Almendra (Almendra album)

Almendra was formed in the barrio of Núñez in Buenos Aires. Luis Alberto Spinetta and Emilio del Guercio became friends while attending the San Román high school in Belgrano. They published a magazine, La costra degenerada, with their own articles and drawings and shared common interests and points of view about music, sex, power and religion. Spinetta was a fan of the Beatles, but del Guercio was more interested in folk music. They were inspired by surrealism and the psychedelic experience, although they had not used drugs at that point. "La balsa" sold over 250,000 copies, an impressive number for that time, especially for a song with Spanish lyrics that differed from the cheerful and shallow efforts of the contemporary nueva ola movement. Spinetta told Juan Carlos Diez in 2006: "It was a very good thing because it was the example that [rock in Spanish] could be done. I believe that "La balsa" was a great inspiration for everyone. And also other tracks of Los Gatos. Each track contained a mystery that, at the same time, was a poetic motivation, a great incentive for us." After a Los Gatos concert, Spinetta met producer Ricardo Kleiman and invited him to the band's rehearsals. When Kleiman heard the band play he signed them to RCA Victor, and in November 1968 Almendra released their first single: "Tema de Pototo", backed with "El mundo entre las manos". Almendra began playing live, with performances during the summer of 1969 in Mar del Plata and an appearance at the Ancón Festival in Peru. Their Buenos Aires debut was at the Di Tella Institute as part of Three Beat Shows, where they introduced "Fermín", "Ana no duerme" and "Que el viento borró tus manos", songs which would appear on their first studio album. Almendra released a second single, "Hoy todo el hielo en la ciudad" backed with "Campos verdes"; it was also released in Peru, where it was more successful than it was in Argentina. Between April and September 1969, the band recorded their first LP at TNT Studios, Buenos Aires, while a third single ("Tema de Pototo", backed with "Final") was released. At the time of Almendras release, the influence of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had overshadowed the success of the nueva ola, exemplified by the popular teen pop music TV show, El Club del Clan. ==Composition==

Almendra, considered one of Argentina's first rock albums, A major influence was the Beatles, particularly their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For instance, in "Muchacha (ojos de papel)", lyrics such as "ojos de papel" ("paper eyes") and "pechos de miel''" ("honey breasts") are reminiscent of those in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ("newspaper taxis" and "marmalade skies"), and "Laura va" was inspired by "She's Leaving Home". Tango influences may be heard in "Plegaria para un niño dormido" and "A estos hombres tristes". Andrés Torrón of Uruguayan newspaper El Observador noted a similarity between Almendra and Pink Floyd's 1967 album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn; feeling that "although reminiscences of Syd Barrett can be found in the melodies and prose of the Spinetta of those years, there were already a number of personal traits that would make him one of the most influential rock musicians on this side of the world." Spinetta's lyrics have been widely studied for their lyricism, poetic quality, precise use of language, and rich visual imagery; as well as the innovation of singing them in Spanish. Writing for Noisey in 2016, Eduardo Santos argued that "although it does not have any song with protest lyrics or hymns against the establishment, Almendra is an album very influenced by the hippie culture with its ideals of peace, coexistence and love." and has compared the romantic ballad to songs like "Tu nombre me sabe a hierba" by Joan Manuel Serrat and "Julia" by the Beatles. The album ends with "Laura va", a baroque pop song which took Spinetta a year and a half to write. An attempt to emulate the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home", it features an "evocative counterpoint" played with the bandoneón. Rolling Stone Argentina considered that Spinetta's vocals in the track "[timidly insinuate]" a crooner facet that he would further explore later in his career. ==Release and commercial reception==

