Pappo's Blues
Pappo's Blues (black)
Reissue of the first album by Argentinian blues rock legend Pappo's Blues on vinyl. Guitarist-singer Pappo aka Norberto Aníbal Napolitano (1950-2005) is one of his country's biggest rock legends, who also managed to make a career outside his home country. He was there right from the beginning of Argentine rock, as guitarist of the first version of Los Abuelos de la Nada, Conexión Nº 5, Engranaje and Los Gatos, the band that made Argentine rock a household name thanks to the success of their first single, 'La Balsa,' which sold more than 200.000 copies in 1967. Jorge Alvarez (co-founder of the first Argentinian independent rock label Mandioca) encouraged Pappo to develop his own music. What followed was the formation of the first version of Pappo's Blues in 1971, a trio that had Pappo himself on guitar and vocals, David Lebón on bass and Black Amaya on drums. Their self-named debut album was an unqualified success among the ever-growing audience of Argentine rock. It contained a bundle of all-time classics such as 'El Hombre Suburbano' (The Suburban Man), 'El Viejo' (The Old Man) and 'Adónde Está La Libertad' (Where Is Freedom). 'Pappo's Blues' (1971, also known as 'Volume One') introduced a new element to Argentine rock: a harder rock and blues sound, combined with intelligent and sensitive lyrics with centered on the vicissitudes of a typical young man trying to live life according to his own rules, surrounded by the mores of an intolerant society. The arabesques of Pappo's guitar, complemented by a solid and yet elastic rhythm section, made for an exciting and daring sound, where his trademark rock and blues sound also extended to embrace blues ballads and even excursions into psychedelia.