Search - Alas :: Serie De Oro: Grandes Exitos

Great overlooked prog gem!

Warren W. Nelson | Mooresville, NC USA | 02/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a compilation containing the two original album releases by Alas, a prog keyboard trio from the late 70's out of Argentina and one of my most fortunate discoveries recently. Featuring a large keyboard arsenal and inventive group dynamics, Alas were characterized by a sound somewhere between the bombastic keyboard approach of ELP and the more stretched-out fusion explorations of early Weather Report.



The first two songs were originally sidelong compositions from their first self titled album and go through a multitude of tempo and thematic passages ranging from tight and sophisticated group performance in prog overdrive to spacey and experimental sections with some great build - ups. As good as this sounds, the last five songs from the bands second original album release 'Pinta Tu Aldea'(1978) are even better, primarily because of the addition of new bassist Pedro Aznar who turns in some electrifying virtuosic performances combined with the already heady performance of keyboardists Gustavo Moretto on everything from acoustic and electric piano, various organs, moog, mellotron, and other synthesizers and keyboards. I suppose I should mention that the percussion is certainly up to these standards also; and their is the unusual but colorful addition of some tasty flute, trumpet and acoustic guitar on several cuts.



The overall performances are exceptional blending tight and sophisticated progressive composition with some joyous yet technically impressive improvisation. This is a mostly instrumental cd with a few light and smoothly flowing vocal sections in Spanish. It is hard to believe a keyboard trio which maintains such a high caliber of excellent material seems to be hardly recognized within the prog fan community. I have to wonder how many more South American gems have yet to be discovered."