¿Es “Spanish Progressive Rock. Records from the seventies” of louis clemente The definitive reference book for the national and international collector of Spanish progressive rock? Or maybe the perfect guide to all the “non-commercial” and transgressive music that was released in the seventies? Or maybe it’s the best “sticker album” with all the covers of singles, EP’s, LP’s, books and magazines from that enlightened period of Spanish music?
Well, it’s actually all that and much more. An attractive and luxurious book with nearly four hundred pages of glossy, full-color coated paper, cover size 23x23cm and 3cm thick, with more than “1500 records and a lot of books and magazines” commented in a juicy and entertaining way. A book without prologues, without explanatory flaps, or personal biographies. Each chapter of the book corresponds to a year, that is, it is correctly ordered chronologically, although its title and subtitle contain some “deception”.
In relation to the title, the trick is that here the label of “progressive rock” is not limited, rather the other way around. And that is something that Luis Clemente admits when explaining to us on the back cover that: “this book delves into progressive rock and splashes around its margins… pop, soul, blues, folk, garage, psychedelia, jazz, funk, symphonic, punk, flamenco , hard rock, electronic,…”. So be warned, don’t be shocked when you see that, almost occasionally, groups like Tequila, Ramoncin o The Trapera del Río Band. Don’t worry, because next to them you will find all the released records (singles, EP’s and LP’s) of those bands that many imagine: Smash, Machine, Cerebrum, NHU, Storm, Attila, Bread and Liquorice, Magnet, Rubber and many more. But we insist on the fact that he is not focused on a single closed style or certain groups, but rather, through the records released in that period, he shows a broad musical vision with the intention of encouraging his listening.
The other “positive deception” is that the book is not limited to that golden decade of Spanish progressive music, but rather begins in the year 1966, highlighting the groups that, on the B-sides of their singles, hid musical jewels that “They came out of the commercial pot” as the author likes to say. Although yes, it was strictly cut in the year 79, leaving out emblematic bands like Tablet o Silvio and Luzbelbecause they published their records already started in the eighties.
“Spanish Progressive Rock. Records from the seventies” It is truly an encyclopedic work, in the best sense, and with a very daring layout. On each of its pages we find those reproductions of the covers of records, books and magazines, published at the time, or later, and which dealt with the subject. Along with them, some short reasoned and explanatory texts with very imaginative and ingenious titles. Although at first glance it may seem like a scattered collage, the distribution by pages and the layout are highly studied.
Through what Clemente tells us, we discover how that autochthonous progressive rock was taking shape, which although it drank mostly from psychedelia, British symphonic rock, jazz rock and experimental rock, here it had its own geographical idiosyncrasy. In Catalonia he opted more for jazz-rock and folk, in Madrid for urban rock and in Andalusia for a mix between psychedelia and flamenco rock. Discs by foreign musicians who recorded in Spain, as well as Spaniards who recorded abroad, are also included. Also, almost unintentionally and through these records, the careers of many bands and soloists are shown, how they have changed over time, whether it was training, style or even profession, going from musician to studio technician, or producer.
All this thanks to those short texts, which we affirm is already an author’s mark and that he has already used in other of his books. We are talking about Luis Clemente. Graduated in Information Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid in April 1983 and “music lover with a tendency towards progressive and flamenco” (this is how they referred to him in a text from the CCCB in Barcelona), and who has published, with this , twelve books already. including biographies of Kiko Venom, Blackleg y Trianaor recommendable studies such as “Watermarks. A history of flamenco fusions” o “The history of Sevillian rock”. It is true that his specialization is the world of flamenco in all possible imaginable aspects, but he had been preparing this book for many years. You can tell that it is done little by little and with special care on each page. In fact, he has invested a lot of time and money, since the book can only be purchased through his personal email: [email protected]
In short, a book that was needed to vindicate one of the most fertile periods of Spanish music and that is just as interesting for the lover of good music as for the “Disco Expres generation”, to which the author dedicates this book. . To close this review we have agreed with the author himself, a Spotify list with twenty-five songs from some of the most representative groups of this Spanish Progressive Rock. According to Clemente, that is precisely the original idea of this book, to become a listening guide.
