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Argentine Groups - P
- JORGE ANTÚN (k)
- MARCELO SALI (d)
- JOSE MARIA BLANC (g, b, v)
- OMAR A. LÓPEZ (k)
Despite the fact that this group released their debut beyond the time limit of this book, it is included here due to high demand from symphonic rock collectors.
Pablo "El Enterrador" (Paul, The Gravedigger) formed in the 70s in the city of Rosario (300Km North from Buenos Aires). After lots of line-up changes, only keyboard player Jorge Antún remained.
They finally released an interesting LP (a la Genesis) in 1983 full of synthesizers and Oberheim keyboards, with four songs per side written by all band members. A must have for symphonic rock lovers.
Lyrics by Fabián Marcos Di Nucci described the hard repressive period in Argentina of those days.
The group kept on playing. It is said that other recordings exist.
The album was reissued on vinyl, but copies are difficult to get. It is available on CD from an independent progressive Brazilian label.
- HUGO ARBE (g,v)
- EDUARDO MARTÍ (g,v)
- MIGUEL A. PEZZOLANO (fl,v)
Pacífico was an acoustic soloist to emerge from many duos and groups who blossomed during 1972.
With the help of Rodolfo García on drums, Emilio del Güercio on bass and Héctor Starc on guitar (all members of Aquelarre), Pacífico recorded an album of good soft songs with great vocal work. Remarkable moments are "Ella es tu hermana" and "Escapatoria", where the Aquelarre people can be heard. Pedro Botti, a sort of fourth member, played piano.
Martí is currently a well-known photographer. The very rare album has not been reissued on any format.
Norberto Napolitano, better known as Pappo, was born on March 10th 1950. In 1967, after playing with his teen band Los Buitres, his drummer friend Pomo introduced him to Miguel Abuelo and poet Pipo Lernoud. Pappo then joined Los Abuelos de la Nada.
A self taught guitar player, his skill is noticeable even early in his first composition, "La estación", sung by him and recorded by Los Abuelos de la Nada after Miguel left the group. (This song was included on the compilation LP Mandioca Underground [MLP 331] in 1969).
Pappo played piano (!) with Manal during a coast tour and later joined beat group Conexión Nro 5 for a brief period of time. Credited as Pappo's he recorded a song ("Nunca lo sabrán") for another compilation: Pidamos peras a Mandioca (MLP 335).
In 1969 Los Gatos called him to replace Kay Galiffi. With Pappo on guitar, the pioneer beat combo turned rocker and released their best two albums. He later joined the short-lived groups Engranaje and Pistola, and played on the first two Billy Bond y La Pesada LPs. Pushed by producer Jorge Álvarez, he finally formed his own group, Pappo's Blues, with David Lebón (credited as "Davies") on bass and Black Amaya on drums.
The first Pappo's Blues album, recorded on a 2-track machine, shows a brilliant skilled rock and blues guitar player. The powerful "Algo ha cambiado", "El hombre suburbano" or the long "Adonde está la libertad" are good examples.
For Pappo's Blues Volúmen 2 Pappo is joined by Luis Gambolini and Black Amaya on drums and Carlos Piñata and Willy Verdaguer on bass, among others. This excellent second LP, "inspired" by Tommy Iommi's and Rory Gallagher's best known riffs, includes lots of Pappo's classics: "El tren de las 16", "Llegará la paz", "Blues de Santa Fe" and the beautiful blues "Desconfío". Much stronger than his first effort, the album was recorded "live in the studio" with minimum post production.
Pappo also appeared on the rock movie Rock hasta que se ponga el Sol playing "El tren de las 16" and "Trabajando en el Ferrocarrill" with group La Máquina (no relation with the Charly García symphonic outfit). The soundtrack album does not include these performances.
Soon afterwards Pappo recruited drummer Pomo and bassist Machi for the best remembered line-up of Pappo's Blues and recorded his best LP: Volúmen 3. This album opens with the speed instrumental "Stratocaster boogie" and includes "Pájaro metálico", the classic "Sucio y desprolijo", the enigmatic "Sándwiches de miga" and the superb blues "Siempre es lo mismo, nena". The group sounds like a real power trio and Pappo is as good as ever, establishing his reputation as great guitar player. However, the influential rock magazine Pelo strongly criticised this album when released, mainly due to the poor lyrics.
