LIMONADA – CAMBIAR LA ROSA Limonada was started by Walter Cambon (guitar and vocals) and Jose Luis Sosa (drums) after El Kinto dissolved. It was very much a continuation of that group’s activity, mixing sunshine pop and psychedelia with the Uruguayan candombe tradition. Again it’s hard to resist drawing comparisons with what the tropicalia crowd was doing in Brazil. Limonada (and you can place the emphasis on the Nada part of the name, meaning nothing!) recorded just the one LP in 1970. It’s a fantastic record, and was actually an instant success in Uruguay. For whatever reason Limonada did not cash-in on the popularity of the LP, and waited a good year or so before playing any live shows, breaking up shortly afterwards. The Limonada LP is arguably the first concept LP in the history of Uruguayan rock, and the record has all sorts of surreal spoken links and asides which might just suggest the group was more than familiar with the Small Faces. The sound, however, will appeal enormously to fan of Os Mutantes’ debut.
OPUS ALFA – TANGUEZ This is where you find the influence of the heavier, progressive sound making its impact. Opus Alfa, released just the one LP, but that was far from a conventional rock LP for 1972. Around half of the tracks are pretty special, and Tanguez is particularly appealing with its cyclical organ-led rhythmic motif that to these untutored could easily be reminiscent of tango dramatics. Jesus Figueroa’s vocals are suitably emotive and histrionic.
GENESIS – NOSOTROS HOY Genesis was another group that ostensibly should be a hard rockin’ outfit very much of its time, but again on the group’s only LP (a 1972 release) the songs and production take all sorts of strange detours. From the little I have read about the group, The Who and Hendrix are the usual reference points, but the wonderfully complex, jazzy lightness of Nosotros Hoy, which is featured here, suggests more of a fondness for the West Coast sounds of Love and The Doors.