MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO

M.I.A.'s second album finds this peculiar ensemble exploring the realms of acoustic folk and Renaissance-inspired pastoral music with particular interest; even if this stuff is not all that is represented in the album's repertoire, it is indeed the most recurrent factor. The Baroque academicism is also very present here, especially in many of the piano parts. The harmonic basis for the first three tracks heavily rely on the arpeggio sequences delivered on classical guitars and/or grand piano, with the female and/or male vocals strongly staging the main melodic lines: the sung parts not only tell tales of sweet princesses and majestic windmills, but they also incarnate the main motifs to the songs, providing an evidently bucolic ambience of ancient enchantments and troubadour stories. Track 2 'Crisálida, Mi Niña' is a bit more surprising than the other two, since it comprises some symphonic nuances on the keyboard department, which add an air of mystery. The more habitual sense of energy of M.I.A. first emerges in track 4, titled 'Antiguas Campanas del Pueblo': starting with a very jazzy motif, it won't be long before it turns into an interlude of bombastic chorale sustained on a series of solemn organ layers - after that, another jazz-oriented comes out, including a very intense synthesizer solo (very much a-la 'Tarkus'). Great stuff. although not as great as the 11-minute 'Archipiélagos de Güernaclara', which is the absolute prog highlight in the album. It starts with a delicate, relaxing piano passage, soon joined and enriched by the classical guitar and Liliana Vitale's singing; next, a jazzy jam comes in and gives room for some excellent alternating guitar and piano solos, as well as the occasional introduction of a clavinet interlude, after which the electric lead guitar returns with a vengeance. Finally, a slower part takes the track to its final climax, which built upon the antagonistic contrast between the eerie Hammond Gothic-inspired layers and the fiery Akkerman-meets-Gilmour-esque guitar solo. This description is basically to let you know about its internal diversity, which is cohesively articulated, with the same level of accomplishment you may find in the longest tracks of the other two M.I.A. albums. Track 6 is pretty much similar to track 2: an acoustic piece with a progressive interlude, while the last song sticks with the old Renaissance subject. All in all, "Mágicos Juegos del Tiempo" is a very good album, but it is only recommended to those prog-heads who don't mind a certain amount of pastoral stuff and female singing in their prog; besides, the previous and posterior albums are more accomplished, and definitely, more according to the nuclear essence of prog rock, so I'll have to label this album as not overtly essential. Anyway, keep this in mind: tracks 4 & 5 are really awesome.

Every time I pull out this album for a spin, which hasn't been that often admittedly, my first reaction is wow this is much better than I remembered, but after a few minutes, reality sets in. This is an album full of beautiful sounding songs that seem to be going somewhere, but by and large fail to live up to their promise. If you follow my reviews you know how I love concurrent male and female vocals, and this effort by Mia is one long inter gender serenade, proving that those parameters alone are not enough to satisfy me. The voices of Liliana and Alberto tend to be on the precious side, and any edge is reserved for some of the instrumental runs such as the organ in Antiguas campanas de pueblo and the guitars in the album's epic Archipielagos de Guernaclara, resulting in a dichotomy that the band is unable to reconcile. In other areas, the folkloric sound is precariously balanced with classical styled piano and tends to fall off the precipice.

The best material is that which demonstrates an integration of the various ideas expounded upon willy nilly on other tracks. In particular "Crisalida, mi ninia" and "Corales de la cantata Saturno" hit all the sweet spots. The live bonus tracks show a bit of cutting loose on the part of the singers, with the best being "Caja del viento", but some of the vocal histrionics on the rest of the bonus material, while impressive, sound a bit loony, almost as if they finally got cut loose and decided to make the most of it. But to be honest, a lot of this album is just plain boring and slow moving, except when it gets boring and noodling. I suppose one could call Mia eclectic, but to me they are mostly missing in action.

In January 77' a slightly refined M.I.A. line-up enters the Netto Studios to record the ensemble's sophomore effort.Juan Del Barrio had parted ways with the rest of the team and Lito Vitale became the responsible man for all the album's keyboards.Instead Nono Belvis was promoted to a full-time member next to Alberto Munoz, thus M.I.A. had now two guitarists/bassists.Daniel Curto's percussion appear only in a couple of tracks.The album was dealing with the life of an imaginery character named Juliana Gabina, from childhood through adolescence, and was released later during the year on Ciclo 3.

