Longstanding Chilean band Congreso, Part 2: [1981 Viaje por la Creste, 1983 Ha Llegado Carta, 1984 Pajaros de Arcilla, 1986 Estoy que me muero cassette]

 

It's unbelievable how beautiful the album covers get during this stage in their history, in keeping with the high quality of the progressive music.

Following a very folky series of records through the 1970s, this series of 4 albums features incredibly advanced compositions, one track after another, just a shockingly embarassing surfeit of riches.  We have chamber music, fusion, dissonance, vocal tracks, the gorgeous Italian-style (Genesis-influenced) flute prog, etc.  At times it reminds me of my old Mexican favorite Gerardo Batiz, all of whose albums I tried to collect, or perhaps the wonderful Sacbe band posted before. Not quite as ingenious as Carlos Franzetti or as fusionary, but it certainly comes close at times.

Again, wikipedia makes some good points here:

Change of members and shift towards progressive rock (1979-1984)

The departure of some members diminished the power of the group, which was deeply embedded in the dictatorship, with protest songs disguised as poetic lyrics and musical complexities. The three González brothers took more than a year to rebuild the group while working as backing musicians for television orchestras and with musicians like the Argentinian pianist Raúl di Blasio . It was through these connections that they met the young Chilean-Brazilian Joe Vasconcellos, whose Latin American interests and musical background they felt would breathe new life into the project. Together, they completed the new lineup of Congreso. The band had recently welcomed pianist Aníbal Correa and bassist Ernesto Holman , who was not only an old acquaintance of Tilo González from his university days in Valparaíso, but would also become one of the most representative figures of the group's new fusion sound. Vasconcellos then took over as lyricist, and with this arrangement, Congreso released Viaje por la cresta del mundo (1981), one of their strongest works, featuring some of Tilo's most challenging compositions such as "Viaje por la cresta del mundo," "Hijo del diluvio," and "El descarril," among others. However, public recognition came with the inclusion of a single song, the now-classic "Hijo del sol luminoso," written by Joe Vasconcellos. Congreso then took a clear turn toward progressive rock , but always retained their Latin American style.

Moving between the stages of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement , the emerging rock spaces of those years, and university circuits, Congreso solidified its name as a fundamental band of the Chilean music scene. With their album, Ha Llegado Carta (1983), they toured extensively and were signed by CBS-Argentina to record a new album. Vasconcellos' departure led the group to focus their repertoire on instrumental pieces, resulting in Pájaros de Arcilla (1984). That year, saxophonist Jaime Atenas, from Valparaíso and formerly of the jazz-fusion group Ensamble, joined the band . This album is one of the most critically acclaimed in Congreso's history; however, it received little distribution on this side of the Andes, alienating them from their local audience and generating a new crisis that was resolved shortly afterward with the return of Sazo (by then a PhD in Philosophy, after years of study in Europe).

Very interesting indeed, and I see they are putting forth my thesis exactly that the most progressive period for them was this early 1980s stage, and of course that's quite a surprise given the zeitgeist worldwide, from which they were evidently, and thankfully, completely insulated.  Viva los Andes!  Consider  Nuevo Intento, from the 1981 Viaje:

While the composition called Sur from Ha Llegado Carta, absolutely made me fall off my chair yet again, though after I recovered from my head injury I listened to it for the rest of the day:

I absolutely love the cover of the Pajaros, and here's Anden del Aire to musically impress you all further:

These are their masterpieces, let me assure you.  Sometimes reminds me of the formidable Argentinian Raul Porchetto.  A glorious period for this group wherein they pulled all the compositional creative stops and went all in for the (lost?) cause of progressive music.  Who would've thought, from Chile?  On this blog, I think only the wonderful hard fusion band Fulano has been featured before coming from that nation.

Longstanding Chilean band, Congreso Part 1: early LPs [1971 El Congreso, 1975 Terra Insognito, 1977 Congreso, 1978 Misa de los Andes]

 

Information here (from discogs):

Chilean band based on brothers Patricio, Sergio and Fernando González Morales, who in 1964 founded some folk-pop bands as "Los Stereos", "Shadows" and "Los Masters". When Pancho Sazo joined them in 1969, the band finally called themselves "Congreso". Later some chilean important musicians as Joe Vasconcellos or Jaime Vivanco played on the band.

Latest line-up: Sergio Tilo González (composer, drums); Francisco Sazo (lyrics, vocals); Hugo Pirovich (flutes, percussion); Jaime Atenas (soprano & tenor saxophones); Sebastián Almarza (piano, keyboards); Raúl Aliaga (marimba, ethnic & electronic percussion); Jorge Campos (bass, vocals) and Jorge Abarca (sound).

In this instance, wikipedia provides more fleshed out information, starting thusly:

Congreso is a Chilean Latin American fusion band founded in Quilpué in 1969 and led by Sergio "Tilo" González . In their more than 50 years of career, they have released 18 studio albums and 4 live albums, including a DVD. They began their career in the late 1960s, linked to the Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement . However, with the arrival of the military dictatorship and the cultural restrictions of the time, coupled with the strong instrumental vocation of its members, they evolved towards progressive rock , and then towards a fusion sound that also incorporated elements of jazz fusion , contemporary music , pop , and world music —a sound they called Nueva Música Latinoamericana (New Latin American Music ). This transformed them into a fundamental pillar of Chilean popular music. They have earned national and international recognition from both the public and specialized critics for their refined musical compositions, as well as for their socially conscious lyrics. In its first stage, along with Los Jaivas and Los Blops , it formed one of the essential bands in the new Chilean progressive sound and the Chileanization of Rock.