Pomo and Machi left to join Invisible, Luis Alberto Spinetta's new project. Pappo -with his friends David Lebón and Black Amaya and La Pesada musicians Alejandro Medina and Isa Portugheis- recorded Pappo's Blues Volúmen 4. (Pomo and Machi played on "Con Elvira es otra cosa", also released on single [Music Hall 40022]). Another great album, Vólumen 4 includes "Fiesta cervezal" (a tribute to beer drinking), "Gato de la calle negra" and "Abelardo el pollo" (yet another example of his offbeat lyrics).
His fifth album, the only to have a name (Triángulo), was still good, but much improvised in the studio. The best moments are the great "Malas compañías", "Hubo distancias en un curioso baile matinal (parte 1)" and the psycho-folk "El buzo".
Soon after the album was released, Pappo moved to England for a two years period. He jammed with Peter Green and got in touch with hard-rock bands. In the meantime, the record company released Volúmen 6, an LP comprising studio outtakes. Mostly instrumental, this album is still good to me.
Pappo returned and formed Aeroblus, with Alejandro Medina on bass and Brazilian drummer Junior Castello. They recorded a hard rock album.
In 1978, with Medina on bass and Darío Fernández on drums, Pappo released Pappo's Blues swan song: Volúmen 7, an album of new and old songs re-recorded. Also in 1978, Pappo went to Spain and played some well-acclaimed gigs; but unable to release a record there, Pappo's Blues split.
Pappo went back to Europe, and when he returned he formed the successful Riff, a heavy metal band influenced by Black Sabbath and AC/DC. Later he played on and off, to return to his rock and blues roots. He played live and recorded with B.B.King, Deacon Jones and Edgar Winter. In 1993 he had a huge success with "Mi vieja", a tribute to everybody's mother.
Pappo is still one of the best South American rock guitar players, although some of his later recordings are far from inspired.
All Pappo's Blues records are recommended. The first four are scarce, and the others hard to find. The first four have been reissued on vinyl. All 7 volumes are available on CD.
- ALEJANDRO DE MICHELE (g,v)
- MIGUEL ANGEL ERAUSQUIN (g,v)
A folk duo that filled the gap left by Sui Generis when they turned symphonic. Basically, two nice looking boys singing semi-protest folky songs for teenagers.
They recorded their first LP with session players and received very good audience response.
A luxury backup band (Litto Nebbia, Jorge González and Néstor Astarita) played on their successful second and best album: En el hospicio - which included a new version of the song with the same name from the first LP. Carlos Testai (guitar) and Juan José Mozzalini (bandoneón) also played.
Humanos, their next effort, was produced by mythical Jorge Álvarez, attracted by the commercial potential of this duo. Thus, Juan Orestes Gatti designed the cover, Charly García (ex-Sui Generis, now on La Máquina de hacer Pájaros) played keyboards, Oscar Moro (ex-Los Gatos and Huinca - now on La Máquina de hacer Pájaros) played drums and Pino Marrone (Crucis) played guitar. Even an orchestra directed by Gustavo Beytelman was hired.
Still retaining their original song style, Pastoral managed to sophisticate their sound without losing followers.
The fourth album, with another Gatti's good cover design, was recorded in Buenos Aires and San Pablo (Brazil) with a sophisticated production by Álvarez and Billy Bond. Some featured musicians were Guillermo Bordarampé, Ara Tokatlian (both Arco Iris), Mono Fontana (ex-Madre Atómica), Alfredo Toth (ex-Los Gatos), and great tango/folklore bandoneón player Dino Saluzzi. Another waste of vinyl, anyway.
Two years later the duo released a fifth LP, and after some solo projects they came back in 1982 with yet another album. The tragic death of Alejandro de Michele -the band leader- on a car crash put a definite end to Pastoral. Erausquin attempted an unsuccessful solo career.
The albums have not been reissued on vinyl. En el Hospicio and at least two compilations are available on CD.
