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Argentine Groups - B
Unfortunately, this outfit only released an extremely rare and hard to get great single, featuring the superb guitar of Poli Martínez (who used to play with La Pesada). They played hard rock on the Pappo’s Blues, Montes, Cuero and Piel de Pueblo tradition.
The b-side of this 7" can be heard on compilations like Alternativa (Microfón I-395). Damn they never released an album!
- DANIEL MANZINI (lg)
- RAÚL FERNÁNDEZ (g, v)
- RUBÉN DE LEÓN (v, per)
- NÉSTOR PAUL (b)
- BLACK AMAYA (d)
- EDUARDO KOHAN (sax)
This outfit was conceived by the actor and singer Rubén de León. Black Amaya (ex-Pescado Rabioso) and Néstor Paul (ex-La Cofradía de la Flor Solar) joined him.
Based on a mixture of rock, blues, and comedy, they released a single ("Mouskill Bouja") with a non-LP b-side. For the album, Ciro Fogliatta was on piano, Mariano Tito on organ and female backing vocals -including Susana Silva, then owner of an important import record store in Buenos Aires- were guests.
The LP was fairly interesting, though a little dull. "El fondo del ojo" (with the psycho touch of Claudio Gabis’s sitar and wah-wah guitar), the rock "Chicas que patinan", "El tapiz mágico" and "No lo veo" are the most inspired moments.
Soon after the album was released -delayed due to production difficulties- the band split.
The LP is very hard to get but is available on CD.
- PAJARITO ZAGURI (v)
- NACHO SMILARI (g)
- MIGUEL MONTI (b)
- JORGE "YORYO" MERCURY (org)
- QUIQUE SAPIA (d)
Once a regular at the mythical club La Cueva, pioneer and ex-Los Beatniks Pajarito Zaguri (real name: Alberto García) cut an extremely hard to get single as El Cuarto Pajarito: "Navidad espacial"/ "Un diablito en el cielo" (Microfón 3622) with the help of Litto Nebbia, Moro, Moris and Alejandro Medina.
Zaguri later joined the beat group Los Náufragos, with whom he recorded their debut LP (and also wrote half of the songs). He quit, together with Nacho Smilari, to form La Barra de Chocolate, an outfit with a strong 60s beat guitar sound.
La Barra’s first single was "Hippies y todo el circo" (a song already recorded by Los Náufragos) followed by "Alza la voz" (winner of the National Festival of Beat Music award), which was a great song with excellent wind arrangements and fuzz guitar b/w the Los Gatos-like "El gigante". This second single had PS (!) and was included -unlike the first one- on their only and superb LP.
The album should have deserved better luck. It features 11 songs all written
by Zaguri (some co-written, actually) ranging from beat ("Si supiera esta
niña", "Buenos Aires beat", "Beatnic Waltz"), to psycho
("Proyectos de un ladrón prisionero"), to the lengthy guitar-distorted
"¿Viste?". This recommended LP was dedicated to his friends at La Cueva.
Another good single followed, "Vivir en las nubes", and by the end of the year they released yet another one featuring an orchestra ("Voces de la calle").
Pajarito left the group before it definitely split. He later formed Piel de Pueblo, once again with Nacho Smilari.
None of La Barra de Chocolate’s recordings have been reissued on any form, and they are extremely rare.
- ALFREDO RAÚL CAMPANELLI (g, v)
- OSCAR ROBERTO PAULINO (g, v)
- HÉCTOR BOO GUERRERO (violin)
- AGUSTÍN "TINI" GUTIÉRREZ (b, v)
- JOSÉ LUIS HERNÁNDEZ (d)
Making use of keyboards, the progressive sound of this group was emphasized by the continue use of the violin as solo instrument, along with the two guitars and vocal arrangements.
Although they had
been playing gigs since the early 70s, they released their only album in 1974. Sin
tiempo ni espacio was an interesting record that mixed classical and progressive
music, as heard on "Está próximo el momento" and on the album-title track.
The b-side was more intense, with songs like "Siempre encontraré un lugar" (with excellent performances of both guitars and violin) or "Noche de Sol" (with a repeated riff and a great guitar solo). All and all, a unique album of great interest for collectors. (In a way, this LP relates to the first Ave Rock album, for the progressive sound of using two guitars).
In 1975, now a trio -Campanelli/Gutiérrez/Hernández-, Los Barrocos recorded one standard song ("Tendrás en tus manos") to be included on the compilation Rock para mis amigos -Volume 4 (Talent I-567). No one heard of them ever since.
Their LP is extremely rare and highly collectable. It has not been reissued on any form so far. A very early song called "Dualidad" was also included on the beat compilation La Catedral del Ritmo (Redondel L-321).
