Aguaturbia - Psychedelic Drugstore (1970)

En este show de resubidas de buenos discos chilenos ofrecida por Sandy, no podía faltar este clásico psicodélico con que los Aguaturbia rompieron varias cabezas oportunamente, una revolución musical, social y política plasmada en un álbum del cual quienes lo conocieron en su momento no se olvidan. Entrá al post y enterate, si no lo sabés, cómo fue esta movida porque les aseguro que fue de lo más sabrosa.

Artista: Aguaturbia
Álbum: Psychedelic Drugstore
Año: 1970
Género: Rock psicodélico
Duración: 53:02
Nacionalidad: Chile

Lista de Temas:
01. Somebody To Love
02. Erotica
03. Rollin' 'N' Tumblin'
04. Ah Ah Ah Ay
05. Crimson & Clover
06. Heartbreaker
07. Blues On The Westside
08. Waterfall
09. Evil
10. I Wonder Who
11. Aguaturbia

Alineación:
- Ricardo Briones / bajo
- Willi Cavada / batería
- Denise Corales / voz
- Carlos Corales / guitarras

Le llega el turno de la magia de las resubidas Sandinistas a los drogones jipones chilenos de Aguaturbia. Disfruten jipis! Otro regalito del blog sandinista cabezón!

No es tanto de mi agrado toda esta farmacia psicidélica, pero más que nada por el estilo porque el grupo realmente está muy bien. Aguaturbia, los legendarios y precursores del rock psicodélico de los 60´s en Chile y América Latina, encabezados por la luminosa Denise en la voz y Carlos Corales en guitarra han forjado una música de gran factura inspirada en figuras como Jimi Hendrix y Janis Joplin.
Ufff... y este disco es historia pura. ideal para los viejitos voladores que quieran recordar sus épocas de oro.
Veamos...

Psychedelic Drugstore es el tercer álbum oficial de la banda chilena de rock psicodélico Aguaturbia, fundada el año anterior y activa hasta 1974, y su primer álbum recopilatorio. Fue lanzado originalmente en 1996 en CD, siendo la primera vez que sus temas están en este formato, estando hasta entonces sólo como LP.
Las primeras cinco canciones pertenecen a su álbum debut Aguaturbia, elegido en abril de 2008 por la edición chilena de la revista Rolling Stone como el 41º mejor disco chileno de todos los tiempos,3 en tanto que las seis restantes pertenecen a su segundo disco, Aguaturbia, vol. 2.

Wikipedia

En el verano de 1970 sale a la venta el disco homónimo del grupo chileno de rock sicodélico Aguaturbia. Lo que fue toda una revolución en la época. Según tengo entendido, "Psychedelic Drugstore" es un disco publicado en Inglaterra en 1996 y contiene todos los temas de su primer disco homónimo, más algunos bonus tracks.

Muy pocos eran los guitarristas solidos latinoamericanos en esos años, este es uno de los pocos que podia tocar por 15 o 20 minutos sin perderse, con un batero realmente bueno, un buen bajo y una cantante loquisima, la cual hacia un show que dios me libre, a los mas jovenes, en latinoamerica siempre fuimos un paso atras, no habian instrumentos, por lo menos en Chile, no nos llegaba musica, esta solo se conseguia viajando y en esos años solo la gente con dinero podia hacerlo, asi que siempre que escuches algo de latinoamerica, escuchalo con otra perspectiva, este disco es una recopilacion de sus dos discos, algunos temas adolecen de magia, pero otros son de lo mas potente que se encuentra en sud america (grande trafic sound y sus bandas peruanas hermanas, quizas las mejores que produjo Latino america), para terminar John Ducan, el gutarrista de Five day week straw people, The Attack, Andromeda y Atomic Rooster, quedo sorprendido de la calidad de Carlos Corales, el guitarrista de Aguaturbia, pues segun el eran pocos los guitarras que podian tocar en esos años de manera tan limpia, creo que estoy aburriendo, esto lo escribo desde la ciudad de Hanoi, Vietnam. Saludos

