Free games for May

Pink Floyd - Relics - 1971

In a way, it makes a lot of sense that this slightly weird, but brilliant, compilation was released when it did. The real reason for its release was quite prosaic: they were going to record their following album, Meddle, and still they didn't have any material for it. So the record company, desperate for an album, came up with this compilation.
But now that I listen to this one again in chronological order, it seems to me that this is like a sort of "hinge" between the before and after in the history of Pink Floyd. In a way, it serves as a sort of good-bye to the old songs, and what an awesome good-bye this one is!
Part of the album is songs that had already been released in the first three albums by the band, and while they're all great tracks, I wouldn't be even talking about the album just because of them.
What I find quite amazing are the other tracks: some of them were singles (remember the 1960s? Those weird old days in which singles would hardly ever make it into an album), some side B's to singles, and one previously unreleased track, "Biding my Time", which is actually one of my favourite tracks in the album.
But there's a lot of good here, from the old singles from the Syd Barrett's days, to the newer tracks, all of the previously unreleased tracks are awesome, which is refreshing and surprising, especially taking into account how uneven their latest releases had been.
I've loved this album forever, and I hadn't actually listened to it in years. In context, it's even better now than ever.

• The opening track, "Arnold Layne" is one of the two tracks by Barrett that hadn't been in any previous album. The other is "See Emily Play". Both are amazing songs, and I understand they were singles. I still think it's a shame they never made it to the debut album.
• Roger Waters wrote "Julia Dream", a side B to a single from 1968. It's a beautiful melodic song which was the first one to feature Gilmour in vocals.
• "Julia Dream" contains the line "am I really dying", which would appear again years later in "Mother", from The Wall.
• This album features "Careful with that Axe, Eugene", which while hadn't been in any album in this version, it appeared in the live disc of Ummagumma. It's also one of the strangest titles ever.
• As I said, probably my favourite track here is "Biding my Time", not necessarily because it's the best track, but because of how unusual it is for Pink Floyd, with its jazzy feel. That's why I decided it's the video I'm going to share.
• BTW,  the image above is of the cover as it was when I got the album. Some future releases show the actual machine that someone built from the model. The original one is one of my "someone should turn this into a coloring book" ones. 

Cuando todo era nada, era nada era el Principio

Vox Dei - La Biblia - 1971

It's extremely difficult for me to talk about this album. It was such a huge album for us, not only because of the sheer ambition of the project, a double album of progressive rock about The Bible, but also because it gained such popularity among young people, that it would have been hard to find a situation during the 70s, 80s and even 90s, in which teenagers and young people were gathered and that some of the tracks here were not sung, as long as someone had a guitar. 

Vox Dei was a band formed in Argentina in 1967, and they are considered one of the foundational bands of our rock. After a lot of changes in lineups, they are still currently playing, although they haven't released any albums since 2005, and this album is arguably their best known recording. 

Musically, I think this one could be categorised as hard progressive, with some longer tracks featuring quite a bit of guitar solos, distortion, and prog jams. I actually find the longer tracks both interesting and overlong. There is also mellower tracks, with acoustic guitars and a more folk vibe. The production feels a bit lacking, when compared to international contemporary albums, but it's still quite good. 

While probably a bit pretentious, and slightly long for my taste, this one is a classic, and and album I would not be willing to part with, even when I don't listen to it in full too often. And at its best moments, this album really shines.

• The album apparently was originally released in a hurry, and the order in which two of the tracks appeared was inverted. What I had never realised is that my digital version also has the same problem, with "Libros Sapienciales" and "Profecia" having their tags swapped. It confused me a lot while listening to it.
• The biggest singalong classics I referred to earlier were "Genesis" and "Libros Sapienciales". They still sound great today, and together with "Cristo: Muerte y Resurrecion", they are my favourite tracks. 
• "Apocalipsis", which is, of course, the closing track, is another brilliant tune. In my version, it is fully instrumental, but apparently later releases had lyrics. We clearly had some organisation issues (and I guess we still have).

You and I are yesterday answers

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an Exhibition - 1971

This is one of the albums that I got back then for no other reason than pure snobbery, I guess. 

You know, a rock band doing classical music! Of course I had to get it. 

In a way, I think this manages to fail a bit, both as a rock album, and as a classical one. 

I'm really not too familiar with Tchaikovsky's work, but the little I remember is better than this. 

It's a shame, because the parts that I like the best are actually ELP's songs, and not variations on the classical piece. 

So I'm just going to put the only song I really liked when listening to this one again, "The Sage", an ELP original

Random thoughts

• I mentioned the cover of Relics as a good colouring book. Actually, I remember that when I bought the album, I got myself the biggest cardboard I could find, and drew the whole thing longhand, and then painted it in watercolours, if I remember correctly.