AMIGOS obscure SPANISH PROG PSYCH LP 1972 FC Barcelona

	£		70
	$		93

AMIGOS - SELF TITLED,  it`s a studio album LP by an obscure SPANISH (or to be more precise MALLORCAN) band, released in SPAIN on HISPAVOX RECORDS in 1972. This is an original, and to my knowledge the only known pressing of this album - HISPAVOX HHS 11-224, SERIE ESTEL. The cover and the record are in EX to EX+ condition.

RARITY:  This LP is MASSIVELY RARE. In the 1960`s-70`s, unlike in the UK, USA, Germany and Japan, a lot of European countries didn`t have well developed record industry, and many releases were pressed by private press in tiny amounts, sometimes only 100-200 copies. Needless to say, without financial backing, a lot of groups were short lived and sunk into obscurity after one or two albums. Despite being signed to the biggest Spanish record label - HISPAVOX, AMIGOS were considered a band of local interest - known mainly in MALLORCA (MAJORCA)/BALEARIC ISLANDS and CATALONIA. The album was recorded in BARCELONA and songs were sung in either CATALAN or MALLORQUI (MALLORCAN CATALAN DIALECT). I`m not a native spanish speaker, but I have some knowledge of SPANISH and can easily hear that it is not CASTILIAN SPANISH which is spoken in most parts of the country. Obviously HISPAVOX considered these factors when deciding how many copies of this album to press, I also don`t think they supported the band further, I couldn`t find neither other albums by AMIGOS, nor re-issues of this album on either LP or CD. That said, bear in mind that I`m in the UK, and possibly those of you who are in Spain, would have more information about any re-issues. The music on this album is a curious mixture of spanish folk, european prog/psych, gentle/naive pop and 60`s San Francisco sounding freakbeat. You can hear traces of many other SPANISH and ITALIAN bands of the time, such as:

ITALY - Acqua Fragile, Alphataurus, Alusa Fallax, Antonius Rex, Area, Arti + Mestieri, Balletto di Bronzo, Banco del Muttuo Soccorso, Biglietto per L`inferno, Blocco Mentale, Buon Vecchio Charlie, Capitolo 6, Capsicum Red, Celeste, Cervello, Cherry Five, Circus 2000, Citta Frontale, Corte dei Miracoli, De De Lind, Dedalus, Delirium, I Dik Dik, Edgar Allan Poe, Flea, Formula 3, Garibaldi, I Giganti, Goblin, Hunka Munka, Ibis, JET, Jumbo, Latte e Miele, Locanda delle Fate, Maxophone, Metamorfosi, Murple, Museo Rosenbach, New Trolls, Nova, I Numi, Nuova Idea, Opus Avantra, Le Orme, Osage Tribe, Osanna, Panna Freda, Perigeo, Picchio dal Pozzo, Pierot Lunaire, Premiata Forneria Marconi - PFM, Procession, Quella Vecchia Locanda, Raccomondata Ricevuta Ritorno, Reale Academia di Musica, Ricordi d`Infanzia, Rovescio della Medaglia, Saint Just, Semiramis, Stormy Six, Triade, Trip, Uno, Uovo di Colombo, and Il Volo.

SPAIN - Alameda, Atila, Asturias, Azahar, Bloque, Los Brincos, Cai, Los Canarios, Crack, Errobi, Fusioon, Goma, Gotic, Granada, Guadalquivir, Gualberto, Los Iberos, Ibio, Iceberg, Iman, Itoiz, Jarka, Maquina, Mezquita, Modulos, Musica Dispersa, Neuronium, Nu, Om, Orquestra Mirasol, Pan & Regaliz, Miguel Rios, Sisa, Smash, Tapiman, Tarantula, Triana, and Vega.

The list above was made mostly for the benefit of the eBay search engine, as I don`t expect a lot of people (or any) have "AMIGOS LP" in their favourite searches list, IT IS NOT DIRECT COMPARISON TO THE BANDS MENTIONED ABOVE.

The liner notes are in CATALAN and are written by well known MALLORCAN writer and music/theatre promoter ANTONI MUS. The album was arranged and produced by another famous MALLORCAN - ANTONI PARERA FONS, musician and composer who had several pop albums circa 1966-67, but became well known much later in his life, for his music score and hymn of THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN BARCELONA in 1992, as well as for his work with Montserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras.

TRACKLISTING:

Side 1 -

MATEIXA DE`S VERMAR

CANCO DE S`ESPADAR

EN PEP GONELLA

SANT JOSEP

TONI MORRENO (BOLERO VELL)

TAN PETITETA

Side 2 -

ELS NEVATERS

SOR TOMASETA

UNA DONA LLARGA I PRIMA

LA DAMA D`ARAGO

"PARADO" DE VALLDEMOSA

Some of the songs are well known traditional MALLORCAN folk songs, re-worked in rock fashion. My personal favourite is UNA DONA LLARGA I PRIMA which sounds a bit like SMALL FACES of their OGDEN`S NUT period. This LP was brought over from Mallorca in 1973 by a friend of mine, who was working there at the time, as a reminder of the time he spent there. He`s not a record collector and thought the LP was just a straightforward collection of local folk songs, but little did he know of course... The LP still has it`s original price sticker of 350 pesetas, back then it was slightly over £2, so basically the cost of the lps in Spain was nearly the same as in England.

LINE-UP is as follows:

JOSEP ROS - piano, harmonium.

MARTI GOMILA - guitar, flute, sax.

CARLES GIL - bass, keyboards.

BARTOLOMEU MATAMALAS - drums.

BERNAT MOREY - guitar.

THE COVER:  It is an original printed, both sides laminated cover with "pinched" spine corners and HISPAVOX S.A. 1972 addresses: TORRELAGUNA 102, MADRID 27 and MARCENADO 22, MADRID. I would grade this cover as EX to EX+, except small removable price sticker on the back, there are NO other stickers, sticker/sticky tape residue or writings of any kind.

THE LABELS: Stunningly beautiful DARK BLUE HISPAVOX labels are in MINT- condition. Both sides of this copy have been checked meticulously under 100 watt lamp, there are about 2-3 very faint and superficial spindle traces on each side, seen only under strong electric light and at an angled position only. There are absolutely no stickers, no sticker residue or writings of any kind on both sides.

THE VINYL/VISUAL INSPECTION: EX to EX+, once again, checked thoroughly under 100 watt lamp at an angle, there are obvious signs of the record being played, they are mostly paper scuffs and paper trace lines, which originated when the record was taken out of the insert and put back in, no fingermarks, dirt or anything like that. The record is perfectly flat, there`s not even a hint of warping. This is a vintage HISPAVOX lp, heavily pressed to the highest standards, massively thick record with deep grooves, it still has this magnificent original lustre and at an angled light shines like new.

THE VINYL/PLAYGRADED: The lp was playgraded on my high-end system including MICHEL GYRODEC with SUMIKO BLUE POINT SPECIAL CARTRIDGE, with the following results: EX to EX+.