The story of Charly García’s best live album, which almost no one knows

Due to legal vagaries, red tape, lawsuits and record company problems, there is an album of Charlie Garcia that not everyone knows and this it could very well be the best of a discography full of unique gems which made him number one in Argentine rock.

Is called Soul music and it’s like García’s Eternal Bands. Because just as Spinetta brought together all his groups (Almendra, Pescado, Invisible, Jade) in the same show and toured his entire career in Vélez, Charly brought together at Luna Park Sui Generis, The Bird Making Machine, by SuiGieco and a first sketch of what it would be Seru Giran.

It is Charly’s first solo album.recorded five years before his famous official debut with the double From the bed to the living room / Angelic pubis which he presented live at Ferro ’82.

However Soul music It was only published in 1980 and So far it has not been reissued on vinyl.. In between were two CD versions, one with a plastic DVD case and the other with a cardboard cover. Decidedly: It was not available in physical formatalthough it is now on YouTube and digital platforms.

The origin of the concert

In September 1977, Charly García announced the separation of his group La Maquina de Hace Pájaros and stated in the magazine Expreso Imaginario that “I’ll put on a monster recital at Luna Park and I will go to Brazil immediately.”

At that time, the place with the greatest attendance was the Corrientes and Bouchard boxing stadium. No one imagined that local rock could fill a soccer field or that García would make two Rivers in 1992.

A month later, Charly himself designed an advert to be published in rock magazines. He titled the show “Charly García, pianist and friend” and announced the date: November 11th.

García’s idea was to form a kind of stable gang David Lebon and two former members of Crucis: the bassist José Luis Fernandez and the Uruguayan drummer Gonzalo Farrugia.

All three would be part of the new group that Charly wanted to put together in Brazil, which would later be known as Seru Giran. But it couldn’t be: Fernández ended up in Los Angeles and Farrugia in Mexico. In the end Charly went to Buzios alone with Lebón, and after a while Pedro Aznar and Oscar Moro joined him in the recording studio in San Pablo.

The guest list for Luna Park would allow Charly to recreate his previous bands live, because Sui Géneris would be Nito Mestreconsulted by PorSuiGieco María Rosa Yorio, León Gieco AND Raul Porchettoand from La Macchina a Oscar Moro AND Gustavo Bazterrica.

They too joined Gustavo Santaolalla with Mónica Campins, Golo Cavoti, Juan Rodríguez, Pino Marrone AND Aníbal Kerpel. A true Heart team of musicians who revolve around the guest, with a quantity and quality never seen in Argentine rocksurpassed only by Spinetta’s gigantic Bandas Eternas in 2009.

The technical problems

Charly’s plan was to record the recital and immediately release a double live album, which would allow him to raise an advance on royalties to finance his travel and stay in Brazil. But there were all kinds of technical hiccups and the album was only released in 1980, with abundant studio re-recordings.

Basically, the recording was terrible and many songs were re-recorded in the studio. It was also broadcast on the radio on Juan Alberto Badía’s program and many fans made pirated recordings during the show.

With all that material available, in addition to the 13 songs on the album, collectors have reconstructed the entire show and it is available on fan sites across the web. According to the historian, writer and collector Roque Di Pietro it lasted 3 hours and 23 minutes.

Second the text that Charly wrote by hand on the inner sleeve, “This album was ready a month after the so-called ‘Festival of Love’ in November ’77. Some songs were re-recorded at Ion Studios, the more ‘live’ ones, due to those four or so hours of music (between tape changes, pairings, etc.) something has been lost.”

And he adds: “What remains here are songs by different authors and very similar at the same time, some of these sung for years, others created specifically for that occasion.”

Important fact: this reissue is possible thanks to the initiative of the National Institute of Music (INAMU), which managed to recover the catalog of the Music Hall label. The edition was done together with DBN.

Why is it Charly’s best album?

Soul music shows one of the best Charly García of all timeas dazzling as Serí Girán’s most pop stage and as shocking as the sound redesign moment of Modern clicks and the rock of piano bar.

The two-tone is more inspired than ever, singing and playing with La Maquina’s full arsenal of synthesizers and showing off his unique style of playing the electric piano. And with so many musicians and possibilities, it ranges from the best progressive rock to the folk vocal arrangements of his beloved Crosby Stills & Nash, typical of his time with PorSuiGieco.

The beginning is a 100% García piano performance in called improvisation Variations on the music of the soul. Immediately his future partner David Lebón appears and the two shine Two golden buildings AND Bad blooded man.

Side A of Disc 1 ends with more piano so characteristic of Charly, who now accompanies Raúl Porchetto Sitting on the threshold of God.

Side B opens with another tone, more explosive and equally extraordinary: a funk masterclass for an unrecognizable version of The Canterville Ghost. Rarely have you heard a live band that sounded so powerful.

Then comes León with an obvious studio re-recording The sweet promises (later recorded on a solo album as a little understanding), the first voice of María Rosa The wine was running out and an ethereal David in his Devotees theme dedicated to Guru Maharaji.

Another highlight of the album is the song that covers the entire A side of the B disc: a long jam of Tickets, passes and membershipsfull of solos and the virtuosity typical of those years.

Sui Generis arrives with an unreleased song that begins the B side: Gabby (composed by Pipi Correa and Carlos Piégari, members of the first Sui), with Nito and Charly unleashing each other and the piano playing at full volume. They continue with the heist welcome to the train and the closing is with improvisation jam in the studio and the album’s title track.

This double vinyl It is an authentic tour de force of the 1977 García universewhen he had already achieved absolute fame with Sui, he recorded with his friends in PorSuiGieco and gave free rein to progressive rock with La Maquina de Hace Pájaros.

You might say he’s at his best, except we all know he later had many more “best moments” in his career.

Tail

I remember that I came across this album almost by accident. I was bored at a party at a high school friend’s house and wandered into the room of his brother, future DJ and producer Tuti Gianakis. I leafed through their records, I looked at the covers and in the middle I found a Pelo magazine, where inside there was the announcement announcing the launch of Soul music.

At that point the only thing I knew about so-called “national rock” was a TDK cassette The fat of the capitals by Serú Giran. I thought this double album of “Charly y Amigos” would be a good second taste, given the wide variety of musicians and bands. A few days later I bought it. I’ve heard it so many times it feels like I have it tattooed on my foot.L. And he awakened in me an unspeakable passion for Argentine rock.