RESPLANDOR

As the 21st century elapses ever closer to its third decade and grows further away from the 70s when the progressive rock world was at its golden age, it has seen many of the older bands trying to make a comeback. While certain bands managed to survive the initial demise in popularity, certain bands like Argentina's BUBU released their sole album "Anabelas" as late as 1978 and although had little impact on the world at the time has become revered as one of the great classics of the Americas. While the trend of past masters picking it up where they left off decades later to revive these long forgotten projects has been more en vogue as of late, it's always a complete surprise when a band that dropped one musical bomb upon the world and has been attracting listeners to ride in its wake ever since suddenly emerges from the musical abyss and releases new material after so very, very long. More often than not such antics only remind you of why the golden era of prog was so wonderful and that the bands trying to relive those glory days should in fact have checked into a nursing home since all creative mojo had shriveled up like sagging granny boobs.

BUBU on the other hand have never been the "typical" prototype of a progressive rock band. The band was in fact created by someone who didn't even play in it. Daniel Andreoli began the band as a project in 1975 and acted solely as the composer as he rounded up talent to fulfill his eclectic mix of symphonic classical music mixed with progressive rock and kept BUBU active for only four years having disbanded in 1979 after the release of "Anabelas" the prior year. Fast forward 38 years into the future and Andreoli decides to dust off the BUBU moniker and give it another go with RESPLANDOR which emerges as a strictly digital EP that clocks in at a mere 15 and a half minutes, roughly a third the length of the 1978 classic. Andreoli is in fact the only connection between the two renditions of the band since the modern day version of BUBU doesn't have a single member of the past reprising their performances. Andreoli on the other hand DOES play on RESPLANDOR where he serves as the band's sole bassist.

While the differences between "Anabelas" and RESPLANDOR are great. For example the 70s classic had a huge lineup of eight official band members with an extra six vocalists and an extra pianist, RESPLANDOR is more of a stripped down affair with only five official musicians and two guests. However, what's more striking is how much RESPLANDOR sounds like it has traveled through time from that very era only to land in the years 2016. My hunch is that this was indeed leftover material from that era as everything about RESPLANDOR could easily have existed as a followup to the 1978 full length album. Once again the music is an eclectic mix of Western classical music that nurses a Tchaikovsky type of bombast and complexity interlaced with the guitar workouts of King Crimson, the pastoral drifting passages of early Genesis and the plethora of Italian prog bands from the 70s as well as some extra touches that were heard from bands such as Nektor, Focus (especially in the flute department) and others only with a unique flair that sounds like classic BUBU. Also included are some stellar jazz-fusion stellar sax workouts by newbie Juan Ignacio Varela.

I'm quite taken back by how great this short but sweet little EP is and i'm hoping that it is only a teaser that was designed to feel out the marketplace to see if there is any demand for a new BUBU release. Personally i find this little slice of heaven that only feels like it's getting started before it fizzles out leaving me wanting more to be one of the best comebacks of modern prog history. Andreoli has lost none of his magnificent musical mojo over the ensuing decades and effortlessly conducts a new cast of characters to fulfill the continuation of one of Argentina's greatest musical exports. If you have listened to many older prog bands release modern day albums and have been nothing but disappointed, i'm happy to say that this is one that should be very high on your list to check out if you were a fan of the 1978 album because this one, while not quite as dramatic and demanding still retains the spirit of that era with some excellent prog performances.