These early albums are exactly what would have turned me away in a cursory check, being acoustic folk, ethnic-based, with no electricity-- either metaphorical or instrumentally plugged-in.  There are so many similar South American bands, which operate within the same sphere of ethnic folk with very predictable chord progressions and presumably very political lyrics, I'm guessing.  Although I am not sure how the dictatorship of Pinochet connects, since I'm presuming that there was a great deal of suppression of protest and dissidence.

However, in the 1977 ST work, there is a hint of the great compositional works to come in the epic Arcoiris de Hollin, with the very broad symphonic progression and chamber arrangements that provide interest and variety, in addition to considerable dissonance, note in particular how frequently the song completely changes directions like a small bird in ceaseless flight:

And in fact after the 1978 Andean Mass, for some reason the band just explodes into the progressive sphere, no clear reason that I know of, but presumably there is some explanation, and we'll observe that in part 2 coming up.

Incidentally for those who are not familiar with the political history of Chile in the later 20th c. I recommend you review it for its sad horror, with the familiar themes of cruel dictatorship, neverending meddling by that big North American 'democracy,' siphoning off of riches by the oligarchy with enforced austerity for the masses, 'opening up the country' to neoliberal policies = selling off everything in the country to multinational corporations, etc. such as we see now in Argentina still.  (Incidentally, their practice then of 'banning all leftist parties and doctrines' might be quite premonitory for us here in the 'West'.)

When I read these histories I feel truly sad about humanity, thinking it's our natural state to be ruled by all-powerful autocrats or autocracies.  Especially when I think back to how much hope for the future of the world we all still had in our youth, back for ex. in the late 1980s, 1990s.   All evaporated.

Then if I go for a walk in the shopping mall and look around at the folks there it occurs to me that these people couldn't care less if their government was a dictatorship...

Mama Bea Tekielski albums, by request [1976 La Folle, 1977 Faudrait etc., 1978 Bebe-Robot]

 

From discogs:

French author, composer, vocalist and guitarist born on August 23, 1948 in Avignon.

Her 1970s LPs saw a progression from folk roots, via avant-garde / progressive forms to rock. The more experimental albums are Faudrait Rallumer La Lumière Dans Ce Foutu Compartiment. and La Folle (which features musicians from Clearlight). In the 1980s she adopted a straighter rock / chanson style mostly under Mama Béa's nickname.

I'd say her voice and style of singing are definitely difficult to appreciate, as it were.  It's a very French type of chanson style, with passages of spoken poetry, outright wailing, hollering, etc.  Also despite the description this is not so much prog as psych in musical style.

From Bebe-Robot, Les Glycines:

Lesiman Library Albums High Tension Vol. 1 to 4 (1972 to 1978), by request

 

Lesiman:

Real Name: Paolo Renosto

Profile: Italian composer, conductor and pianist.

Born October 10th, 1935 in Florence, Italy.

Died February 10th, 1988 in Reggio di Calabria, Italy.

All this music very much dwelling in and never straying far from the soundtrack music realm, with a lot of tension as expected, funky sounds, but minimal development.  Typically bass and drums underneath a repeated figure on hammond or electric piano, a repeated guitar riff, and a couple of chords.

As the description goes,

"Music especially created for films, television, radio, publicity and industrial use."

From Vol. 1 (1972), Restless:

From Vol. 3 (1978), Trepido etc.:

From Vol. 4 (1978), Cordelia:

Carpineta from 1978, FLAC limited time only

 

Only one release from this group, databased here.

There are not many reviews online, but curiously it was considered an out of the ballpark high priority release from cd reissue back in the day, to my utter shock since to my ears it's relatively average psych music, not really prog at all with very little dissonance, creativity, elaborate arrangements, abrupt changes, etc. You can read the old review here. From rateyourmusic:

For quick reference, I'd say Carpineta tracks closest to Canzoniere del Lazio at the end of their storied career (Morra 1978, Miradas). That is - at their most progressive! Mid 70s Area also deserves a shout out, as well as artists as disparate as Gramigna, Franco Battiato, and even Aktuala. For my tastes, Carpineta surpasses all of them. Yea, it's THAT good.

Of course you can be the final arbiters for that.  However I note the averaged rating from those who heard it is 3.5, which sounds right to me.  Note that the numbers are all over the place, from less than 2 to 5, showing it's quite disliked too.

Last track, curiously called Carpineta too, gives you a basic idea:

I wanted to draw your attention to a comment left by one of the musicians of the amazing one-off Finnish band called Manogurgeil, here.  They are preparing a second release.

Jean-Pierre Alarcen's 1978 ST

 

More great cover art here.

Bio on discogs:

French guitarist (and multi-instrumentalist) best-known in the influential 1970's prog band Sandrose. Jean-Pierre Alarcen was a founder member of Le Système Crapoutchik, featured in many other bands during his career: Eden Rose, Tartempion, and also worked a lot as a guest / session musician. He also recorded two solo albums of instrumental symphonic prog, with marginal folk and jazz touches, popularly compared to works by The Enid and Steve Hackett.

I'm not sure about the Hackett comparison, Enid is more appropriate for the later works, Tableaux 1 and 2.

In any case the 1978 ST solo work is just pure fusion with some slower classical-influenced tracks, and really wonderful for the French-fusion fan.

Nationale 20 is just priceless, note Francis Lockwood (brother of our beloved Didier, violinist) is on keyboards here:

On his own he made a great, and similar album called Debbi in 1981.

For the classical side of things, Vieux Garcon (old pal):

Both the 1978 ST and the first Tableau 1979, I don't think the second one (which is from 1998) is worth hearing.  My opinion only.