From the archives of Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia, Vampisoul has released some magnificent lost South American classics
South America’s football hopefuls may have disappointed at the World Cup, but on the musical heritage front the continent appears stronger than ever, thanks in part to some stunning reissues from the Vampisoul label.
Whether it’s the Venezuelan psychedelic rock of Spiteri, the jazz-rock fusion of Argentina’s Rodolfo Alchourrón or the African-influenced funk and soul of Colombia’s seminal Disco-Fuentes label, lost treasures abound for almost everyone’s taste.
Fans of late Sixties pysch-rock will rejoice at the recent reissue of Spiteri by the Venezuelan band of the same name.
Recorded in London in 1973, this reissued album is the only recorded output of what many view as one of South America’s most important rock groups.
The story begins with two brothers, Charles and Jorge Spiteri, who decided to move from Caracas to London at the start of the Seventies to try their luck as musicians. The brothers, who loved British psych-rock band Traffic, coincidently hooked up with Steve Winwood’s brother, Mervin, who introduced them to London’s swinging music scene.
By 1973 they had met fellow Venezuelans in London and their plan to record a Latin fusion-rock album was executed in fine style.
As foreigners in the United Kingdom, their gigs were often illegal, clandestine affairs and the band eventually disbanded before performing together on their home soil.
The 19 mesmerising tracks on this reissue suggest that Spiteri were a great loss to early Seventies psych-rock — one listen to the eight-minute Soul Inside will confirm this.
The first 11 tracks are from the original album and the eight bonus tracks on offer include unreleased tracks, demo recordings and a great recording of Winwood’s I’m a Man.
Santana, eat your heart out.
Another early Seventies reissue from Vampisoul is Rodolfo Alchourrón’s Sanata y Clarification.
In 1972 and 1974 Alchourrón and a host of Argentinian musicians recorded two volumes of jazz-rock odysseys titled Sanata y Clarification.
Argentinian guitarist, composer and arranger Alchourrón had founded and directed many Argentinian groups in the Sixties, but it was the band featured on these recordings that really made an impression and represented his first recorded material.
Made up of top-level musicians, the band proposed a musical interchange between jazz and rock, an unusual proposition in Argentina at that time.
Opening with the explosive 12-minute Clarification, it is clear that these Argentinians were channelling something special.
Alchourrón’s fuzz-guitar work on the 10-minute Pajaros Sueltos is sublime and the accompanying work from Santiago Giacobbe on keyboards is worth a mention too.
One can only hope that Vampisoul has more of Alchourrón’s recorded output up its sleeve because all fans of jazz-fusion should sample these two beautiful records.
The last but definitely not the least of Vampisoul’s recent South American releases is a double-disc compilation titled The Afrosound of Colombia Vol 1, which features 43 tracks from the Sixties and Seventies golden period of the seminal Colombian label Disco Fuentes. It includes some cracking examples of the salsa, cumbia, boogaloo and tropical funk genres. According to the album’s liner notes, which were written by Pablo Yglesias (also known as DJ Bongohead), “the Afrosound of Columbia sings of a double diaspora, first the trek in chains during the infamous middle passage from the Motherland of Africa to the so-called New World, then much later, the migration from the plantations to the cities.
“The tracks on this compilation were chosen from the Discos Fuentes archives because they are fun, funky, unexpected, crazy, hot,” says Yglesias. “The unifying factor for the collection is that the tracks all have something to do with African roots or influences in one way or another and they mark a period of sonic experimentation, self-expression, upheaval, rebellion and rebirth in the industry, nurtured by Discos Fuentes and its stable of musicians, producers and engineers.”
This double-disc compilation is jam-packed with funk monsters and will leave many parties heaving until the early hours of the morning.