- MIGUEL CANTILO (g,v)
- JORGE DURIETZ (g,v)
Cantilo (Pedro) and Durietz (Pablo) formed this acoustic duo to sing "protest" songs.
One of their early singles, "La marcha de la bronca" ("The March of the Angry") (CBS 22275), released before the military coup of 1976, became a classic protest song, especially when the Falklands' War was over (1982).
Their first album included all the previously released singles, plus some new nice songs. However, due to the importance of the lyrics the LP is of no interest for non Spanish-speaking listeners. The obnoxious orchestral arrangements by Jorge Calandrelli don't help either.
The b-side of their next single, "Pueblo nuestro que estás en la Tierra" ("Our People Who Art in Earth") (CBS 22421) was banned by the powerful Catholic Church. This led to lots of problems with the record company, so Pedro & Pablo finally left.
With the split of La Cofradía de la Flor Solar, some members went to live in communally with the Pedro y Pablo group to a house at Conesa Street, in Buenos Aires. These musicians -Kubero Díaz on guitar, Quique Gornati on guitar and bass, Rubén "Tzocneh" Lezcano on drums and Néstor Paul on bass- added electricity to P&P's music, along with Alex Zucker (next Montes and Alas) on bass and Roque Narvaja (ex-La Joven Guardia) on vocals, guitar and flute.
This group recorded the best Pedro y Pablo LP: Conesa, a great album of beautiful laid-back melodies and social-political folk-rock songs such as "Padre Francisco" (another criticism of the Catholic Church), "El Bolsón de los Cerros" and the banned "Catalina Bahía" (a love song dedicated to a prostitute). Kubero Díaz drew the inner cover. "El alba del astío" written by Durietz after a poem by Arthur Rimbaud, was a preview of Melimelum, the group he would form later.
Before the break-up, Pedro y Pablo recorded a third album released late in 1981 under Miguel Cantilo, Jorge Durietz y otros Apóstoles, which was a disappointment. Cantilo went to form Miguel Cantilo y Grupo Sur, and Durietz the aforementioned Melimelum.
In 1981, Cantilo returned from his European exile with a new-wave group (Punch). The success of the Argentine rock in the last days of the Armed Forces Government moved him to re-join his old friend for an 80s edition of Pedro y Pablo. They recorded several albums that sold a lot but are irrelevant for this book.
Of all Pedro y Pablo recordings, only Conesa (reissued on CD) is recommended.
Simply credited as La Pesada, this was another Billy Bond/Jorge Álvarez project. An experimental album was released comprising blues numbers performed by jazz singer Donna Caroll, his husband Oscar López Ruíz on orchestral arrangements, Kubero Díaz and David Lebón on guitars, Alejandro Medina and Rinaldo Raffanelli on bass, and Black Amaya and Jimmy Márquez on drums. Bond handled the mixing console and sung.
"Entonces qué", sung by Manal leader Javier Martínez, the long "Las palabras y los gestos" with the always brilliant Kubero's guitar and "Ruca" a satire to dancing groups are the remarkable moments of this strange hard-to-get album (available on CD).
- LUIS ALBERTO SPINETTA (g,v) ABC
- BOCÓN FRASCINO (b,v) A
- BLACK AMAYA (d) AB
- CARLOS CUTAIA (k) AB
- DAVID LEBÓN (b,v) B
After Almendra broke up, Luis Alberto Spinetta recorded his legendary first solo album and left for Europe. Back in Buenos Aires he formed a trio to perform stronger acid-related music with Osvaldo "Bocón" Frascino on bass and Juan Carlos "Black" Amaya (ex-Pappo's Blues) on drums.
The dreamy psychedelic cover -drawn by Jorge Visñovesky and originally released with a poster insert that included the group's Statement of Principles- was the preamble of Desatormentándonos, their first superb album. (Note: future reissues lacked the insert).
Side A (a.k.a. "Damas" -"Ladies") opens with "Blues de Cris", a powerful hard-blues led by Spinetta's guitar and dedicated to the same girl that inspired him for the sweet "Muchacha ojos de papel" (his most famous song) but this time to say goodbye. "El jardinero (temprano amaneció)" is a long psycho song full of effects and distorted guitars. On the other hand, "Dulce 3 nocturno" sung by Spinetta and Bocón is a beautiful relaxing tune.
