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Hey there everyone! Thanks for giving the newsletter a click. We hope we find you all well and enjoying your summer, or winter, depending on where in the world you are tuning in from. In the northern hemisphere and certainly in our neck of the woods here in North Carolina, it has been hotter than the devil’s greenhouse. Global warming much? So, if you have been sweltering and suffering like us, we hope that you are doing okay and keeping cool and hydrated. Talking of hydration breaks, the World Cup just finished and I am feeling a little of the post tournament blues, which I always do. It becomes all-consuming for the month and a half it’s on, and part of the daily routine, so when it finishes, I feel a void. Ha. Not really, but kind of. For those of you who couldn’t care less about football or sport in general, I apologize for mentioning it here in a “music focused newsletter” and ask for your indulgence. I won’t give too much commentary on the tournament and whether certain things were right or wrong, and certainly a lot was wrong, particularly from the FIFA leadership and their buddies in the White House, but at the end of the day I was happy that Spain won. They deserved it and won it fairly. Of course, it would have been incredible to see England go all the way, but they did great and gave the tournament one of the best games with their win against Mexico and then the third-place goal fest with France, which meant that they returned as World Cup bronze medal winners. Everyone on (almost) all the teams competing should be very proud of themselves. Clearly the whole world was cheering for Spain and in a Star Wars-like moment, the rebellion won over the evil empire. Just like for those who like to wear red caps, the whole world got to see who they really are and what they are about, and we don’t like it. Being classless, racist, cheating, whining thugs will only get you so far, but eventually you’ll be beaten and then all you’ll be left with is your forever ruined reputation. As Nelson from The Simpsons says so poetically, Ha! Ha!
For my “pick” this newsletter go-around I am going to select an artist from Spain. Not a contemporary one, I admit, but a group that existed at the tail end of the 1960s and into the early 1970s. Their name is Maquina! They were from Barcelona and formed in early 1969, coming out of the city’s “Folk Group” scene. Along with a group called Smash, from Sevilla, they are considered the first of the Spanish progressive rock groups and had a huge impact on the scene at the time and their influence is still being felt. The group existed for just three years and released a half dozen singles, one studio album, and a live album during their time. As with many groups in Spain, the dreaded military service got to them and members were forced to leave to join the army at various points, forcing band members to switch instruments and new recruits to join. Obviously not the best conditions for a group to thrive under.
The studio album they recorded is called Why? And was first released in 1970. The cover art is quite distinctive, featuring an old fob watch pressed into a croissant against an all-white background. The album since became known alternatively as the “Croissant” album. Apparently, it received praise from Salvador Dali himself. Whether he just liked the cover or the music as well is not clear, but the band deliberately referenced Dali with the use of the watch, resembling as it does the artist’s famous melting watches paintings.
The album has just four tracks, with the title track “Why” taking up twenty-five minutes and being split into two parts across the two sides of vinyl. The band are a four-piece—guitar, bass, drums and organ—and draw from the progressive jazz and rock sounds coming out of England and America at the time. Because of the Hammond organ, fans of Brian Auger might find they’ll enjoy the style of music on Why. In addition to the organ grooves, there are killer bursts of fuzz guitar, which make the record so memorable. The band also chose to sing in English, believing they should aim to have international appeal.
Reading the liner notes to the reissue that I have of the album, it is clear that there was a big power dynamic within the band and somewhat differing opinions on what the influences and direction should be. Interestingly, because of the changes in personnel due to military service and friction between the two leading factions, there at one point ended up being two versions of the group existing with vastly different musical ideas. What resulted was that the group that continued the Maquina! name was a very different group than the progressive, psychedelic one that first came into the public eye. They ended up being more of a jazz-rock, horn-rock group and were even mocked by the Spanish music press, who called them the Spanish Chicago. Not high praise. Although, in their defense, I don’t think they are that bad, just very different from those early singles and the album.
Before they split for good, a live album was released in 1972 and later some unreleased tracks. The reissue label Wah Wah Records in Barcelona did a nice job of the album Why, which I have, and they also reissued the live album En Directo, complete with even more additional unreleased tracks. Furthermore, they issued a nice double LP compilation of the singles and other odds and ends, including alternate versions of tracks from Why. There’s some cool music to be discovered on here. The booklet included with these reissues has tons of photos and clippings with extensive liner notes in both Spanish and English. A job well done by the label and I would thoroughly recommend you checking out Maquina! and many of the other groups from the 1970s Spanish underground if prog and psych rock is your thing.
Okay, I’m going to leave it there. Thanks for reading. Thanks for your continued support and once again, congratulations to Spain. Viva La Roja!
Cheers- Dom