VIDA

Who would have thought that this little hippie folk album would make such a big impact in Argentine music and lead to much better things? This album was written by a duo of youngsters, Nito Mestre and Charly Garcia, who grew rapidly into a top notch songwriter. Vida was a big hit in Argentina, carrying a group of easy and charming fireside tunes with a great sense of melody.

The best example is what may actually be Charly Garcia's most recognizable composition: Canción Para mi Muerte, which not only has extremely memorable melodies and charming guitar/piano interplay but it also fools the listener into thinking that it is a song sung to a girlfriend. It isn't, it is actually sung to death itself. Surprising, isn't it? And this is just a shadow the much better lyrical writing of the next albums and especially Serú Girán's lyrics which border on genius.

While that is in my opinion the best song from this album, it does not mean that the rest is disappointing. There are in my opinion three other highlights and the rest mostly works as simple, charming music. Dime Quien me lo Robó, which is the longest song in the album is a mostly acoustic tune like most are, but has a somewhat story-telling structure and eventually leads to a fiery (for them) electric guitar section. Cuando Comenzamos a Nacer is a beautiful flute-driven folk tune which might not be immediate due to its simplicity but grows on you and Prosludio is a short instrumental with flute and piano interplay which is very effective and charming, a great way to close the album.

The only song that really doesn't work for me is Toma Dos Blues, a surprisingly weak blues number with no interesting solos to redeem it. I guess I could include Mariel y el Capitán's major->minor->major transitions which sound a bit silly and forced.

Nevertheless, this is an important album which while dated, still brings a pleasure to my ears.

In 1968, one of Argentina's rock heroes, Charly García, well supported by his schoolmate Nito Mestre, formed Sui Generis, one of the fundamental bands in the history of Latin American rock. Not without difficulties and scepticism on the part of some recording studios who doubted their commercial viability, Sui Generis finally released "Vida", their debut album, in 1972.

The proposal of the two very young musicians (they were barely over twenty years old...) reflects the concerns and interests of those who are beginning their adult life, full of doubts and challenges, in a context marked also by the civil-military dictatorship of that time, which adds a shadowy exogenous ingredient to the feel of the album.

Predominated by acoustic guitars, piano and flute, "Vida" is a work of brief and frugal themes with a certain folk air, which, after García's mortuary sensations in the opening "Canción para mi muerte", transmits the emotions that the musicians experienced just out of adolescence: such as the affective urgencies in the lively "Necesito", the youthful summer love in the agile "Estación", the innocence lost in the nostalgic "Dime quien me lo robo", or the doubts that García whispers in the intimate "Quizás, porque".

And that also, on the other hand, recreates mundane characters and attitudes, such as the so human envy in the hilarious and tragic "Mariel y el Capitán", the conservatism and paralysing formality of "Natalio Ruiz, el hombrecito del sombrero gris" adorned by Mestre's beautiful flute and, despite not being related to the general mood of the album, the bluesy and interesting "Toma dos blues". Finally, the instrumental "Posludio" lasts as long as a breath and brings the album to a close.

Despite the rudimentary production, "Vida" managed to shine with its own light due to the beautiful simplicity and harmony of its compositions, and started the band's fleeting but very influential trajectory.

Very good

3.5 stars