BLOPS [AKA: DEL VOLAR DE LAS PALOMAS]

One feature that distinguishes the folk rock of Los Blops from the folk rock of jaivas and Congreso, is that in Los jaivas, and in the more folkloric period of Congreso (1975-1977) one can say, this is a 'Malambo', this is a 'Cueca', this is a 'Huayno', this is a 'Trote', you can identify and catalog the pieces according to their melodic and rhythmic structure, with the difference that these structures are altered, fused and executed with electric instruments.

With Los Blops, this does not occur, their first two albums are very acoustic, and in This album an folk atmosphere can be noticeable, however this is not given by particular melodic and rhythmic structures, but by a way of playing the guitar that seems inspired by many groups and singers of Chilean folk music as "Pedro Messone", "Los cuatro de Chile", "Patricio Manns" and especially "Victor Jara" and by the inclusion of certain folk instruments such as the accordion or the charango.

In fact, the style of Los Blops was undoubtedly influenced by 'Víctor Jara', they lived with him for a while, even collaborated in the performance of several songs from his album "El derecho de vivir en paz" (the right to live in peace) which it was very relevant within the ambit of the broad and significant musical/social trend known as "the new Chilean Song". This influence can be seen mainly on this record.

This album, in my opinion, is not necessarily a step backward for Los Blops musically, but neither represents a very important step, and I expected more from him, maintains the strength in his message through their lyrics, but it's an album too "songbook", I miss the good amount of instrumental pieces from the first album, therefore I feel it is even more hippie than the previous, too much message of humanity, life, nature etc, which becomes too repetitive in the long run .

Nor are we talking about a very valuable or worship album within the Chilean music, is not like his predecessor, although it contains wonderful themes and key songs of the band like "Manchufela" and "Esencialmente así no más", and songs not so key to the band but equally good as "Tarde" and "campos verdes", as album, fails to have the significance or historical value of the previous one.

in terms to progressive rock, this album does not have anything like that, it's pure folk rock. Unlike "La Ventana" (Todos Juntos) of Los Jaivas, which already reveals a progressive trend in songs like "Caminos que se abren" or "Corre que te pillo", which then would lead to a gradual development of this style in the group, the blops, had in his album "Locomotora" (1974) an unexplainable and fortuitous turn of 180 degrees towards progressive rock, because before that, they had given no indication of it.

Unfortunately, I must say, I feel that, despite having very beautiful themes that deserve to be remembered, this album seems generally quite "forgettable", is valuable, but not as much as other albums of Los Blops, and it is not a progressive rock album, for all that I think the more appropriate rating for this album is a definite 2/5, sorry Blops.