, it is not brilliant.

Again "Ceja de Selva" can be categorized into the "tribal genre" and could be avoided. "La Historia de Adelaida" has a reggae influence and is above average for this album. "El Caiman" and "Lizy" are short, mellow tracks (à la "Talk to the Wind" from KC).

"Mirando a Travez de un Cristal" is my fave here : starts real slow and builds crescendo with nice background guitar. The highlight. As you see, not much to retain from this album. Two stars only because I guess that they had to "fight" a lot to be able to publish their work in a country that is not known for its rock music history.

I saw Fragil perform last nite for the 25th anniversary of "Avenida Larco"... It was actually Fragil ft. Marcello Motta, a young local guitarist who kicks ass... The show kicked ass... and part of its success was the setlist they chose... which included 5 rockers from this album that really kicked ass...

The tracks on this album range from a very wide variety of moods... the rocker tunes "Cuanto hay" and "animales" or "La del brazo".. powerful and consistent pieces full of social criticism to materialist, indecent and inmoral people.. there is also a beautiful ballad called "Aquella Niña" which's highlight is IMO it's emotive and excellent vocal work. Pilon and El Abuelo are good tracks but the weakest of the album IMO...

Now, my favorite track, and the closer of the album and the one that gives the name to it: "Serranio"... It talks about a phenomenum very common in my country: Inmigration from the outskirts of the land to the big city, the capital... Well... this very proggressive track incorporates elements from prog icons of the 70's in the matter of storytelling and some odd measures and instrumental passages.. this track is probably my favorite by this band and seeing them perform it yesterday was awesome...

At least for this last track, you guys should really give this a try!

This album gets 3.5 -> 3 IMO... definitely worth several spins! Give it a try!

This is my favorite Fragil album. They combine the classic sound of Yes, Genesis and King Crimson to make a fantastic progressive mix. The most commercial song of this album is "Av.Larco", it was a well-known song back in the 90's and the song which I like the most is "Obertura", I think it is an incredible intro to a progressive rock concert. "Mundo Raro" is a soft song influenced by "Close To The Edge" by Yes (And You And I). "Oda Al Tulipan" has the same keys sound used in Marillion, it's an excellent song. I really recommend this incredible album, it will not disappoint you.

This band is quite famous here in Peru, not as famous as they were back then when I was a kid, but they are still respected in the rock environment, and they deserve it, cause they are our best progressive bands and makes us all peruvian progheads proud, and that's why I write this review with a smile on my face :) This is my favorite Fragil album, but as most albums, it has some parts better than other ones. My favorite tracks are 'Oda al Tulipan' (check out the great intro!), Avenida Larco (this used to be quite an anthem for peruvian youngsters in search for wild nightlife xD) and Hombres Solos (el caiman) filled with a social criticism illustrated with a merciless alligator...

If you want your prog collection to have a little bit of the whole world's best music, you should DEFINITELY get this album.. I know it may be hard to find a peruvian album if you live in switzerland or canada, and that's why I took the time to find a store where you can get it :) I think I can't post the complete link here, but you can find it yourself by searching 'fragil' in PERUCD.COM hehe anyway if you can get it do it, it is a must have for your collection!

Peace out!

The First time that I went to Fragil's concert, it was at Humboldt School auditorium, in the 70s and I was impressed by the quality of his music, the last time I saw them was in San Isidro in the church next to Camino Real..Then I came to USA but I brought with me their cassette. I used to work as a waiter in a restaurant/bar in DC where every weekend we listen all kinds of music..from Reggae to Bozza Nova. I gave my tape to the Dj and everybody was astonished by this "Unknown band" ..They though they were an Argentinian or Spanish Rock band, and right away they fell in love with their music. I proudly told them They were Peruvians!, They did not believe me...How They can make good Rock in Peru??.. I think Fragil was not the exception, they were many Bands in Lima that played superb, But they were unique and original ....After all these years I have my Fragil tape..and I listen to them all the time...remembering the good times of Lima... .....El caiman es un camion blindado que en ambos lados lleva sendas señas de crucifixion...VIVA FRAGIL!!!