|
Recorded in only 90 hours way back in
march 1977 on 8 tracks in a studio in Buenos Aires this nice work
finally sees the light of day on CD thanks to the superb work of the
Viajero Immovil label. In respect for it’s vinyl release in 1977
both ‘sides’ can be found on this CD being labelled ‘Lado A’ and
‘Lado B’. Twenty five years after it’s initial release of course the
duration of a CD enables the recordcompany to add extra material
which comes in the form of three bonustracks.
Although much more symphonic as an
endresult and dated what the choice of instruments is concerned, you
can see Litto Nebbia as the Mike Oldfield of Argentina taking care
of all keyboards, guitars and vocals. As happens lots of times with
South-American releases the bossa nova sneaks in (‘El vendedor de
promesas I’, ‘El hombre del adagio’) together with an elaborate
choice of percussion. It’s like their trademark, their wish to
export their roots to a wider audience. I hear snippets of Cai, of
Iman Califato Independiente, of Asfalto, strangely enough all
Spanish bands. The Fender Rhodes together with the jazzguitar in ‘El
hombre del adagio’ underlines the laid-back attitude which is then
spiced up by unexpected synth runs. The whistling during ‘Final
instrumental’ gets close to the feel of vintage Focus.
With the piano for ‘Preludio’ Litto
Nebbia gets the atmosphere of Keith Emerson around the ELP “Tarkus”
period in. Throughout the album some of the musical ideas also
remind me of Greenslade. The lengthy ‘Suenos de Ofelia’ contains
some wonderful acoustic guitar which blends perfectly with the
Fender Rhodes. The bonustracks sound poorly recorded and uninspired
which is probably why they were never issued before. To be honest
the album would’ve sounded much better as a whole if these tracks
would not have been included.
“El
vendedor de promesas” is an enjoyable album which of course sounds a
little dated due to the use of Fender Rhodes, Hohner Clavinet and
ARP string ensemble but which contains plenty of nice passages to
please most fans of lush symphonic material. I do find it sad
however that the original artwork wasn’t used as well as the
bonustracks being added. In my opinion if an album is re-issued on
CD for the first time it should be exactly like it’s original vinyl
counterpart except maybe for the fact that this ‘new’ edition has to
be cleaned up from a musical point of view. So if one day it would
be necessary to consider an extra pressing please leave the
bonustracks behind and use the original artwork. |