Hugo Chavez-Smith / Antiguo editor de musica psychedelica, folk y progresiva

Dreams Fantasies & Nightmares:
Formed in May 1968, Aguaturbia are heralded as Chile's primary underground psychedelic band. Their debut album is now a megararity. It was recorded live in a simple four-track studio. Only 300 copies were pressed originally. It features a picture on the front cover showing the band sitting nude in a darkly lit room looking totally wasted! In a strict Catholic country this caused quite a stir, straight record shops refused to stock the record and the press and church both censored it. The only place you could buy it was in independent record shops. Considering that the "underground rock" scene in Chile was quite small, the record's rarity today is hardly surprising. The album begins with a wailin', bluesy cover of Jefferson Airplane's Somebody To Love with vocalist Denise striving to sound like Grace Slick. This earnt the band the title of "South American Jefferson Airplane". The band's guitarist Carlos Corales sounds superb and his skill is evident on the Je T'aime like Erotica and the ten-minute long mini-epic cover of Tommy James and The Shondells' Crimson And Clover, which again finds Denise in superb vocal form. Heartbreaker, Evol and Waterfall showcase Denise's vocals further, whilst Blues On The Westside is a bluesy instrumental to chill out to. Much of their material is heavy and raw with bursts of psych guitar, distortion and fuzz on tracks like Evol and Rollin' 'n' Tumblin'. The final title track is sung in Spanish.
Their second album, had an equally controversial cover, with their lead vocalist, Denise shown crucified. Like their debut it again failed to make the impact it deserved and the band split, with Carlos and Denise temporarily moving to New York in the U.S. in 1971, before returning in 1972 for a brief reunion. They played what was to be their last concert in the now long gone Lo Castillo Theatre.
In 1974, Carlos and Denise formed The Honeycomb Band, with Carlos later going into T.V., and Denise becoming a solo artist.

Oldish Psych and Prog

Aguaturbia is a Chilean band formed in 1968 and disbanded in 1972. "Psychedelic Drugstore" is actually a compilation of their two albums ("Aguaturbia" and "Volumen 2"). From what I found its release date is 1993 but I'm not sure about it. No matter what, these songs were recorded 40 years ago and they're still fuckin' brilliant.
I mean listen to "Rollin' n' Tumblin" and "Heartbreaker". Or "Waterfall". Absolutely excellent heavy blues rock in Blue Cheer's paths. Don't let female vocals mislead you that they're moving in softer waves. They're groovy, they have soul, they totally rock. In music's overall feeling you can see influences of what US psych scene has offered.
Indisputably they were one of the leading underground acts in South America's scene at this point and this is their testament which I believe you should check out.

Istar

I’m a fan of second-rate psych. The little known Aguaturbia, from Chile, is a basic, by-the-numbers, Cream & Frisco-influenced power trio… with a female lead. Frankly, they’re not all that good, but I’m mysteriously drawn to them anyway. You’ll hear plenty of familiar cues here, as if it was recorded while the radio was playing one day in 1969. Electric, blues-based trio jamming, plenty of wah, radio psych pop (“Somebody To Love,” a freaked out 10 minute version of “Crimson & Clover”), filler boogie (“Rollin’ & Tumblin‘”), a “Manic Depression” rip (“Ah Ah Ah Ay“) and even some soft-core erotica (“Erotica”) – complete with orgasmic writhing and a funky studio jam. Getting psyched yet? Psychedelic Drugstore is actually a compilation of the band’s first (and only?) two albums, Aguaturbia (1969) & Volumen 2 (1970), both recently re-issued on vinyl. Want the experience of hearing a new band in a friend-of-a-friend’s basement back in the late 60s again? Here you go.

Willard

Aguaturbia (or ‘murky waters’) were Chile’s premier underground rock band in the late 60s and early 70s, though their uncompromising attitude caused them to flee for the US in 1970, leaving behind two hyper-rare albums. This brilliant compilation gathers the best tracks from those LPs (original copies of which have changed hands for well into four figures). Taking in fuzz-drenched originals and covers of contemporary rock standards, their music combines the savage guitar work of Carlos Corales with the haunting vocals of his wife Denise to stunning effect, and is essential listening for all psych fans. Also included are historical sleevenotes.

