SERÚ '92

What have you done to your fans!!??

Serú Girán reunited and they released a lackluster effort that sounds very different from their roots, abandoning almost all the prog they had. This album is even less progressive than "Peperina".

The album doesn't start too bad though. "Queen Elizabeth" is a decent instrumental with plenty of improvisation and yes-like guitar effects, but dull if compared to the closer instrumental in Peperina. "Mundo Agradable" has a pretty good chorus hook, but it's no more than a pop song with repetitive drumming. "No Puedo Dejar" has good bass-guitar riffing and a very good bass melody, so it's an improvement, and tied with the opener and the epic "Transformacion" and the closer as the best track here. "Transformacion" has delicate acoustic guitar playing and a neat percussion riff in parts, though marred by a bad vocal melodies before the middle of the song. The closing track "Muevete al Hablar" sounds a bit emotional and the instrumentation is pretty good.

However, the mediocre and even bad songs ruin this album. "Dejame Entrar", "Si Me Das Tu Amor", "Ese tren", among others. what a bunch of weak songs. The worst offender is possibly "Hundiendo el Titanic" which makes me wonder if they were possessed by the Devil to make Argentine rock fans sob in despair. Even the lyrics suffered a lot throughtout the years. This song has a cheap catchy chorus, but the rest is unimaginative rock/pop garbage that doesn't take itself seriously. It worked with "Jose Mercado" from Peperina, but not here! The vocals in the background are a joke.

Get this album only if you wan't to collect all the Seru Giran albums. I wouldn't recommend this to fans because this betrays the fans of Seru Giran while getting a huge amount of money.

Review #10: Serú '92

For being one of the best bands in Argentina, not only in prog, but in national rock in general, I was quite disappointed that their comeback was with an album so lacking in what Serú really is.

Serú '92, Serú Girán's fifth and last release, is a comeback album after the band's dissolution for a period of time, until their return and farewell with this album.

During the band's partial split there were many projects in between: On Charly's side, he continued on the local scene being the star figure of the time, with excellent new wave albums like "Yendo de la Cama al Living" or "Parte de la Religión" (two beautiful works that, hopefully one day, will be added to the wonderful progarchives.com). Without discrediting anyone, the rest of the band (David Lebón, Pedro Aznar, Oscar Moro) released their solo albums without much exposure to the scene.

For anyone who wants to further discover this wonderful band, there is no way I would recommend this album, it's not worth it. Listen better to "La Grasa de las Capitales" or "Serú Girán (homonymous album)". In "Serú Girán" there is a song with the same title, very experimental and psychedelic, I recommend their first album to start their discography.

Queen Elizabeth: 3/5

Pleasant World: 3.5/5

No Puedo Dejar: 3.5/5

That Train: 2.5/5

Every Man, Every Woman: 4/5

Sinking The Titanic: 3.5/5

Transformation: 3.5/5

Let Me In: 3/5

We'll Meet Again: 4/5

If You Give Me Your Love: 4/5

Move When You Talk: 3.5/5

4/10, 2 stars

Being Peperina customary considered as the point of inflexion in Charly García's career, where he is leaving the "groups initial period" (comprising Sui Generis-LMDHP-Seru Giran) and entering the first part of his solo endeavour (his 1st six albums), one have the right to ask what is then the role played by this "return album" with his iconic last group. Was it maybe a late attempt to reboot their former glory? But it can hardly be so, because it was a one-time only effort, set amidst the succesful individual careers of García, Lebon and Aznar, with each one of them waiting to resume his own path. Was it a lame attempt to raise more money? Also hardly, since the huge gigs and radio exposure were earned with solid songwriting and a renewed sound as a band, and there can't be any shame in hard good work.

More likely, this release was prompted by the quality of the compositions, which were requiring a full-blown band embodiment, in order to shine as they truly deserved. And also possibly by the growth as singer and songwriter of Pedro Aznar, who appears much more in display here, than in previous SG efforts, which were basically twin-lead Garcí­a-Lebon affairs, for the most part at least.

And this new higher interaction level of the now three main vocalists with each other results, in the end, in a batch of songs loaded with a richly textured weave of leads and harmonies, like nothing heard on their previous output. Is that any good? Of course it is, provided that one is not expecting an exact continuation from where they left things ten years earlier, with Peperina. The busy solo work they did inbetween has to be reflected here also, and blossoms in killer pop hooks all over the long-player.

Have they to be forgiven for taking some distance from their proudly progressive past? Certainly, they weren't begging absolution of any kind. They just put out an excellent last instalment of their talent, as everybody was begging those days, and then went back to their lives.