PATRICIO REY Y SUS REDONDITOS DE RICOTA - Oktubre (1986)

Review by: Roland Bruynesteyn
Album assigned by: Charly Saenz

For some reason, this album sounded very much like Animals by Pink Floyd (with a touch of Run like hell), at least until the singer started singing Fuegos de Octubre. The singer takes some getting used to; he sounds like he’s constipated while being strangled.

 

The second song, Preso en mi ciudad, sounds on the one hand like quite generic late 70’s rock (a bit Gerry Rafferty, because of the saxes, some Survivor), but a little less pretentious, and on the other hand, for that very reason, quite outdated, as it was released in 1986. 

Música para Pastillas starts almost like Talking heads, but soon David Gilmour joins the conversation and tries to turn it into his song Young lust, as done by Crazy horse.

 

Yes, this is an album of the times, and it wears its influences on its sleeves. When you realize this album was released in 1986, you think: OK, apparently stuffing democracy for a decade or more slows down development in rock music as well. One cannot blame Raul Alfonsín for this music, like one cannot blame Yeltsin for Russian rock in 1992, but with hindsight, we have to be brutally honest: this would be good music in 1978, but it sounds quite irrelevant in 1986.

 

Is it bad? Not really, as Charly would never do that to me. Also, some tracks, like Motor Psico and especially Jijiji, sound very much of the 80’s: drumming sounds awful, as it should, and the sax gets dangerously close to Spandau Ballet territory, but the melodies are there, and the musical competence cannot be denied. Jijiji has some nervous singing in the verses (with nervous guitar as well), but the chorus is catchy and has something triumphant that screams Fuck the guerra sucia, we’re here to party!

 

And I realize: I can be snobbish from my high horse in the Netherlands, but then again:

• name one internationally, culturally relevant pop artist from the Netherlands, apart from one hit wonders like Venus, Radar love and Little green bag and a couple of DJ’s
• one should respect the steps the musical culture and music industry have to follow from the dark ages (or a period of stagnation) to the present
• this album, by this group, could actually be very important culturally, in Argentina, for people born in the early 70’s and I’m hardly qualified to judge the album from that perspective.

 

All this does not detract from the fact that the last track Ya Nadie va a Escuchar tu Remera is very silly…