Alameda - Alameda (Reissue) (1979/1994)

This Spanish band is rooted in 1977 when four musicians met each other on the Conservatory Of Seville. They experimented with music in bands like Orquesta Union, Gong, Nuevos Tiempos and Tartessos and then decided to found their own group named Alameda. In 1979 the band was allowed to record a demo-tape in Ricardo Pachon his studio ("El Aljarafe"). Soon after Alameda went from company to company to find their luck with the demo. And they were lucky because CBS deputee Gonzalo Garcia Pelayo gave the band a contract. So Alameda got the opportunity to record their demo tape in the AudiFilm studio in Madrid with the help from Maximo Moreno, known for his work with Rock Andaluz legend Triana. In 1979, the same year that Triana released their third LP entitled "Sombra y Luz", Alameda released their eponymous debut album. Between 1979 and 1983 Alameda produced four studio albums, on their fourth entitled "Noche Andaluza" famous flamenco player Paco De Lucia joined the band on one track. The band split up in 1983 but in 1994 Alameda re-united. They released three studio-albums and one live-CD, a registration from their 20th Anniversay concert in 1999. In 2003 record company CBS released a very comprehensive 2-CD compilation from their early work between 1979 and 1983.

One of the bands that can be placed into the Andalusian Rock movement, more from a commercial point of view than from an actual one, because some of their members were from Madrid and others were sessionist. They were a commercial response to the success of other bands like Triana or Medina Azahara.. Closer to pop than Triana, this fact avoided a real appreciation among the prog public. Recently some of them have rejoined (Roca, the Marinelli brothers and Álvaro Girón) and I saw them even on T.V. In 1998. In "Noche Andaluza" had the collaboration of Paco de Lucía and in Dunas, Carles Benavent, Josep Kitflus and others. And in "Aire Cálido de Abril" were Enrique de Melchor (guitar), Tito Duarte and Javier Benet (percussion), José María Guzmán and Jesús Conde (vocals) helped José Manuel Iñesta