Side B (a.k.a. "Caballeros" -"Gentlemen") begins with "Algo flota en la laguna" -another distorted guitar psycho song- and ends with the enigmatic "Serpiente (viaja por la sal)" featuring Carlos Cutaia (soon to join the group) on Hammond organ. A must!
Bocón left and was replaced by David Lebón (ex- Pappo's Blues and Color Humano) on bass. With this new line-up, Pescado Rabioso released an excellent hard-rock single: "Post-crucifixión" b/w "Despiértate nena". During a show at the Olimpia Theatre of Buenos Aires, the quartet was filmed performing the single for the movie Rock, hasta que se ponga el Sol. These live versions, included on the soundtrack album (Talent I-382), are even better than the studio ones!
In late 1972/early 73, Pescado Rabioso went to studio to cut their masterpiece: Pescado 2, a 2-LP set considered one of the top 5 best South American rock albums ever recorded, and certainly the highest point of Spinetta's creativity genius.
Pescado 2 was conceived as two separate LPs: one called Pescado, and the other called 2. The two covers were joined upside down and the original version included a 48-page booklet with the lyrics, technical data, photos, texts and drawings, as well as a poem by Arthur Rimbaud and a quote from his "Illuminations". This is not coincidence, since it explains the origin of Spinetta's surrealistic lyrics of that time.
The 18 tracks are numbered, and the numbers are part of the song titles as well.
Side A opens with "Panadero ensoñado" a guttural duo between Luis and David, and is followed by the great saga "Iniciado del Alba"/"Poseído del Alba" lead by the Hammond organ with Leslie. "Como el viento voy a ver" is a wonderful easy blues number. The effects of "Viajero naciendo" and the first Lebón composition to be recorded "Mañana o pasado" close the side.
Side B features a rock & roll number "Nena boba", "Madre Selva", another superb moment of the album with climatic guitar and organ, and the enigmatic "Peteribí" (unique Argentine tree).
Side C begins with 16 seconds of "Peteribí" to give continuity to the whole concept. "Señorita" is a group-improvised composition. "Credulidad" is an acoustic song with Spintetta reminding his early years. "Hola, pequeño ser!" is an anti-drug hard rock with excellent guitar and organ duels. "Mi espíritu se fue" is a nice ballad written by Bocón.
Side D opens with "Sombra de la noche negra", a hard rock composed by Black Amaya with furious guitars and organs. The calm returns with "La cereza del zar", a folk-psycho ballad, and "Corto" (originally called "Después de la bomba") about the nuclear holocaust. The album closes with an absolute Spinetta masterpiece: "Cristálida", a 9-minute opus with rhythm changes and orchestral arrangements.
In short, an absolute must have album!!!
Unfortunately, by mid 1973 Pescado Rabioso split due to musical differences and a fight between Spinetta and Lebón. A rock & roll single with a non-LP track ("Me gusta ese tajo") was released, and then Luis Alberto recorded a wonderful solo album credited to Pescado Rabioso: Artaud.
With the help of his brother Carlos Gustavo Spinetta on drums and his former Almendra mates Emilio del Güercio (bass) and Rodolfo García (drums) on some tracks, Artaud (obviously dedicated to French poet and actor Antonin Artaud [1895-1948]) is yet another masterpiece.
The cover deserves a chapter on its own. Even on this ground Spinetta surpasses his own limits. Instead of being square, the original cover of Artaud had an odd oversized shape that made it impossible to rack in conventional LP bins. It is a serious competitor for The World's Most Original and Anti-Commercial LP Cover contest. It also included a small booklet with the lyrics and technical information.
With a different (mainly folk) musical style than Pescado 2, Artaud opens with the wonderful "Todas las hojas son del viento". "Cementerio Club" is a psycho blues. The strange "Por", the moody "Surperchería" and the beautiful "La sed veradera" come next. Side B opens with the long and climatic "Cantata de puentes amarillos", and is followed by the electric "Bajan", the psycho "A Starosta, el idiota" and the terrific "Las habladurías del mundo"(one of the best songs of the album). A difficult LP to describe, due to the nature of the music and the lyrics, but a must for Spinetta followers.