Almendra was released on November 29, 1969, on Vik, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. Some sources, however, place the release of the album in early 1970, time in which the band released a typewritten, photocopied flyer that said: "Over the course of six months of intense work, we have learned that what is transcendent is no longer owned by the author and belongs to everyone. That is why January 15 is an important date for us and for you: it is the release of our first long play to you." The band produced a 35mm black-and-white promotional short film featuring "Campos verdes" and "El mundo entre las manos", which was shown in cinemas as part of the newsreel Sucesos Argentinos. On June 6, 1969, Almendra presented the album in Teatro Coliseo with Vox Dei, Leonardo Favio and Los Abuelos de la Nada. They made television appearances on Tropicana, Sábados circulares, Sótano beat, and "an unhappy appearance" on Bernardo Neustadt's show. Regarding the songs' concert presentation, particularly of "Muchacha (ojos de papel)", Spinetta stated in 1984: "... when we premiered ["Muchacha"] in Coliseo, the success of the song was so resounding that I cried myself, I could not believe it. [...] The emotion that I felt was tremendous. Indelible. I cried on stage, because I felt that all the people were shocked with that. Instantly. Success came later. I felt that the song pierced through the people, just as when I premiered "Plegaria" or "Figuración", "Muchacha" pierced through the people. With Almendra I repeatedly saw boys and girls crying, of emotion or of happiness." In early 1970, Spinetta published a series of drawings in the second number of the short-lived magazine Alquitrán, in which he illustrated each of the songs of Almendra. The song, with "Ana no duerme" as its B-side, was released as the album's only single on January 20, 1970. Cristina de Irala of the magazine reported on their successful presentation in the touristic city of Mar del Plata, writing: "At that hour of the early morning, in a city in full summer season, one became aware that the 'beat music' movement really is a phenomenon. Which one of our musical monsters could go on a stage and fill a room in those conditions?" Tracks off Almendra appear in various compilation albums of the band released by RCA Records, including a self-titled one of 1972, Muchacha ojos de papel of 1980, Serie 20 éxitos of 1995, and Inolvidables – 20 grandes éxitos of 2003. In 1979, Almendra reunited and performed a series of concerts that attracted massive audiences, something that had been rarely seen in the country because of the so-called National Reorganization Process. A double live album recorded at Estadio Obras Sanitarias in December 1979 was self-released on May 3, 1980, featuring several renditions of songs from the band's 1969 studio debut. In 1992, BMG Argentina released the first CD reissue of the album. Titled Almendra (Cronología), its tracklist is organized in chronological order and subdivided into three sections. The first one, titled "The first singles", contains songs released before the album, which are "Tema de Pototo", "El mundo entre las manos", "Hoy todo el hielo en la ciudad", "Campos verdes", "Gabinetes espaciales" and "Final". The CD's middle section consists of the Almendra album, followed by some of the band's subsequent songs, under the title: "The singles that were and were not". It includes "Hermano perro", "Mestizo", "Toma el tren hacia el sur", "Jingle" and "Rutas argentinas". Sony BMG released the first European edition of the album in 2005, as a digipak CD. In 2015, Sony Music reissued fifteen classic albums of Argentine rock—including Almendra—in vinyl, respecting every detail of their original editions' packaging. ==Cover art==

The album cover, designed by Spinetta, shows a distressed man with his hair covered by a scarf and a tear running down his cheek; a toy arrow is stuck on his head, and he is wearing a pink shirt with the name of the band. Spinetta said, "We were not going to allow the record to be released without it. I had the picture in my head very clearly, and I went home and did it again. We did not want to leave things in the hands of mediocre company dudes that make album covers like [sausages]." Emilio García said in 2008 that the label thought most record buyers were women, and artwork should depict men as handsomely as possible: The inner sleeve describes each icon: • Eye: Songs sung by the Man of the Cover while he is unconscious in the void • Teardrop: Songs as bright as the thousand-year-old teardrop shed by the Man of the Cover • Toy arrow: Songs sung to the tear shed by the Man of the Cover by men tied to their destinies Emilio del Guercio said that the toy arrow represents absurdity and the teardrop sentimentality and melancholy. According to Argentine graphic artist Rep, the artwork conveys a grotesque, dramatic flavor and the feeling that the album should be taken seriously but not too seriously. ==Critical reception==

According to Eduardo Berti, the album received generally positive reviews, with Rodolfo Alchourrón's orchestral arrangement of "Laura va" universally acclaimed. However, journalist Diego Fischerman of Página/12 disagreed, writing in 2009: In 1968, what was later called rock was not in the newspapers. What's more, there was no criticism of popular music there. The pioneer, in that matter, was Jorge Andrés, in his articles for the magazine Análisis and, a little later, in the newspaper La Opinión. That is why when it is said, as in the brochure of the box that gathers all the production of Almendra, that "the critics approved them and the public adored them", it is a lie. The public was scarce and there was no criticism, if you discard what was published in [Pinap], which rather responded to modest press operations of the recording labels to impose that new product, the "beat music", which between 1968 and 1970 flooded the market. The rock magazine Pelo stated that "this album may be the synthesis of a new music emerging. A La Prensa review described it as "a thin melancholy," and it "[faces] its manifestation with the seriousness and depth of who wants to give a testimony of their world, a concern usually oblivious to young authors and performers." The magazine Gente was enthusiastic: "Did you already listen to the first LP by the group Almendra? Do not waste time, fool, because I assure you it is the best album of the beat genre produced in our country." Also from Gente, Cristina de Irala wrote in early 1970 that Almendra was "an authentic demonstration of talent, music and beauty." Journalist Margot de Kumec wrote in 1970 that "they proclaim in their creations a deepening in the essence of men", and praised their "poetry, melody and rhythm". A Clarín review of the album was harsh: "The lyrics of each track do not have an equal level, with the aggravation of being poorly fused with musical metrics." Spinetta said that much of his resentment of the press was born at that time, when he "realized that large magazines like Gente or Siete Días fabricated articles. They put what they wanted." In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Iván Adaime gave the album a five-star rating, calling it a masterpiece and writing that it "is great from the beginning till the end" and "not only one of the first Argentinean rock albums, but one of its best." ==Legacy==

