Vox Dei - 1972 - Cuero Caliente

Vox Dei

1972

Cuero Caliente

01. El Regreso Del Dr. Jekill 5:15

02. Reflejos Tuyos Y Míos 4:44

03. Azúcar Amarga 3:32

04. El Momento En Que Estás (Presente) 3:32

05. A Nadie Le Interesa Si Quedás Atrás (Total Qué...) 3:12

06. Canción Para Una Mujer Que No Está 4:12

07. Compulsión 4:45

08. Tan Sólo Estás Recordándome (Cuero) 5:11

Bonus Track

09. Donde Has Estado Todo Este Tiempo 4:46

10. Tan Solo Un Hombre 4:32

Bonus Tracks are from Dónde Has Estado Todo Este Tiempo, 1971 Single.

Bass – Willy Quiroga

Drums – Rubén Basoalto

Guitar – Ricardo Soulé

Recorded 1971 - Nov 21, 1972

Though this contains many titles originally found on their first album, I don't think I would go so far as to call this a re-make of that album. The track list is in a different order, and since I haven't heard their first, I can't comment on the differences between the two versions. But I can only imagine a substantial difference nonetheless. Content-wise, this is heavy metal style hard rock, with some boogie blues mat'l, somewhat inconsistent, but overall very good

Rara avis, even for the Argentine rock scene, Vox Dei were formed as far back as 1967 in Quilmes, a remote suburban area of the Greater Buenos Aires.

Their career was marked by anomaly almost from the start: after a weak, poorly produced, 60s-sounding debut LP released in 1970 ("Caliente"), they came up with an ambitious rock opera, "La Biblia", which sold over one million copies, not bad for the second album of an Argie rock band.

In 1972 they re-recorded that first LP with a more straightforward, rocking sound, and marketed the record with a pirate flag on the cover: "Cuero caliente".

Despite the raw production quality and being a partial re-recording, this album is graced with great songs, and signals a definitive stylistic departure for the band, compared with the primitive sound of "La Biblia" and the prominently acoustic "Jeremías, pies de plomo".

"El regreso del Dr. Jekill" channels Black Sabbath's nefand heavy rock sound with a horrific end, haunted by the phantasma. "Reflejos tuyos y míos" -sung by drummer Rubén Basoalto- is a gritty crossover between Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad, while "Azúcar amarga" comes like a more standard blues rock tune.

"El momento en que estás (presente)" closes side one, a gorgeous ballad which turned out to be one of the most popular songs of the band.

"A nadie le interesa si quedás atrás (total qué...)" and "Tan solo estás recordándome (cuero)" bring that Sabbath feel back, thanks to Willie Quiroga's groovier-than-life bass and Ricardo Soulé's potent riffdom, perfectly backed by R. Basoalto's somewhat jazzy drums.

The Beatles-esque ballad "Canción para una mujer que no está", and W. Quiroga's bluesy heavy rock "Compulsión" complete "Cuero caliente": such a brilliant hard rock LP and an archetypal testimony of Argentine rock from the 70s: its flaws, its idiosyncrasies, its zeitgeist.