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Los Elementales (Blue Vinyl)
Limited edition of 100 copies on blue vinyl.
"Los Elementales- Fuerzas Magicas De La Naturaleza was composed and originally released in 1977, at the apex of Arco Iris’ prolific musical career. A well-deserved successor to Agitor Lucens, it is their most prog-oriented masterpiece, a veritable distillation of years of uniquely carved and meticulously executed psych/folk/jazz tunes that earned them their reputation among Argentina’s cultural pantheon’s finest. If nature ever spoke genuinely to a band and shared with them the alchemical secrets of the Druids, then that band must not have been other than Arco Iris. Los Elementales is a mélange of prog wilderness, domesticated through a mirror of production that reflects the indelible mark of Ara Tokatlian’s conundrum of tenor sax, Andean woodwinds and moog, interspersed with jazz-fusion, glimpses of latin-funk and randomly popping electronics. All of the above, scaffolded on a conceptual platform that puts in motion, evokes and seeks to simulate the intermingling of the elements of nature, by punctuating them in contrapuntal moments.
This much sought after by collectors album will appeal to the same extent to prog aficionados, latin funk crate-diggers, and prog-jazz crazies. But, above all, this is a re-release that intends to please Arco Iris’ core fans, by enveloping the music in 4 limited to 100 numbered copies, in 4 different colors, one for each element of nature (water/blue, fire/red, earth/orange, air/silver), with the original gatefold cover and insert."
" I'm not sure when this Argentinian band changed their style but this sounds nothing like their debut from 8 years earlier. What I loved about the debut was that mood, an almost romantic RPI flavour. What I love about this one is the "lights out" instrumental work that is very much a Jazz Rock / Fusion style. Man these guys can play though. I'm not going to use the complete titles of each track because they are all so long.
"Gob..." is a top three for me.The drumming is so impressive here as it's intricate and crisp throughout and the sax plays over top. Flute joins in then the song kicks in just before a minute. So good. Some nice chunky bass here and excellent guitar work too. Sax and electric piano come to the fore after 2 1/2 minute. Killer stuff. "Destilando..." opens with laid back piano as flute then reserved vocals join in. A fuller sound before 2 minutes. It settles back again and the vocals stop.The tempo continues to shift though. "Cristalizando..." reminds me of the first track, this is such an impressive instrumental display to say the least.Vocals just before 2 minutes as it settles back some.Great track !
"Djin..." is a short uptempo piece with guitar, bass, drums and everyone else putting on a show.Too bad it's so short. "Despertar..." opens with some relaxed piano but a fuller sound arrives quickly.The sax sounds amazing here. Cool tune. "Necksa..." is a top three for me. I love how heavy the rhythm section is on this one as the sax plays over top. Just a pleasure. It turns brighter before 5 minutes then settles down a minute later and vocals join in. "Los Nacidos..." opens with acoustic guitar, synths and bass as reserved vocals join in.
"Paralda..." is my other top three.The wind is blowing and so is the sax as bass and drums help out. It reminds me of NUCLEUS when it gets fuller. It picks up 1 1/2 minutes in. Great sound ! Killer drumming too. Just some incredible instrumental work from 6 minutes to the end. The two bonus tracks are excellent as well.
4.5 stars and a must for fans of ICEBERG and the like." - ProgArchives