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LP
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MR 474LP
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Paloma Mensajera (featuring members of New Juggler Sound/Laghonia) shows the shift that was taking place within Peruvian rock away from psych and hard rock which had predominated during the early '70s. The style adopted by Grupo Amigos (and other bands and artists during this period) highlights the influence of soft rock, UK, US and Latin American folk rock and, above all, the desire to keep the melodic greatness of The Beatles alive. The positive reception albums by artists such as We All Together, Telegraph Avenue, and Zulu garnered between 1972 and 1975, marked a change of paradigm and in preferences within the Peruvian rock scene. Eclecticism gained new ground, to the detriment of the sectarian and orthodox, while melody grew more present and visible, moving away from the progressive experimentation that typified underground Peruvian rock up to the beginning of the '70s. For their first single on MAG, included on this reissue, the band adopted a formula in which Beatles harmonies converged symmetrically with folk motifs. "Dirty Girl" was a hit on the radio. A full album followed but only a fairly small number of copies of the album were pressed, which seems to have been the main reason for omitting it from the historical accounts of Peruvian rock music from the late '90s onwards. In Paloma Mensajera all compositions were penned by the group, after several years during which cover versions were a staple. Some of the musical resources that the band had at their disposal in terms of composition and arrangements are striking and even surprising, considering that they were a debut band, whose members were under the age of 20. The arrangements included the clever use of a Moog synthesizer which had just arrived at the MAG studio. The success achieved by the Beatles tribute performances played by the members of Grupo Amigos for decades have eclipsed the songs that Edmundo, Andrés Da Ros, and Simón Ames composed with youthful enthusiasm and energy between 1972 and 1973 to the point where they have almost been forgotten. This re-release of Paloma Mensajera should help rectify this major injustice. It includes bonus tracks and extensive liner notes.
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CD
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GUESS 016CD
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Originally released as a demo pressing in 1973, Paloma Mensajera by Peruvian band Grupo Amigos is without doubt one of the rarest albums from the South American psych scene. Only a handful of copies were pressed for the band members and needless to say, an original copy is impossible to find now. The band was formed by some long-time friends of Saúl and Manuel Cornejo, both from legendary Peruvian bands Laghonia and We All Together. Manuel Cornejo played drums on the album recordings and Saúl was the session engineer. Influenced by groups like The Beatles, The Byrds, The Stones, Badfinger, Shakers and of course Laghonia and We All Together, the music ranges from terrific guitar psych-rock like "Dirty Girl" (which sounds like an outtake from Laghonia's first album) to British sounding pop-psych ("Mr. Taylor's Train," "Psychiatrist") harmony pop á la Byrds on "Looking for Home," a few rockin' tunes and some beautiful mid-tempos which show their We All Together influence. They alternate between English and Spanish in their lyrics. On this Guerssen reissue, you'll find the complete recordings of Grupo Amigos, including their only album and a killer non-LP 45 recorded the same year. Features a booklet with liner notes and rare pictures, and Guerssen's usual carton slimcase. Taken from the original master tapes.
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