DOS AÑOS DE DESTIERRO [AKA: DAMA DE HONOR]

Our dear friend José Carlos Molina couldn' t go on like this. Two albums in a row with almost the same line-up ! In French there is a saying "jamais deux sans trois" (get your on-line translation tool for a sec). But he will revert to his frenzy and fully change the line-up once again for this release.

The title of this album does related to the last two years during which "Ñu" was almost wandering in the musical desert (hence "Dos Años De Destierro" - back to your translation tool again). Molina will also change from label to join Avispa. The star of this label at that time is the band "Medina Azahara".

On the very promotional night of this release, lots of problems occured : flooding Madrid, poor organization, very dark comments from Molina about his bandmates will just provoked the leaving of the member of the band and will almost lead Molina to quit the music industry. There is hardly any promotion for "Ñu" since all of the financial promotional ressources are used for "Medina".

These years will be the darkest ones of Molina's career. "Ñu" will end up as a cover band. But not a "Tull" one as it could have made a great sense. No, a Purple and a Led Zep one.

Ñu's previous release was their weakest one. Well, according my point of view of course.

All of their brilliance was gone : no disjointed song, no damned great hard-rock crazyness. Forgotten the fantastic "Tull" filiation (on their hard side as I have already testimonied in Ñu's earlier releases).

The opening number really gets back to their roots ("Cuentos de Ayer Y De Hoy" in 1978). Hard-rock with a progressive touch. "Ñu" is not reaching the climax of their debut album (which I rated with five star, so it is really worth a check guys) but it seems to me that the band just decided to get rockier. And I prefer this side of "Ñu".

At this time of their career, they have opted for a "harder" sound. You won't get all those FABULOUS prog moments you could get in their incredible debut release. Even if Molina plays some flute and that Enrique Valiño holds the violin, they will never be as significant as on their first album where those two prog instruments were much more on the front line.

This album is a hard-rocking one. Of course, I can cope with this, but this band had shown so much more diversity and creativity during their early days, than this one is just a good album. Since their leader (Molina) is the only one in command, most "Ñu" 's albums are more a one man's work than a band one.

Some AOR-ish sounds with "Arrasando Madrid". This is something I usually hate. I just can stand a few "Asia" ones (but not too many, actually). A boring rock ballad with "Estrella" ("Star") which is definitely not increasing the quality of this album.

Most of you might know that even if I can praise a band, I am absolutely NOT a blind fan. I guess that this is just due to my old age. I have the same attitude in other aspect of my daily life as well (sports for intance..).

Still, there is a wonderful song featured here. "Dama De Honor". The type of songs that should encline any proghead to watch out. Brilliant flute, fabulous guitar solo, great rhythm (to say the least). By far, the best song of this album.

This is just a standard "Ñu" album. Nothing really outstanding. I guess that two stars is just as much as it could deserve.