The self-titled, debut album of this band from Buenos Aires, Argentina: El Reloj, features a 70s hard rock, with echoes of Deep Purple especially; and also certain progressive rock touches, and Black Sabbath specks intertwined in its aural recipe; nonetheless the personality of the band is stronger than its influences, staying quite far from the cheap mimicry.
El Reloj were a quintet: Osvaldo Zabala on rhythm guitar, Eduardo Frezza on vocals and bass, Luis Valenti on keyboards, Juan 'Locomotora' Espósito on drums (later in Boxer and the Pappo's band), and the late Willy Gardi on the lead guitar; the musicianship is a bit 'pretentious' for the hard rock standards, though very good of course, and the songs are compelling enough: "Obertura/El viejo Serafín", "Hijo del sol y de la tierra", the great "Alguien más en quien confiar" (featuring a long organ intro), or the long "Blues del atardecer", all these are more than good cuts of mid 70s heavy rock, always with an indistinctly melancholic mood, and overall showcasing shifting tempos, sometimes a little abstruse, borderline (or decidedly) progressive.
"Blues del atardecer", which ends in a long drums' solo, flows into the last track: "Haciendo blues y jazz", a bit less interesting than the rest of the album and, as its title says, hard rock with a bluesy and jazzy savour.
In spite of the rather weak vocals of Eduardo Frezza, "El Reloj" is a robust album of 70s hard rock, indisputably good in songwriting and musicianship.
The CD editions come enhanced with 4 bonus tracks: two alt. versions of songs included on the original vinyl, and two tracks more, that belong to an old single: "El mandato/Vuelve el día a reinar".
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