Detailed Reviews [Piel De Pueblo - 1972/2006 - "Rock de las Heridas"]

Prolusion. The recording under review is the first CD reissue of "Rock de las Heridas", which is the only album by short-lived Argentinean band PIEL DE PUEBLO (PDP hereinafter), originally released in far distant 1972. According to the press kit, the CD includes all eight of the tracks from the original LP, all being remastered from original master tapes especially for this edition.

Analysis. Indeed, the sound quality of this recording is good rather than merely acceptable, especially taking into consideration the year that the album was recorded in, namely 1971. While drawing their inspiration from early English Hard- and (to a lesser degree) Blues Rock in general and the works of Uriah Heep, Jimi Hendrix and Cream in particular, PDP never sound derivative, intermixing their influences very well with their own vision of music. The eight tunes all feature a lyrical content, but although singing isn't something the songs are lacking in, only one of them, El Rockito de la Bufonada, is really vocal-heavy. Taking the last position, this is the sole track with a guest violin player involved and, at the same time, the one leaving me absolutely cold due to its so to say square nature, as well as abundance in unison moves. Drawing something halfway between standard Rock-&-Roll and Country, that tune is strongly inferior to any of its predecessors and is a makeweight in the end, fully justifying its title, A Buffoonery a-la Rock (exactly "a-la", because Rockito is in Spanish nothing other than the diminutive of Rock). La Palida de Nacho is a solid blues-rock number that one could easily call a ballad, but not I, as the song varies in pace. The other six tracks all well suit the stylistic definition drawn in the beginning of this paragraph and have generally very much in common between them, differentiating from each other almost exclusively in their overall construction. Silencio Para Un Pueblo Dormido, Veni Amigo a la Zapada and Jugando a las Palabras are all dynamic tunes, full of energy, the band keeping a high-level intensity throughout each, even within their instrumental interludes where the prevalent, hard-rock component much more often gives way to a blues one than in their vocal sections. The latter remark is relevant regarding the remaining three songs as well, although these, La Tierra En 998 Pedazos, Para Tener Un Poco Mas and Sexo Galactico, all alternate quickly-moving arrangements with more restrained ones, which nevertheless are still hard more often than otherwise. The longest track and, at the same time, the only one featuring keyboards (piano to be precise), La Tierra En 998 Pedazos, exceeds 9 minutes in duration, but its musical content hardly justifies its inflated duration. The listener would have lost nothing if that pseudo epic had been half the length that it is. Instead, the relatively short Jugando a las Palabras is so rich in different themes that the band could have easily cut two tracks out of that one, and these would've been on a par with the others.

Conclusion. What makes this album attractive in my eyes is above all that the musicians provide their solos not only almost non-stop (regardless of whether there are concurrent vocals), but also differently from each other, in most cases successfully avoiding unison movements that are so typical of the style they've chosen. Nevertheless, "Rock de las Heridas" can only be recommended to hard-rock fans and, maybe, also those who experience a strong and continuous nostalgia for a natural vintage sound.

VM: May 19, 2007