- MORIS (v,g)
- PAJARITO ZAGURI (v)
- ANTONIO PÉREZ ESTÉVEZ (b, org)
- ALBERTO FERNÁNDEZ MARTÍN (d)
Mauricio Birabent (a.k.a. Moris) formed Los Beatniks with Javier Martínez (soon to be Manal) on drums, Rocky Rodríguez (next on Rockal y la Cría) on bass and some Iván on guitar, in the youngsters hippie beach city of Villa Gesell (350Km South of Buenos Aires). The outfit was over by the end of that summer...
In 1966, Moris called his friend Pajarito Zaguri and jazz musicians Pérez Estévez and Fernández Martín to reform Los Beatniks. Their manager Horacio Martínez got them a record contract with CBS.
They released "Rebelde" (written by Moris and Pajarito), the very first Argentine garage single sung in Spanish. (Due to lack of adequate equipment, Pajarito played a "distortion-guitar" riff with his mouth). The b-side ("No finjas más") was less attractive.
To catch the attention of the press, they took a bath with female models at a high-class neighbourhood public fountain and played the song live riding the city at the back of a wrecked truck. They only managed to sell 200 of the 600 copies pressed.
After they split, Moris pursued a solo career, and Pajarito joined Los Náufragos and later formed La Barra de Chocolate.
The single is extremely rare and highly collectable. Both songs were included on a compilation CD, along with "Soldado", a previously unreleased pacifist song that everybody thought was lost.
Born in Italy, Juliano Canterini began as singer of the new argentine beat music generation during the 60s. Backed up by musicians like the Fattoruso brothers (ex-Los Shakers), he released several singles both on his own and with his group Los Guantes Negros, along with two LPs: Yo, Billy Bond (Music Hall 719) in 1968 and Las dos caras de Billy Bond (Music Hall 2039) in 1969. All featuring straight beat ballads.
Also, he was one of the owners of the mythical club La Cueva at Pueyrredón Avenue, cradle of the Argentine rock, that later moved to Rivadavia Avenue. There, he met most of the musicians who formed the Argentine rock movement by the end of the decade.
At this time his will was to form an "open" outfit; that is, a band which everybody could join and leave whenever wanted. La Pesada (The Heavy Guys), thus, seemed to be in a state of anarchy -but Billy was there to keep the order.
By the end of 1970, Billy Bond y La Pesada released their first album, on Music Hall label, comprising rock’n’roll, blues and hard-rock songs with psycho touches and humorous ironic lyrics. Featured musicians included Pappo, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Javier Martínez, David Lebón, Vitico, Pomo, Black Amaya, Poli Martínez, Luis Gambolini, Nacho Smilari and Cacho Lafalce.
This great debut
includes tracks like: "Salgan al sol" -written by Martínez with a brilliant
Pappo wah-wah guitar solo-; "Divertido, Reventado" -credited to Pappo and
Mandioca founder Pedro Pujó, which was actually a rip-off of Hendrix’s "You got
me floatin’"; "El parque" -an excellent piece written by Spinetta
as a preview of Pescado Rabioso, featuring himself on bass and Pappo on
guitar; "Cada día somos más" -a song with a steady beat; and my personal
favourite: "Verdes prados". The later had been released on the compilation LP
Pidamos Peras a Mandioca (Mandioca MLP 335) credited to Billy Bond
alone. In this song Bond was backed up by a beat-oriented combo: Daniel Hoomer on
guitar, Carlos Ávalos on bass, Alejandro Baró on organ and Cacho Arce on drums. Ávalos,
Baró and Arce were all ex-Los Bichos.
Pretty soon, Jorge Alvarez and Pedro Pujó (owners of the then defunct pioneer independent label Mandioca) joined Bond to form a working team to produce other groups. Alvarez went to the executive desk, Bond to the mixing console, and the La Pesada musicians to the recording studios. This way, they took the almost exclusive control of the argentine rock with Music Hall and Microfón labels as headquarters. (In 1973, the Microfón subsidiary label Talent -managed by Álvarez- would gather the progressive groups). Consequently, La Pesada was the main backing band for the likes of Raúl Porchetto, Sui Generis, Claudio Gabis, Maximiliano, Kubero Díaz, Jorge Pinchevsky, Alejandro Medina and Pappo’s Blues, among others, during 1972 and 1973.
Also in 1972, Billy Bond y La Pesada released their second
album, another excellent LP featuring Alejandro
Medina on bass,
Pappo, Kubero Díaz and Poli Martínez on guitar, Javier Martínez and Luis
Gambolini on drums, Jorge Pinchevsky on violin and Billy Bond on vocals.
Remarkable tracks are: "La pálidad ciudad" -by Kubero, with a great rocker
guitar job and Pin’s violin; "La máquina" ("The damned killer
machine!") -sung by Medina with Pappo on guitar; "Blues para mis
amigos" -the lyrics describing the members of the band; and "Para que nos
sirven" -a great rock number. All selections were segued with fragments of a so
called "Vida y obra del negro Julio", actually a simple melody played by Pinchevsky
and Pappo on violin and piano. All and all, this was a harder LP than the first one, as
the text on the cover would read: rocks+blues+rocks+rocks= Billy Bond y La Pesada!
