SERÚ GIRÁN

I've been a fan of Charly García for almost 4 years now and this man never ceases to amaze me. As a fan of Sui Generis and La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, I had thought that this man had already peaked his creative peak. A couple of months ago I discovered this legendary argentinian band by reference from a friend of mine. I sure had heard something of it, (having even heard one of my favorite tracks: "Eiti Leda" in a primitive form in the "Farewell Sui Generis" concert. The point is that I was wrong when I thought La Maquina was his peak.

Even though the music of La Maquina was intentionally far more "progressive", and excellently crafted it lacked the melodical mastery and emotion that I think this music achieves. In big part the presence of a strings and wind orchestra in most of the tracks adds to the majestuosity of the music, also the fact that 3 of the 4 musicians sing beautiful 3-part vocal harmonies. All of the tracks are very well thought, the lyrics are very surreal but pretty interesting, and the overall feeling of this album is a very mature one. I don't think this is the band's best effort but it sure is the most genuine one in my opinion. By researching I came into the fact that after this album was released, it was not very well received among the fans, who craved a somewhat more mainstream sound from their Idol.

A special mention to Eiti Leda, a masterpiece of progressive rock in my opinion, Seminare, El mendigo en el andén, and Serú Giran. This 4 tracks in my opinion define the "epicness" of this album. The other tracks are good, but I think they're the reason I give this album a 3.75 instead of a 4 or 4.25.