Despite its brief existence, Pescado Rabioso is still today the most influential group of Argentine progressive rock musicians.
Late in 1973 Spinetta formed Invisible. In 1976 a best-of LP, "Lo mejor de Pescado Rabioso" (Talent SE-620), was released, featuring all the singles. All the albums have been widely reissued on vinyl and CD. (Note: reissues of Pescado 2 lack the booklet; Artaud's cover became regular square!). The latest CD version of Pescado 2 includes the complete booklet in miniature format.
- PAJARITO ZAGURI (v,g)
- NACHO SMILARI (lg)
- WILLY PEDEMONTE (b)
- CARLOS CALABRO (d)
Argentine rock pioneer Pajarito Zaguri (ex-Los Beatniks and La Barra de Chocolate) and extraordinary guitarist Nacho Smilari (ex-La Barra de Chocolate and Vox Dei) got together to form this short-lived group. They released an album (Rock de las heridas) of psycho hard rock.
Most remarkable tracks are: "Silencio para un pueblo dormido" with
a brilliant driven guitar, the long "La tierra en 998 pedazos" featuring a
killer hard-rock finale (with composer Pedemonte on piano), "Jugando a las
palabras" with wah-wah guitar and "Por tener un poco más", featuring the
electric violin of Héctor López Furst. The lyrics (and also the cover) are highly
committed to political and social matters of those days. The album is highly recommended
to followers of Pappo's Blues, Cuero, Montes and Rockal y la Cría.
Smilari and Calabró would form Cuero, while Pedemonte went to perform electric guitar with Miguel Cantilo y Grupo Sur. Pajarito Zaguri pursued a zigzag career.
Rock de las heridas was reissued in 1977 (Samantha 77112), but both editions are scarce and very hard to get. It is not available on CD.
- GUSSY (v)
- DADDY (b)
- BERT (d)
- ZANGUIE (org)
- AL (g)
One of the few groups of the Mandioca label to sung in English.
They released a picture sleeve single of unattractive flower power songs. The a-side -"Candy"- was included on the compilation Mandioca Underground (MLP 331). The single, as all Mandioca editions, is rare.
In 1970 they sign for CBS and cut another disappointing 7", and then they disappeared.
This excellent classical-educated violin player discovered rock when he met La Cofradía de la Flor Solar. He amazed audiences at the BARock Festival playing wah-wah electric violin with the combo from La Plata City. He later joined Billy Bond y La Pesada and recorded with lots of band members.
In 1973, he recorded a solo experimental LP with the usual help of Claudio
Gabis and Kubero Díaz (guitars), Alejandro Medina (bass), Isa
Portugheis (drums) and Billy Bond (mixing console and effects). Side A is
instrumental, featuring long solos. On the other hand, side B has some lyrics, but still
features great performances by Gabis (wah-wah guitar in "No nos alcanzarán
las mariposas") and Kubero ("Y así van pasando los años,
señora"). Overall, it is a crazy hard-psycho LP. (Trivia: the album cover reads
"Pinchenvsky"!)
When La Pesada split, Pinchevsky moved to Europe. In France he joined Gong. He played violin on their album Shamal (you can also hear him speaking in Argentine tango-slang by the end of the song "Cat in Clark's Shoes"). He also performed live both with Gong and Paragong. Due to visa problems, he was denied entrance to the UK, thus leaving the group.
He returned to Argentina by mid 80s. He plays live occasionally and has released two conventional rock & blues CDs.
His debut album is extremely hard to get and has not been reissued on any format. (Trivia: this album and Materia Gris' are the only two Argentine rock albums to be released on progressive EMI/Harvest label).
Pinchevsky passed away in 2003 in a street accident.
This singer is included in this book only because she released a single on the newly born Mandioca label.
The 7" featured a luxury fold out picture sleeve and is very hard to get; thus the high collectable interest. Alejandro Medina (Manal/La Pesada) wrote both songs and played guitar. Enrique "Avellaneda" Díaz (next on La Máquina, Vox Dei and Pappo’s Blues) played bass.