Almendra is considered one of the most important records in the history of Latin American rock. It has been voted the most important record in Argentine rock history on various occasions. A July 1985 survey by journalist Carlos Polimeni for Clarín ranked Almendra as by far the greatest album in the history of Argentine rock music; respondents included local musicians Charly García, Gustavo Cerati of Soda Stereo, Celeste Carballo, Miguel Mateos, Alejandro Lerner and Raúl Porchetto, among others. In 2007, the Argentine edition of Rolling Stone ranked it sixth on its list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of National Rock". In 2006, the Latin alternative music magazine Al Borde ranked Almendra 10th on its list of the 250 Best Albums of Ibero-American rock. Spanish online newspaper Diariocrítico.com included the album in its 2016 feature of "The 20 Best Records of Argentina", with journalist Sergio Ariza Lázaro describing it as a masterpiece. Chilean newspaper La Tercera ranked Almendra thirteenth in its 2017 list of "The 20 Best Albums of Argentine Rock". "Muchacha (ojos de papel)" remains a symbol of the band and "an emblem of the social and individual conquests of the 1960s." It is now considered "the quintessential love song of rock nacional." The track was second on MTV and Rolling Stone Argentinas Top 100 Songs of Argentine Rock and Rock.com.ar's Top 100 Argentinean Songs of the Last 40 Years. Al Borde ranked the song 45th on its list of 500 Most Important Songs of Ibero-American Rock. The album had a seminal influence on Argentine rock. During the 1960s, a generation of musicians from the La Cueva bar on Avenida Pueyrredón was trying to reflect an everyday reality absent from popular music since the tango era. Called "progressive music" by journalists, the movement was catapulted by the commercial success of Los Gatos, the house band of La Cueva. The recognition of Los Gatos in 1967 paved the way for Almendra and Manal, "progressive music" bands that divided the musical panorama by synthesizing two sides of Buenos Aires, one sophisticated and one more linked to the tango. Audiences created a rivalry around the two, inspired by the Beatles and Rolling Stones rivalry, identifying Almendra as the former and Manal as the latter. Serious, artistic Spanish-language songs were unprecedented in the country. in a 1970 poster for Pelo magazine. While Los Gatos were mainly influenced by beat music, and Manal by the blues, Almendra made an impact with a uniqueness reflected in surreal lyrics and album art, as well as the lack of an article preceding their name (as did Manal). Charly García, also on the occasion of Spinetta's death, stated: "I can not describe the shock that Almendra's first album caused me. For me, "La balsa" was the originator of Argentine rock, but without a doubt, Luis Alberto and company were its architects." ==Track listing==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Almendra. ;Almendra • Luis Alberto Spinetta – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, rhythm guitar, harmonica • Emilio del Guercio – bass guitar, flute, vocals, backing vocals • Edelmiro Molinari – electric and acoustic guitars, lead guitar, bass guitar, organ, piano, backing vocals • Rodolfo García – drums, tambourine, jingle bell, whistling, backing vocals, percussive addition ;Guests • Pappo , Sam and "other Circus people" – backing vocals in "Figuración" • Santiago Giacobbe – organ in "Ana no duerme" • Rodolfo Alchourron – guitar, arrangements and conducting in "Laura va" ;Acknowledgements • Alicia Varadi – harp • Simón Zlotnik – viola • Bernardo Stalman – violin • Tito Mariano – glockenspiel • Walter Cironi – bassoon • Gustavo Bergalli – flugelhorn • Mario Tenreyro – French horn • Carlos Pompeyo – flute • Alberto Misrahi – bass clarinet • José Bragato – cello • Rodolfo Mederos – bandoneón • Óscar Figueroa – coordination ==See also==