Every time I play the fantastic "Why?" LP, I wonder how these guys managed to produce such a monumental album in the squalid Spain of 1970. Máquina's Why is nothing short of a minor miracle, starting with its fascinating, Dalí-esque cover.
Hailing from the Catalan scene of the late 1960s, known as the ‘Grup de folk’, the idea of forming a trio arose after its dissolution. After some changes, the line-up settled circumstantially with Jordi Batiste - vocals and bass, Enric Herrera - keyboards, Tapi - drums, and Luigi Cabanagh - guitar. There is a belief that Máquina were a quintet - because of the five members who appear on the back cover, but in reality they were a quartet, except that Batiste was called up for military service and Josep María París joined on guitar, with Luigi moving to bass.
And those five were the ones who recorded one of the most amazing albums ever produced on the Iberian Peninsula. It begins with “I Believe,” an instrumental track composed by París with hypnotic, gliding guitar, wisely supported by the rest of the band, which prepares us for the best.
The orgiastic 25 minutes of Why, a bacchanal of Hammond organ, fuzz and wah-wah guitars, and incandescent percussive rhythms, is a song that originally lasted three minutes and became a monstrous improvisation that you would never tire of listening to, where jazz the structure of the song clearly follows that style of music is married to progressive rock, with musicians in absolute top form.
The album closes with a song reminiscent of The Beatles, ‘Let Me Be Born’. In short, it doesn't matter that the language used, English, was a bit of a stretch and that after its release, the group began to fall apart with its constant stylistic ups and downs and numerous lineup changes. With a painfully short-lived existence, and almost without meaning to, a bunch of Catalan guys made history in our country...
by David Rodríguez Araujo
Tracks
1. I Believe (Josep Maria Paris) - 4:12
2. Why (Parts 1,2) (Josep Maria Paris, Lluis Cabanach, Enrice Herrera, Josep María Vilaseca Delgado, Jordi Batiste) - 24:45
3. Let Me Be Born (Jordi Batiste) - 3:07
4. Chains (Enrice Herrera) - 12:00
5. Thank You (Lluis Cabanach) - 3:12
6. Fragment Del Ier Temps De La Simfonia No 1 D' Enric Herrera (Enrice Herrera) - 5:39
7. Blues En Fa (Traditional) - 9:21
8. Thoughts Of You (Part 1) (Josep Maria Paris, Lluis Cabanach, Enrice Herrera, Josep María Vilaseca Delgado, Jordi Batiste) - 3:22
9. Thoughts Of You (Part 2) (Josep Maria Paris, Lluis Cabanach, Enrice Herrera, Josep María Vilaseca Delgado, Jordi Batiste) - 4:23
10.Look Away Our Happiness (Enrice Herrera, Jordi Batiste) - 2:53
11.Earth's Daughter (Enrice Herrera, Jordi Batiste) - 2:49
12.Lands Of Perfection (Enrice Herrera, Jordi Batiste) - 4:08
Maquina!
*Josep Maria Paris - Guitars
*Lluis Cabanach - Bass, Wah Wah Guitar
*Enrice Herrera - Keyboards
*Josep María Vilaseca Delgado - Drums
*Jordi Batiste - Vocals, Bass
*Santiago "Jacky" García - Drums (Track 12)
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