This LP also included the controversial blues version of "La marcha de San Lorenzo" -a patriotic military march- which was immediately banned (consider that few years later the Armed Forces took the government).
On October 20th, an infamous event took place at the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires, during a rock festival. After Color Humano’s performance, La Pesada went onstage and Billy Bond urged the people in the cheaper seats to move to the empty places of the parterre. This caused a struggle between the police and the audience, and inspired Billy to pronounce his now classic line: "Chicos, ¡rompan todo!" ("Break it all, kids!"). The aftermath was a destroyed indoor stadium scandal highly publicised by the press, and the general sense that rock music was indeed a social threat.
This event was the
basis of the following La Pesada album: Tontos released later that year
(1972). The foldout red cover (meaning blood) only read "Tontos (operita). 20 de
octubre de 1972 + por Billy Bond y la Pesada del Rock - Volúmen 3. Había una
vez..." ("Fools (little opera). October 20th, 1972 + by Billy Bond and the Heavy
Guys of Rock - Volume 3. Once upon a time..."). Once again, Billy was showing
off his ironic sense of humour! But the record, an uninspired experimental piece of
nonsense, had only one real song -the superb angry rocker "Tontos"- surrounded
by noises and tape effects.
The group was immortalised performing an even wilder version of "Tontos" on the movie Rock hasta que se ponga el Sol, filmed live during the BARock Festival. Bond was savage at the vocals and Gabis at his best. Unfortunately, being on a different label, the song was not included on the movie soundtrack LP.
By this time, Bond was escorted by Alejandro Medina, Kubero
Díaz, Claudio Gabis, Jorge Pinchevsky
and Isa
Portugheis. Together, they released a final album of good rock and blues numbers,
including the great "No nos paran más", the pshyco blues "Hacia algún
lugar", and the steady riff of "Pinchevsky Rock", Pappo’s
"Estamos hartos", the childish rhyme inspired "Que sepa volar", the
long blues "Año 1939" and the minor hit "Concientemente todo, todo lo
podrás lograr". Once again, all selections were segued using animal sounds. A pretty
good LP, though not as good as the first two.
In 1975, Bond and Álvarez produced a new version of Vox Dei’s La Biblia, featuring members of La Pesada together with other artists from Talent label (Sui Generis, Raúl Porchetto, Espíritu, etc.) and a full symphonic orchestra. After this overbearing project (released as Talent SE-515), Bond moved to Brazil where, nonetheless, re-released La Biblia with Brazilian singers.
Billy Bond has lived in Brazil ever since. He kept on recording and producing artists (noteworthy Joelho do Porco) and turned into a successful show-business personality.
None of his albums had been reissued, andit is very hard to get original copies in decent shape. A very good compilation album "Lo mejor de La Pesada" (with two different covers: Sazam 13227 and Sazam 14621) is available on CD and vinyl.
In 1973, a very rare 3-song PS 7" EP was released (featuring "Tontos", "Concientemente todo, todo lo podrás lograr" and "Salgan al sol") (Music Hall 65016).
- JORGE CURA (v)
- CARLOS CALCINA (org)
- CÉSAR GÓBEZ (g)
- FRANCISCO CALABRETTA (g)
- CARLOS MARÍA PIENATTA (b)
- QUIQUE CURRAN (d)
Another group that recorded on the mythical Mandioca label.
They played a very interesting and pleasant flower-power oriented music, with organ and guitar.
Their first single was also included on the compilation LP Pidamos Peras a Mandioca (MLP 335). After releasing a rare second single no one heard from them since.
- SERGIO POLIZZI (violin)
- CECILIA TENCONI (flutes)
- WIN FORTSMAN (sax)
- PETTY GUELACHE (v)
- EDUARDO ROGATTI (g)
- EDGARDO "FLEKE" FOLINO (b)
- EDUARDO "POLO" CORBELLA (d)
- DANIEL ANDREOLI (composer/arranger)
Originally with Miguel Zavaleta on vocals, Bubu played several amusing
performances during 1976. When they finally went to studios, Zavaleta was replaced by
Petty Guelache..
Bubu’s live shows consisted only in a 40-minutes piece -divided in three acts- called Anabelas, composed by Daniel Andreoli, who actually never played with the group. Mostly an instrumental opus, Anabelas has strong influences from progressive jazz like Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Frank Zappa’s The Grand Wazoo, and the madness of Gong, all blended with humour. The LP is good, though the live performances were much better.
The group split before the album’s late release. There are no vinyl reissues, but an unauthorised CD version -now out of print- exists.
- JORGE FERNÁNDEZ MOLINA (g,k,v)
- TOMMY LOIDI (g,v)
- ALFREDO MUÑOZ (b,v)
- DANIEL CARRIZO (d)
Búsqueda was one of those symphonic groups that could only achieve the release of one album.
Featuring Ricardo Renaldi on synthesizers, the LP is only recommended for die-hard collectors of symphonic rock groups.
No reissues are available.
