Aquelarre - Brumas. 1974 Argentina

Brumas is the 3rd album from Aquelarre, a band from Argentina that mirrors what was going on in Italy at the time. For those deep divers of Italian progressive rock, they'll know that the basis of some of the albums were singer-songwriter/romantic romps with long stretches of heavy instrumental rock thrown in at either predictable - or better - unpredictable times. And that's precisely what you get here. There are no head turning and flashy breaks here, so it's definitely workman like in its approach. Final track adds a nice jazzy touch to the above formula. A good album, borderline 3.0-3.5 (Gnosis 9-10), but giving the nod as the longer tracks are, as expected, more interesting. Satisfying overall, but not stellar.

Ownership: CD: 1997 Microfon/Sony. Standard jewel box release with booklet. Recent online acquisition (2016). Master tapes sound (with some hiss), with reprinted lyrics. Also has two bonus tracks from a 45 single. The first one is similar to the album proper while the latter is a throwaway pop number. Removed from collection after revisit (2023).

1/1/16 (new entry); 11/15/23