AVENIDA LARCO

The Peruvian progressive rock band FRAGIL was founded in 1976 and gained quite huge success back then. Bands such as GENESIS and YES inspired them, and they took their name from the YES album "Fragile" (1972). I have never before heard a progressive rock band from Peru, but my first experience is quite good. I guess that there isn't many progressive rock bands in Peru however. FRAGIL have released four albums and this is a re-edition of their first album "Avenida Larco" from 1981. Their sound is very beautiful, often dreamy and dominated by typical 80's sounding polyphonic synthesisers and lyrics in Spanish. Besides the GENESIS and YES influences there's also some reminiscences to bands such as IQ, MARILLION and PENDRAGON. The tracks are rather short for being progressive rock, and my favourites are the opening "Obertura", the title track "Avenida Larco", "Esto Es Numinacion", "Hombres Solos (El Caiman) and "Lizy". A good album and interesting because it's originated from Peru. Check it out!

This Peruvian symphonic band started playing covers of great prog legends like Yes and Genesis in the mid 70's, but after some years of succesful concerts they decided to release their own music with lyrics in Spanish. They started including two or three of their songs in each concert then after a while only played their own stuff.

Avenida Larco, their first release is IMHO the best progressive album ever recorded in Perú, the music has evident influence of Yes and mostly Genesis, but they don't copy their idols, they create their own sound using this influences.

The song "Avenida Larco" became a hit single in Perú but as most hit singles I don't believe it's the best one, "Overtura" (Oberture) is a great opener, with a great guitar work, probably simpler for foreign listeners because it's an instrumental. "Pastas Pepas y otros Postres" (Cocaine, Pills and other Desserts) is another great song with amazing keyboards. Of course there's a special place for "Oda al Tulipan" (Ode to the Tulip), with strange lyrics but a very complete sound that includes horns.

A must have for any prog' fan, specially if you don't care for the lyrics in Spanish, I will rate it with 5 stars because it's the original source of the band and their best compositions.

Best song: Oda al Tulipan (Ode to the Tulip)/ Obertura (Overture)

For more than twenty years, Frágil has been and continues to be the most prominent progressive band in the rather wane Peruvian rock scene, though their musical production per se has been quite inconsistent. Having started their musical career as a Yes/Genesis/Focus cover band in the mid 70's, the band learned to forge and foster their own symphonic style while writing their own material, which resulted in pure prog symphonic seasoned with diverse South American folk and acoustic touches. During their seminal years, the band earned an ever increasing number of devoted fans, who were mesmerized by the charisma and theatrical personality of lead vocalist Andrés Dulude. He also wrote almost all the lyrics, which usually dealt with social issues and introspective matters. The other members were: Octavio Castillo on keyboards, flute, steel guitar, mandolin and vocals; César Bustamante on bass, additional keyboards and vocals; Luis Valderrama on lead, acoustic and classical guitars; and Arturo Creamer on drums and percussion - all of them working together effectively as a well oiled ensemble. Of course, the presence of solos on guitar, synth and flute was here and there, but the general norm was to keep the ensemble working as a musical unit. Their melodic sense may remind the listener of classic Genesis and Yes, having some clear coincidences with the typical melodic sensibility of Italian bands (Locanda delle Fate) or Argentinian (Espíritu). This line-up released their first album Avenida Larco in 1981, being very well received both by fans and critics. Numbers like "Oda al Tulipán", "Mundo Raro", "Pastas, Pepas y Otros Postres", "Hombres Solos" and the title track were specially featured in their repertoire. "Oda al Tulipán" and "Obertura" are the mos ambitious compositions in the album, while "Pastas, Pepas...", "Esto es Iluminación", "Hombres Solos" and the title track (their most popular song so far, after almost 25 years) portray a healthy combination of prog elegance and catchy melodic lines. Both "Floral" (their first song) and "Mundo Raro" show the most sensitive side of the band, with those eerie synth sounds and rhythm acoustic guitars in the background delivering a proper sonic landscape for Dulude's emotional singing. The instrumental "Lizy" is sheer beauty, with Castillo handling his flute parts with mesmerizaing delicacy. The closing track "Le Dicen Rock" is mainly a rockn'roll number with some hints of sophistication, single material indeed (and the second single A-side it was): it serves as a funny ending for an album that has a high level of seriousness in the remaining repertoire. The album as a whole exhibited the best musical qualities of the band, as described in the first lines of this review: 'Avenida Larco' stands out as one of the most beautiful prog recordings in the history os South American rock.

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 !

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.

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.