Flamenco - Flamenco (1973) [Reissue 2009]

The first Flamenco rock album I ever heard was Carmen's "Fandangos in Space". To date, it was the nearest I had heard for Flamenco to blend successfully within a rock idiom. The irony with Carmen was that none were Spanish! Others, such as Vega, Medina Azahara and Triana dabbled with the combination but the Flamenco always took a back seat, with the rock elements being most prominent and usually with some Jazz influence.

I'd heard about this album's existence some 10 or 15 years ago, I can't remember where, not even Dag Erik Asbjornsen mentions it in his magnum opus "Scented Gardens of the Mind". Well today I did some searching on the internet to try and find out if there was any likelihood of a digital copy and, low and behold, there was! It is plainly a needle-drop, although clicks and pops are few and far between. There is a little fuzziness in the sound - Hi-Fi it's not but overall quite acceptable. Musically it is sensational, quite the truest and most sympathetic blending of the great Flamenco format within a very solid rock structure. All the typical elements are present, especially the very idiosyncratic style of vocalisation but, thankfully, omitting the usual and constant hand-claps. There is even a pretty fair Santana pastiche. The band are very good with a solid and musical rhythm section.

There are 4 bonus tracks on the download, two being a 1976 single A and B. The additional tracks are not up to the standard of the album but still very good.