ALTURAS DE MACHU PICCHU

Today's piece of prog will be "Alturas de Macchu Picchu" by the Chilean band Los Jaivas from 1981. It seems t be their most famous and appreciated album and their highest ranked one. It was a really pleasant listening which combined originallity and tradition. The cover picture is fascinating with a monster with beautiful clothes sitting on a rocky landscape holding a glass ball in its hand. The album is an addaption of Pablo Neruda's poems and it is the band's seventh record.

It contains a lot to like on these seven tracks. "Del Aire al Aire" is an instrumental beautiful introduction with indian flutes that builds up the feeling good (8/10). Next track: "La Poderosa Muerte" is the longest and also the best on this album. It shows pure love for music in form of dramatic almost opera singing, different flutes and later drums with keyboards och then electric guitar in a wonderful way. In the end I get some feelings of Ange and the final in symphonic and great. A very living track (10/10). "Amor Americano" has a very traditional South American melody, known for you who have heard South American indian folk musik. But this is also inspired of Classical European music. I find a very playful time here(9/10). "Aguila Sideral" is musicaly nice with a lot of instruments but hasn't an easy achieved melody but more of a modal feeling(7/10). "Antigua América" is the album's second best track. I find it symphonic and the melody almost Asiatic and it is very smart built up like someone climbing up a mountain(10/10). "Sube A Nacer Conmigo Hermano" takes a totally different shape, traditional perhaps but not for European ears. It sounds like a carnival or Brazilian stuff. The singer sings fast and frenetic(7/10). The record ends with "Final", a pretty surrounding of everything with pure piano and lyrical vocals(7/10).

Over all, this is good qualitative music that lightens up your world for a time. I wouldn't consider it a masterpiece but they did some wonderful experiments or musical expressions on this album. Four stars!