0.720 ALEACION

The 1985 Mexico City earthquake was one of the most devastating earthquakes in the history of the Americas. On Thursday, September 19, 1985, at 7:19 AM local time, Mexico City was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 on the Richter scale. As a result of the earthquake, according to official government statistics, at least 9,000 people were killed, 30,000 injured, and 100,000 left homeless. 412 buildings were destroyed and over 3,000 seriously damaged. (from Wikipedia)

Numbers... large numbers .. but numbers all the same. To those of us who sit in our posh homes, with your parents or spouses waiting on you hand and foot.. those are exactly what they are ...just numbers. Imagine... if you can... the erasing in the span of minutes.. 9000 of your friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors. The rich and famous, the poor and faceless, the very young, and the very old all taken without any regard to money, status, or age. Reief and assistance poured in from all over Mexico and the world. Most will remember how our nation pulled together after September 11th and gave.. money, blood, our time when tragedy struck here. Imagine that response on a grander scale, in a much less fractured society as ours. While many gave such things as time, shelter, blood to relief efforts the musicans of Mexico also stepped up. To lift spirits, and to honor those who didn't make it.

In 1986 five musicians banded together to offer music to help honor and to help heal. They called themselves 0.720 Aleacion . They released a single album in 1986. The album is an all instrumental album of 8 original tracks plus an additional 9 more bonus tracks from a radio or T.V (my spanish is sadly nonexistant hahah) apperance. The music itself, is a wonderful blend of mood inducing music and a folkish style with wonderful accoustic guitars, flutes and violins. The music of course varies betwen upbeat and sorrowful. Very pleasant to the ears.. but as with prog.. not a sleep inducer. While not loud and abrasive the music is performed at very high standards.

Some highlites for me that bring home a bit of the flavor of the album. The song which led me to the album, Danzante was a sample that I found by accident (like an idiot downloaded the song thinking it was the sample from another group I was researching during one of Ivan's Symphonic death marches hahahha) Later I discovered the mistake and ordered the whole album.. based on this song. The song starts with a sawing violin riff.. that slowly fades into some vocal chanting with the bass chiming along underneath.. suddenly the pace explodes into a frenetic accoustic guitar solo, then followed by a fiery violin solo. The pace slows again with some tasteful guitar playing over top the violin ..then the violin takes another featured spot. The track hooked me. The other song that had really grabbed me is Antes Que Amanezca. A song that sort of hits a sorrowful note.. I love the piano over the repeated accoustic guitar figure in the beginning. Beautiful violin playing on this. Over the course of maybe even a 100 listens since I got this album.. my favorite of the album.

The album is a wonderful album for those who want something with a little less fire but some real feeling to it. To think of the album in the context of it's creation, not just as a prog music album but a statement of loss and recovery, adds greatly to apprecation of the album. The triumph of the human spirit over the worst that can be thrown at us. Music is art. .and art expresses all kinds of feelings.. love, hate , and in the case of Aleacion 0.720 loss and recovery. Take a listen.. I bet you'll hear it in the music as well. It adds greatly to appreciation of the album. For me 4 stars.. for the forum at large.. 3 stars.. a worthy addition to your prog collecion but non-essential

Michael (aka micky)