Review Summary: Another great 70’s Spanish prog album in the vein of Triana.
“Paseando Por La Mezquita” is the debut studio album of Medina Azahara that was released in 1979. The line up on the album is Manuel Martinez (vocals), Miguel Galan (guitar), Pablo Rabadan (keyboards), Manuel Molina Huertas (bass guitar) and Jose Antonio Molina Huertas (drums). It also has the participation of Paco Cepera (guitar) as a guest artist.
As I mentioned sometimes, in the 70’s the progressive rock music was essentially a UK phenomenon. But soon it was spread outside of the British islands to many other countries in Europe, mainly France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and the Scandinavian countries. However, it was also spread by many other countries like Portugal and Spain, despite they never were two real hotbeds for prog rock music. Anyway, some very interesting and even great works in both countries. In the case of Spain, which is the case I’m going to talk about, there are some names that come to my mind at the moment, Triana, Los Canarios, Mezquita, Gotic, Granada, Alameda, Ibio, Tarantula and Medina Azahara.
Medina Azahara is a progressive rock band that was formed in Cordoba, Spain, in the year of 1979. It was founded by singer Manuel Martinez, guitarist Miguel Galan, drummer José Antonio Molina, bassist Manuel Molina, and keyboardist Pablo Rabadan, lovers of Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd and decided, after several failed attempts, to form a band with professional aspirations. Little by little, they shared their musical interests to achieve their own musical line that meant the most innovative and hard about the new “Rock Andaluz”, the cultural movement that moved the masses of young people thirsty for freedom. Medina Azahara became one of the most important bands in Andalusia with Triana and Mezquita. The band’s debut album was released in 1979, appearing in discographies sometimes as “Paseando Por La Mezquita” and others as “Medina Azahara”. The band still exists and has now released over twenty albums.
At the end of the classic period of prog the band’s debut studio album “Paseando Por La Mezquita” was released. On their debut album they had a solid, symphonic Hispanic prog rock to offer. The album is quite easy to listen to. The tracks never become shallow or pop-like and the Spanish vocals provide their own character. You’ll hear a symphonic, slightly jazzy mainstream prog here that occasionally comes up with a few harder rocking guitar riffs. We can see that this music comes from Spain. Apart from the singing, the playing of Miguel Galan, who not only lets his electric guitar sound with Iberian flair, but also occasionally provides appropriate acoustic guitar interludes. Medina Azahara mixes a bit of late progressive rock, a good portion of Spanish, some hard rock and powerful, but thoroughly pleasant singing.
The title track “Paseando Por La Mezquita” is a great opening. It starts the album in a hard rock style. It has a strong and raw guitar riff before the track changes to an emotional and sentimental mood in the Andalusia Spanish rock style. “En La Manana” isn’t as intensive as the previous track but it still rocks hard. It has some flamenco guitar parts in the end and it also has some of the best vocal parts of the album. “Hacia Ti” is one of the highlights on the album with its fascinating keyboard melodies. It’s a more symphonic track in the usual prog rock vein without the usual flamenco influences of the rock Andaluz. “Si Supieras” is a slower track than the previous ones performed more in the ballad rock style. It’s a bit melancholic where the themes are repeated over it. It has a nice vocal work that is sung by several vocalists and it also has some spoken parts. “Busco” has another impressive vocal work. Manuel is one of the best vocalists with Jesus De La Rosa of Triana in all rock Andaluz. It also has impressive guitar work with some flamenco guitar parts. Deserved to be noted for the excellent bass line of Molina. “Amiga” is a beautiful track with an interesting construction. It has a nice cross between the folkish Spanish flavour with the hard rock sound. The vocals are again of first class and the instrumentation is solid, as is usual. “Se” keeps the special folkish flavour with the hard rock sound offering a pleasant blend of the melodic prog rock. This is another great track. “Recuerdos Del Ayer” keeps the high quality of the album and was built in the same mood. This is a great closer that was probably inspired by Triana.
Conclusion: With this album Mezquita released a very solid progressive rock work without weak points. Like many who are used to Andalusian prog rock, I also can see many similarities between Triana and Mezquita. This isn’t strange because both are Andalusian bands. It isn’t also strange the influences of Triana in the music of Mezquita. We mustn’t forget that Triana began their career some time before Mezquita and was already a famous band when Mezquita was formed. Anyway, with “Paseando Por La Mezquita”, Medina Azahara showed that it was still possible to land in the hit parades in 1979 with a high quality prog rock sound. Anyone who appreciates something melodic and not too complex and can imagine the whole thing with a clearly Iberian character should give “Paseando Por La Mezquita” a listen.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
