Feliu with Joan A. Amargos in 1977

 

A pretty adorable cover drawing surely everyone will agree. Really a part of the times, back then in those innocent, naive seventies. It's hard to believe that they were actually a time of intense violence and social turmoil and as I often say to my wife to her inevitable shock and worry, it was also the golden age of serial killers too.

This one came out in the midst of the Musica Urbana and is really in keeping with their material, featuring the guitarist Feliu Altisent (cf. the Trio just posted) with Amargos on keyboards. The last track, Els Barbers Indignats, pulls out the electric guitar and has some nice fusionary ideas:

Trio Altisent with Joan Albert Amargos

 

First of a few posts about this remarkably talented composer and keyboardist from Barcelona. He's  discogged here:

Catalan keyboardist and clarinet player, b. Barcelona, 1950. Also classical composer.

Most importantly he crafted some really amazing music with his first group Musica Urbana, which I've loved dearly all my life, unfortunately there were only 3 releases with them from 1976 to 1978. First album being the best with the most intensely innovative work.  Those compositions are such stunning mixes of jazz, classical, and fusion that they always take my breath away. Every month it's worth pulling them out and revisiting them.  Note that Carlos Benavent was bassist in there too, featured previously here on the blog.

As sometimes happens but quite rarely nowadays, there is no entry for this Trio on discogs. Instead it appears as bonus material on a Musica Urbana compilation. It's the kind of thing I absolutely adore with the mix of chamber classical and more elevated compositional elements: this is definitely not Chopin. Note that the guitarist is Feliu Altisent with whom he released the wonderful Feliu and Joan album, which I'll put up next. 

Consider the first track, La Formatgera:

However everything on here is worth hearing, everything. 

Discography of Onza [limited time only]

 

Onza Discogged here;

Spanish prog and fusion band, formed in Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz) Spain 1989, led by Jaime Padilla.

From the late 80s this was the project of guitarist Padilla and they continued on up until the present time. Their style is a mostly instrumental symphonic rock style with some minor chord aspects that at times recalls French Pulsar plus other incorporations from the glory days of the genre. For ex. Los Enanitos from Crepuscular (note the lovely synth soloing):

La Caza from their first release in 1991 Reino Rocoso, and its dissonant guitar riff, obviously, recalls any number of the prog classics of yesteryear:

If anyone has the demo and / or cassettes, those would be great to hear too though I assume they don't have new material on them.

Jorge Lopez Ruiz is back with Coraje

 

Posted his stuff before, of course, as you surely remember.

First Movement as a quite representative example:

A lovely symphonic composition from this Argentinian master, discogged here. Very similar to his other early works, nonfusion for the most part.

Note the information:

Elenco de Coraje

Jorge Lopez Ruiz - Composición, arreglos y dirección.

Jose Tcherkaski - Texto Recitante.

Solistas

Jaime Prats - Saxo Tenor

Hugo Pierre - saxo Alto

Santiago Giacobbe - Piano

Ricardo Lew - Guitarra

Carlos "Pocho" Lapouble - Bateria

Coro

Donna Caroll - Romana Ferres - Mabel Miceli

Enrique Varela - Mario Orliac - Mario Grisiglione

Grabacion: Estudios RCA años 1972/1973

Masterizacion: Pablo Lopez Ruiz

Diseño: Marina Solari

Return to Michal Pavlicek in Stromboli, 1987, and Shutdown,1989

 

You might recall Michal Pavlicek's wonderful material recorded long ago for the Mini Jazz Klub EPs. I posted it here and commented on how great those compositions were from him (that one was released in 1983).   He went on to make a great deal of electric guitar music sometimes with some progressive elements, and that great piece Tvari v Tvar (translated as Face to Face) was reused subsequently quite a few times on other CDs.

From the first Stromboli, a track called Aladin clearly gives you an idea of his progressive dimensions:

The 2nd album called Shutdown, from 1989, has female vocals (Bara Basikov) and is a little bit more commercial, though a lot of it recalls the alternative music that would soon sweep the world, showing they had a feeling for the zeitgeist, here's the title track:

 

Some really remarkable Steve Vai-like guitar playing on that one with the atonal bends, oddly mixed with classical or operatic elements here too.

His work on his own even up until recent times is well worth hearing too, a rarity as an artist who never gave up that uncompromising progressive spirit. I confess I haven't heard even a slight portion of it all, and he moved into writing soundtrack stuff too, but what I did hear sounded pretty good.