I have heard Asfalto, Al Otro lado, Cronofobia and Corredor
De Fondo. Al Otro Lado is an incredible album and the only one I
would consider progressive. It is truly a gem of heavy guitar-oriented
progressive rock with excellent keys and vocals in Spanish.
Cronofobia and Corredor De Fondo are generic
mainstream rock and of no interest for prog fans. Their self-titled
debut, is not nearly as progressive as Al Otro Lado but has an
excellent 11 minute track. The rest of the album is unimpressive. Al
Otro Lado is out on CD, grab it.
Juan Joy
Asfalto was a very influenciating band with and a well reputated one,
even outside Spain, mainly during the late 70's and early 80's. The
band emerged in 1972, from the ashes of Tickets (were José
Luis Jiménez was playing). Their first self-titled CD, edited
by Chapa Records (Zafiro) contained tracks like "Rocinante" or
"Capitán Trueno", songs that belong to the personal history of
lots of rock fans. That record was a kind of rock occasionaly pop and
other times closer to symphonic rock, like sticking around, looking
an own sound. But, probably, "Capitán Trueno" is the most popular
song of the band.
Another touchstone of the in the Asfalto carreer was their concert
in London, in the famous Marquee Club (now closed) that had seen
lost of the most famosu band in rock history, That gig was so
important (even more in that time, taking into account the musical and
social spanish scene) that their second LP was plenty of pictures from
it!
In spite of the initial succes, a split is produced and half of the
band left (José Luis Jiménez y Lene Laina), and formed
Topo. Then, Jorge García
Banegas and José Ramón
Pérez came into the band. The first record with the new line-up
was out in 1979 named "Al Otro Lado". Although is fairly irregular, it
can be considered an album of progressive rock and contains some of
the most powerful symphonic rock done in that time, like "No
Está Solo" and "Al Otro Lado", although also tracks just looking
the audience like "Mujer de Plástico".
After releasing other albums like "Ahora" and "Déjalo
Así", troubles with Zafiro led then to organise their own label
in 83, "Snif", releasing "Más que una intención" (83), with a new
singer, Miguel Oñate. Their sound is getting away from
prog and getting closeer to power rock and pop, maybe according to
the market demands in the change of decade. They continued editing
material and playing successfully until 85. In that year there's
another singer change for Ricardo Benítez ("Richie",
ex-Express). They edited "Corredor de fondo", with a lower level.
Public starts decaying and they play as Rockorquesta, they coming back
like Asfalto, with a repertory from Asfalto and
Topo. Barrios dies
in 1992 and, after a tribute, Asfalto decided to back to the road again
with Cajide again on drums. Now they are still working.
(José Manuel Iñesta)
Disco en solitario de Julio Castejón:
El Corazón de la Manzana
Review of the record "Al Otro Lado" (in spanish)
Review of the record "Utopía" (in spanish)
The Spanish Progressive Rock Encyclopedia![[sorry]](/img/ar12.jpg)
dlsi.ua.es
and the entry will be updated. Thanks for your collaboration!
