PEQUEÑAS ANÉCDOTAS SOBRE LAS INSTITUCIONES

"Pequeñas Anécdotas Sobre las Instituciones" is the Sui Generis' third and last studio effort that incarnated the ultimate development of Charly Garcia's vision for this folk-rock act. In fact, this band had been born out of earlier acts devoted to the practice of late 60s art- rock, and so it came to be that when the influence of prog rock was beginning to catch flame in some areas of Argentinean rock (the first gigs of Crucis and Ave Rock, the reinforcement of Arco iris as a major fusion-rock name), Garcia became more than willing to instill this line of work into Sui Géneris. It is common ground that this was their most accomplished work and that it only made sense that it should sell more poorly to an audience that was determine to accept their usual folk-oriented side exclusively. Sure, songs like 'Dime quién me lo robó', 'Un hada, un cisne' and 'Tribulaciones, lamento y ocaso de un tonto rey imaginario' were artsy songs from previous albums that were highly acclaimed by the SG audiences all over the place, but now this same audience was asked to proceed with a leap of faith and embrace this artsy trend as their beloved band's redefining method and not just as a casual resource. Of course, only a limited range of their audience accepted it, but all in all, it didn't affect their appeal to the public's eye in terms of gig attendance. Well, musically speaking, the artistic satisfaction of Garcia's did not match Mestre's, so it was only natural that this peak of art should signal the band's descent into conflict and separation. In fact, a planned and aborted fourth release was supposed to enhance the new progressive trend started in this album. Another fact that revealed the chasm between the band's own evolution and the audience's appreciation was the limited acceptance of the band's augmentation as a quartet: this line-up change was the result of the need to have bassist/ guitarist Rafanelli and drummer/percussionist Rodriguez become active contributors to the band's refurbished sound, not just as back-up performers. Well, now that I have described the band's state-of-affairs to some extent, here are the tracks themselves. The opener 'Instituciones' makes such a lovely statement of the dominant symphonic factor: this band is headlong for a demonstration of how Genesis- meets-PFM would sound like, and they do it quite fine. 'Tango en segunda' is more like a jazz-prog attempt, soft and reasonably constrained, which is apt for the creepy lyrics: the amalgamation of guest David Lebon's guitar and Garcia's synth is well constructed. The segued follower 'El show de los muertos' continues in the jazzy vein and bears even more creepier lyrics and musicality. The symphonic thing returns for the warmly sarcastic 'Las increíbles aventuras del Sr. Tijeras' and the dramatic 'Música de fondo para cualquier fiesta animada', while the jazz thing returns in the vividly mischievous 'Pequeñas delicias de la vida conyugal', but nowhere does the artsy direction get as magnificent as in 'Tema de Natalio', the amazing instrumental that delivers an exquisite 6 minute sequence of genuinely progressive motifs. You can almost watch how Garcia enjoys his Moog excursions, gran piano phrases and ARP string orchestrations. Also, the guest presence of violin master Pinchovsky and master organist Cutaia (soon to become Garcia's keyboard partner in LMDHP) provides the ultimate touches of color for this one. The folk thing is also present in 'El tuerto y los ciegos' (arguably, the best acoustic song ever penned by Garcia, and that also includes Pinchevsky's involvement) and the closer 'Para quién canto yo entonces', a correct protest song that signifies the usual Bob Dylan influence. I very much prefer the serene beauty of 'El tuerto': incredible how Garcia felt inspired to write this tiny beauty in a couple of days in replacement of one of the completely censored songs (three or four actual songs also had a few lines censored each in order to be included in the final album). The ultimate Sui Géneris album makes a fine progressive album: I think it is a 4- star folk-rock effort and a 3.75-star prog one. A big farewell for SG, indeed.