The first few tracks follow the path of pastoral Symphonic/Folk Rock, similar to CELESTE and PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI, dominated by the work of Vitale on keyboards and piano as well as the acoustic guitars.Very soft and delicate musicianship with plenty of sensitive polyphonic lines and light Classical influences in the piano themes, while the switch between acoustic and electric guitars are numerous, though the later are characterized by a very soft touch, hardly recognizable.With ''Antiguas Campanas Del Pueblo'' M.I.A. shift towards a more keyboard-driven Symponic Rock ala E.L.P. with nice organ moves surrounding a melancholic Liliana Vitale voice, yet Lito Vitale's work on synths and Hammond organ is really remarkable and almost unmistakable.The long ''Archipielagos De Guernaclara'' shows M.I.A's diversity as a group, as the music ranges from Classical piano themes to rural Folk Rock to semi-loose Jazz Rock with different variations throughout.A rather incosistent piece with unrelated moods, yet the technical efficiency of the group is really great.''Romanza Para Una Mujer Que'' is too soft and mellow Folk Rock with measured keyboard passages, elegant flutes and of course acoustic soundscapes, but the middle-placed instrumental part with the powerful keyboards and rhythm section is very good.Closing cut ''Corales De La Cantata Saturno'' is an almost Medieval-flavored choir-type song with Lito Vitale's harsichord and organ in evidence, still deeped in his Classical influences, and a really beautiful choir delivering very emotional and grandiose singing.

The same album was reissued in 1993 with no less than five bonus tracks as extra material, all coming from M.I.A.'s concert at Teatro Santa Maria in 1978.Nothing very close to the band's classic sound, most of these pieces range from Acoustic Folk to Folk Rock with tons of (quite excellent and mostly female) vocals and basically acoustic instrumentation, even some mandolin can be heard in a pair of tracks.

''Magicos juegos del tiempo'' isn't a flawless album.At moments it seems that it desperately needs some more uplifting mood or additional energy and the music can get too soft.But some magical passages with beautiful melodies and thrilling vocal lines are also present.Recommended, especially if you love Classical-inspired Prog Folk.

M.I.A. (Músicos Independientes Asociados) didn't waste any time crafting enough material to record an album every year from 1976-1978. Following the mostly instrumental debut "Transparencias," the collective focused more on vocal compositions on its second release MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO which translates into English as "Magic Games of Time." The lineup was streamlined a bit for this sophomore release with only four members performing which included Lito Vitale (piano, organ, synthesizer, mellotron, vocals), Liliana Vitale (drums, vocals, flute), Alberto Muñoz (electric & acoustic guitar, bass, vocals) and Nono Belvis (electric & acoustic guitar, bass, vocals).

While the debut was primarily an acoustic affair with only synthesizers and a few electric guitar parts being the exception, MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO moves beyond the classical crossover approach of the debut and includes moments of more energetic progressive rock in the vein of Emerson, Lake and Palmer as keyboardist Lito Vitale flirted with the flashy virtuoso flamboyance in the vein of classic Keith Emerson bombast however for the most part this second offering still retains a great deal of the same symphonic pastoral Argentinean folk of the debut. Unlike the debut every track on this one features lyrics in the Spanish language sung by the two Vitales.

Also bringing the album more into classic prog territory is the inclusion of the mellotron, heavier uses of bombastic time signature changes and a greater use of dynamic shifts including faster tempos and the use of heavier guitar passages especially on "Archipielagos De Guernaclara" which at 11 minutes playing time results in the longest track of the album. Showcasing that the album is a true descendent of the debut, Lito Vitale still relies on Western classical piano riffs to fortify the overall mood of the tracks before branching out into the more adventurous moments. The vocal styles are very much in the vein of contemporary Argentinean prog rock as heard by Invisible, Crucis or La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros.

The melodies are quite addictive and although every track is vocally oriented, there is still much room provided for instrumental workouts. There's even a full-blown jazz interlude during the mid-section of "Archipielagos De Guernaclara." After that lengthy track, the album jumps back into the lush pastoral sounds of the debut only with vocals, "Romanza Para Una Mujer Que Cose" showcasing a dramatic passionate performance reminiscent of the great Italian symphonic prog acts of the early 70s and then with the closing track "Corales De La Cantata Saturno" a beautiful choral tapestry of vocals over melodic classical interpretations with symphonic prog atmospheres.

MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO features a dramatically different approach than "Transparencias" by building on its foundations and adding more diverse experiments which in some ways makes the album feel a lot less uniform than its predecessor but in many ways is an improvement and paving the way for the band's most ambitious album of all, the following "Conrnostipicum" which in my book is one of the best symphonic prog albums ever crafted. While not quite to those heights yet, this second coming is an excellent slice of Argentinean prog that made the most of a truncated cast of members who upped the ante with more experimental touches despite prog's eminent decline around 1977 when this was released.