LITTO NEBBIA / リト・ネビア / MUERTE EN LA CATEDRAL / レコード

アルゼンチン音楽の巨匠リト・ネビア関連作が続々LP化。こちらはホルヘ・ゴンサレス、ネストル・アスタリタ、ロドルフォ・アルチョウロン、ベルナルド・バラフ、オスカル・モロといったアルゼンチンのビート / ガレージ、ジャズ・シーンの精鋭とともに録音した1973年リリース作品。ゲートフォールド・ジャケット仕様で作りも丁寧です。

HIGHLIGHTS
Muerte En La Catedral, following other four solo Litto Nebbia’s albums, and his –then, fifth work under the Huinca alias (also re-released now), is a consistent “outing” in his solo career. It has a progressive ambience shining through it as well as a liaison with Argentinian roots disposed with subtle lyricism.
In songs like El Revolver Es Un Hombre Legal and Mendigo De La Luna there’s a jazzy-pop dressing a la Chicago, If, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Rare Earth, which is a compliment to be taken seriously.
Señora Muerte works as an experimental space-folk. Vals De Mi Hogar, as a complex folk trip. The floating vocals arrangements of Despedida Del Trabajo Nro 2, wrap it up these special flavorured songs. Curiously, the trio have an exquisite Brazilian spice recalling directly Clube Da Esquina, the Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges masterpiece.
On the gigantic title track, the astute percussive organ meets guitar counterpoints, sounding perfectly like a cross of Terry Kath (Chicago) and Gary Green (Gentle Giant).
The bonus track – never included on its official vinyl release - Señora Vida recalls some of the best bits you can find on the - back then - contemporary Italian Prog; i.e. Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and PFM. Above all, a very solid album, concise in its delivery, and soul.
DESCRIPTION
Having over 100 albums under his belt, including soundtracks, full productions and colaborations, Félix Francisco Nebbia, as known as Litto Nebbia was born in Rosario, Santa Fé province, Argentina, in 1948. Aside of being a cult name and an artistic institution per se, he can easily displays a legendary status as his name appears in over 1200 songs!
As early as 1963, he was already playing guitar, and playing lo-key gigs. With his best friend Ciro Fogliatta he formed, in 1966, Los Gatos. The group became an overnight sensation, and it was, properly speaking, the first Argentinian rock band. On top of that, - and that’s not common at all in the South American fields - they composed most of their own songs. With Tanguito, a legend on his own, he wrote the emblematic La Balsa, which sold over 250,000 copies.
However, following many hassles with the current political upheavals back then, they split up in 1970. Nebbia began his solo career with a promising self-titled album. Up to 78, - when due to the dictatorship he was forced, finally, to seek exile in Mexico - he released some astonishing works, and for some critics and collectors, his most eclectic, profound and significant music ever.
In Mexico, he released successful albums like Canciones Para Cada Uno Volume 2 (Volume 1 was released when he was still in Argentina in 1977) in 1978. He returned to Argentina in 1981. During the whole decade he released more successful albums and established Melopea, his own company, a pioneer enterprise for discovering and recording upcoming talents as well as being a record label. As the Melopea boss, he got also, successfully, involved in discovering, arranging, producing and launching unreleased tango compositions from decades earlier. The album Nebbia Canta Cadícamo (1995), for example, a rediscovery of the seminal tango works of the talented Enrique Cadícamo is a highly praised release.
That aside, he has collaborated with well-regarded musicians as Cacho Tejera, Victor Biglione, Zé Renato, Domingo Cura, and Lito Vitale. Opening the new century, he launched three excellent tribute CDs to The Beatles, followed by an acclaimed Tributo Brian Wilson, celebrating the works of the Beach Boys main songwriter.
Another landmark occurred in 2007 when Los Gatos (even though without the deceased drummer Oscar Moro), were reunited for an acclaimed revival in 2007. Nebbia organized since then several anthologies of the Argentinian rock in 2010, and hosted a gathering of all respective legendary bands. Still active today, fairly recently he recorded Rodar, an album with the well know group Pez, revisiting some of his classic gems of his past.
Talking about it, and that’s why we are in here, he is also reissuing some of his most expressive albums, being Muerte En La Catedral and Melopea two of them. Welcome to the legendary world of Litto Nebbia!