Plate, a former model, recorded yet another single that went unnoticed as well.
- SAÚL BLANCH (v)
- JULIO SÁEZ (lg,v)
- HUGO RACCA (b,v)
- CACHO DARIAS (d)
After Escarcha broke up, Sáez, Racca and Darias remained together and joined singer Saúl Blanch to keep on playing hard rock a la Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.
Their rare first single and now hard to get album were released on a small
independent label (TK). No pisar el infinito is, no wonder, a good hard rock and
blues album, full of guitars riffs et al. The best tracks are "El mago del
tiempo", "Ocúltame amigo", and the nice ballad "Ya tenés por quién
luchar".
The following year, now on a big label, they released a much heavier second LP with better production but not as good as the first one. The long "Melancólica muchacha" (featuring violin player Fernando Suárez Paz) is possibly the best track.
In 1981 a third album on another independent label -now without Sáez- hit the stores (Escuela de rock & roll [Tonodisc 8031]).
Later on, Sáez, Racca and Darias joined famous Argentine tennis player Guillermo Vilas to form Dr. Silva, a short-lived group to fulfil Vilas’ dream to sing his nonsense lyrics with a rock and roll band. They released a poor CD.
Hugo Racca and Saúl Blanch released solo albums as well. Plus' second album was reissued on CD featuring bonus tracks under the title Melancólica Muchacha.
- DAVID LEBÓN (g,v)
- RINALDO RAFANELLI (b,k,v)
- JUAN RODRIGUEZ (d)
- CIRO FOGLIATTA (k)
A rock and roll trio formed by David Lebón (ex-Color Humano and Pescado Rabioso) now... on guitar and vocals, Rinaldo Rafanelli (ex-Color Humano and Sui Generis) on bass and Juan Rodríguez (ex-Los Mentales and Sui Generis) on drums. In the heyday of progressive and fusion music, Polifemo -and other groups like Avalancha- dared to play straightforward rock & roll.
Their first single, "Suéltate rock and roll", was a huge success. Based on the same pattern they released a second and still successful 7": "Oye Dios, que me has dado". Lebón wrote both songs; Rafannelli wrote the b-sides (the best being "Buzios blues").
In 1976 keyboard player Ciro Fogliatta (ex-Los Gatos, Sacramento and Espíritu) joined the trio for the recording of their first unconvincing album. The group turned fairly progressive with the use of mellotron and moogs. One track -"Tema de los devotos", written by Lebón- was dedicated to the Guru Majara-Ji and usually played at his Mision of the Divine Light reunions in Buenos Aires.
The album was highly criticised, but their fans still bought it. This encouraged them to cut a second LP. However Polifemo split during sessions, and Rafanelli took the job to finish the album. Also unconvincing, this new effort was still deeper into symphonic rock; it was clear they forgot all about the original idea.
My advice is to stick to the singles!
After the break-up Lebón went to Brazil and joined Charly García, Pedro Aznar and Oscar Moro for the super-group Seru Giran. They became the most popular rock group of the late 70s/early 80s.
Polifemo records are scarce and have not been reissued on vinyl. The singles were included on the best-of compilation LP Retrospectivo 75/77 (EMI 6467). The first album was released on CD with the first single as bonus. A 2-CD set with both albums and the singles is now out of print.
On June 16th, 1972 a folk-rock all acoustic event called Acusticazo (released on LP Trova TL 54) took place at the Teatro Atlantic. Gabriela, Litto Nebbia, Miguel y Eugenio, León Gieco and a young singer Raúl Porchetto played on that event. Raúl's performance of "Cortar el viento" was included on the album.
For his first LP, a conceptual opus called Cristo Rock (Christ Rock), he was joined by Charly García (keyboards) and Oscar Moro (drums), along with the usual La Pesada staff: Billy Bond (mixing console and effects), Claudio Gabis, Kubero Díaz (guitars), Alejandro Medina (bass), Jorge Pinchevsky (violin) and Jimmy Márquez (drums). A string orchestra and a church organ were also used for the recording.
Cristo Rock -released in 1972- has an "Obertura" and eight numbered tracks. It is a strange but attractive album, full of climatic sounds and interesting playing; more noteworthy Gabis' wah-wah guitar.