The rare music shop

I already know that, apart from Peru, a communistic Chile was another South American country with an intensive and notable (marked with a 'revolutionary' frivolity, by the way!) hippie / Rock music movement in the second half of the 1960s and in the beginning of the 1970. Aguaturbia's only "Psychedelic Drugstore" album is my first acquaintance with the 'Rock music culture' of Chile.
I don't want to say that the songs, that feature the album's first part, are mediocre (let alone they're weak). All of the most interesting and progressive songs are, however, assembled in the second half of it, where there is the only quite accessible song - the last one, named same as the album. It must be said that both the less complex songs of the album are located on the opposite poles of it. So, can you guess right the title of the second (and last) accessible song? Sure, this is Somebody To Love, consisting of only two different themes - both vocally and instrumentally. Actually, these are just couplets and refrains, sung on the Hard Rock-ish instrumental background. There are no guitar solos on Somebody To Love, though the riffs of a guitar and especially vocal parts are more or less diverse. The last (title) track sounds just a little richer thanks to the acoustic guitar passages that appear in the second part of the song, while there are only two lead vocals, female and male, who sing in a Spanish manner on the background of monotonous beats of the hollow drum, in the first part. It's unknown who was that male vocalist, just once involved in singing the song, which, by the way, sounds by all means atypical for the album as a whole. The majority of the album's songs represent either Progressive Space Rock or a blend of proto-progressive Hard and Space Rock, and I can't say that a wonderful blues-y ballad Blues On the Westside is out of the band's original stylistics, marked (of course!) by the majority of the album's songs. It's more than a usual story when 'heavy' bands put a ballad among the other ('heavy') tracks. As I've mentioned already, proto-progressive compositions are assembled in the first half of the album, while the most interesting and progressive ones are in the second half. Each of the four tracks 2 to 5 contains a few of different instrumental and vocals themes, as well as instrumental arrangements where there are always original, diverse and virtuosic guitar solos play a prominent part. Actually, though, these always diverse, etc guitar riffs or solos always play a prominent role in all of the album's songs (i.e. just the album throughout, but this Russian writer still doesn't want to see any of tautologies in his sentences). Back to the said four tracks 2 to 5, even the album's longest track Crimson & Clover isn't too rich in progressive ingredients, though the (excellent) musicianship of each of the band members reached its peak exactly here. (Strangely enough, it seems to me that I am already familiar with at least one of the two main vocal parts of Crimson & Clover: fata morgana?). It must also be said, however, that, beginning with the album's opening track and up to and including Evol (track 9), each following track is at least slightly better than the previous one (not counting of a ballad, which is beautiful in its own way - in itself, though). The second song Erotica is full of Denise's very impressive erotic oh 'n' ah 'vocalizes', apart from just a few of real vocal parts. The latter, though, were sung with the same specific emotions, so I wonder why a very good heavy instrumental (track 4) was named as Ah ah ah ay: this would rather be a great sub-title for still the same Erotica. There also are just a few of vocal parts on Rolling 'n' Tumbling (track 3), but on the other hand, there are lots of wonderful powerful vocalizes that fit 'heavy' structures excellent. Along with Heartbreaker (track 6) starts a real Progressive Hard Rock with a lot of changes of themes, tempos and moods (in vocals), variegated large-scaled arrangements, Rock-ish fast and virtuosic solos and spacey fluid ones as well. Both Heartbreaker and Waterfall (track 8), apart from having all the necessary ingredients so as to sound very progressive, are also characterized with such incredible things as sudden (yet gradual, which is especially amazing) accelerations and decelerations of tempos, as well as 'falls' into different musical dimensions. Despite the fact that I Wonder Who (track 10) is a short song, there is enough of progressive diversity. I am especially impressed by a very inventive contrast between the fast, on the whole, tempo of the song and slow and plangent singing of Denise. Evol (track 9), the most complex and incredibly progressive composition (killer, by all means), is a peak of the band's evolution with regard to this album, whereas if the album as a whole would sound in the vein of the polar songs, it would be just an evilution. (This way, all the political (i.e. bloody!) revolutions must actually sound just as revilutions.) While the Two of the rhythm section work effective and impressive always on the album, the main "Psychedelic Drugstore" heroes are, however, unique singer-chameleon Denise (whose English is excellent: at least for these Russian ears) and guitarist-virtuoso Carlos Corales. Having probably the whole three octaves in her vocal diapason, Denise shines the album throughout, whereas the work of Carlos's guitar, as well as really remarkable instrumental arrangements with his guitar's riffs, moves and solos at the head of them (I guess Carlos is the main composer of "Psychedelic Drugstore") became noticeable beginning with the fourth track and really excellent - beginning with the sixth one.
Summary: According to the Gibraltar EPR, Aguaturbia's music represents the 'psych' with wild 'wah-wah' guitar solos and great female vocals. While I agree with both the latter points absolutely, the band's stylistics has, in my view, just a little to do with real psychedelic music. It is not easy to make out the elements of it there even through a 'prism' of the album's specific title. At the Down of the Genre and Rock Music in general 'psych', along with Progressive, was one of the main musical constituents of the great Pink Floyd, as well as Clear Blue Sky and Hawkwind (apart from such real psych-makers as early Amon Duul II, Can, etc). I regard the music of Aguaturbia as one of the early manifestations of Progressive's Space Rock sub-genre: it is well known that the real Space Rock is, on the whole, quite heavy music. Not as progressive as the debut album of the Space Rock pioneers Clear Blue Sky*, Aguaturbia's "Psychedelic Drugstore" is, nevertheless, not only one of the best Space Rock albums. along with *"Out of the Blue", this is one of the most innovative and unique albums ever created within the frame of the sub-genre

Progressor

Uno de los más conocidos y controversiales grupos chilenos (desde que en 1970 lanzaron su primer álbum "Aguaturbia 1" crearon polémica ya que en la tapa del disco sus integrantes aparecían desnudos - ¡HAGGGG! drogones y excibicionistas!- mientras que en el segundo disco "Aguaturbia 2" sacaron una portada inspirada en el Cristo de San Juan de la Cruz, de Dalí, pero con Denisse crucificada, lo que se tomó como un gesto desafiante para la época -locos locos-). Este grupo provocador y escandaloso ponen toda su humareda en el asador en un muy buen álbum de psicodélica magia con más vuelo que todo el contenido de la cadena Farmacity juntos.