MÁS ALLÁ DE NUESTRAS MENTES DIMINUTAS

On this debut album legendary Rock Andaluz formation Cai delivers an interesting blend of styles, from rock and fusion to jazzrock and flamenco. But to me the four compositions sound a bit like jams featuring strong interplay between the guitar and keyboards (electric piano and sensitive electric guitar in Pasa Un Dia) and a lot of outstanding soli, on guitar and keyboards. Often jazzrock oriented Rock Andaluz bands Iman and Quadalquivir come to my mind, but Cai don't play on their level. Remarkable is the omnipresence of the string synthesizer on this album, a distinctive vintage keyboard sound (wonderfully blended with moving guitar in the mellow intro in the titletrack). The flamenco element is far from dominant, only partly in the vocals and in the titletrack, with palmas (handclapping) and flamenco rhythm guitar.

On the remastered version are 3 bonustrack added, all from their highly acclaimed second album Noche Abierta, for me a Top 10 Rock Andaluz gem. You can hear the difference between these 3 tracks and the other songs from this debut album: the Noche Abierta compositions are more elaborate and captivating. and the flamenco element has become a more dominant part in the music on Noche Abierta.

So I consider this debut album as a nice effort, but far from their Rock Andaluz masterpiece Noche Abierta.