During the following years, Porchetto only released a couple of singles and participated on the Billy Bond's all-stars new version of La Biblia (Talent SE-515). He also formed a very short-lived group, Reino de Munt, with Alejandro Lerner (keyboards), Francisco Ojsterseck (bass), Gustavo Bazterrica (guitar) and Horacio Josebachvilli (drums).
It was not until 1976 that Porchetto found his way. He joined Sui Generis and León Gieco for the successful touring project and album PorSuiGieco (Music Hall 14210) and later on recorded a new single and a no-titled album, as starting over.
The LP featured virtuoso Lito Epumer (ex-Madre Atómica) on guitar, Eduardo Criscuolo on bass, Roberto "Coshi" Pardiñas on drums, and Porchetto on vocals, guitars, and keyboards. Alejandro Lerner played electric piano on one track. This very well played symphonic rock record included "El rey y los ciegos (la batalla)" and classic "Sentado en el umbral de Dios".
For his next effort Porchetto recruited Luis Borda (another great guitar player, ex-Ave Rock), Francisco Ojsterseck (bass), Daniel Volpini, Osvaldo Valls (drums), Charly García and Alejandro Lerner (keyboards). Chico Cósmico is a song album, but still symphonic oriented; "Espejos plateados" or "Un hombre intergaláctico de hace 2000 años" are good examples. "Chico cósmico" and "IC Ciento treinta y tres" features an orchestra directed by Rodolfo Alchourrón.
Volando de vida -his fourth album- keeps the symphonic style, with some jazz-rock touches. Instead, it's not as good as its predecessors, even featuring excellent musicians such as Luis Borda (guitar), Pedro Aznar (ex- Madre Atómica and Alas), Santiago Fandiño (bass) and Carlos Riganti (ex-Materia Gris and Alas, drums)."Densa canción de Invierno" is possibly the best track.
Porchetto's following albums, Mundo and especially Metegol, turned "modern". At this period he was mainly influenced by the Doobie Brothers and the new sensation The Police. He enjoyed big success with a new band and this new music, releasing an album per year. (Not of interest for this book).
His first album is recommended. The following two are of special interest for symphonic rock collectors.
Cristo Rock was reissued on vinyl and CD (with both early singles as bonus). A compilation LP from his EMI period -Retrospectivo 76/79 (EMI 6362)- was also released.
- RAÚL PORCHETTO (g,v)
- CHARLIE GARCIA (k,g,v)
- NITO MESTRE (fl,g,v)
- LEON GIECO (g,v,harp)
- MARIA ROSA YORIO (v)
Raúl Porchetto (POR), Sui Generis -Nito Mestre & Charly García- (SUI) and León Gieco (GIECO) played a "secret" acoustic gig so successfully that they decided to cut a record and tour behind it. (Singer María Rosa Yorio -Charly García's wife at the time- also joined).
The sessions were very slow due to member's other activities; very seldom they all met in the studio.
"Fusia" is a soft Mestre song, performed by Sui Generis and Yorio; "Viejo, solo y borracho", by Gieco, featured all members plus Rinaldo Rafanelli on bass and Oscar Moro on drums; "Las puertas de Acuario", by Porchetto, is performed by Reino de Munt -the only known recording of this short-lived group- with García on keyboards; "Quiero ver, quiero ser, quiero entrar", another García classic, is sung by Yorio with Sui Generis and three early members of Crucis (Marrone, Fernández and Farrugia); "Mujer del bosque", by Porchetto, features all members; "Todos los caballo blancos", written by Gieco and included on his debut LP, is here sung by Yorio; "La colina de la vida", a soft Gieco-Mestre duet, closes the album.
Altogether, it is a good folk-rock LP.
Gieco and Porchetto continued with their solo careers. Sui Generis split; García formed La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, and Mestre with Yorio later formed Los Desconocidos de Siempre.
The album was reissued on vinyl and CD. Note: the first edition of the album included "El Fantasma de Canterville" (yet another classic written by Charly García) performed by León Gieco. This song was banned and immediately removed for a second edition.
