History of Crack, the prog rock band
Our story dates back to 1977, sometime in the autumn of that year. Or at least that was the point in time when I first started to hear about Crack.An ex-schoolmate of mine from University, Mento Hevia, had contacted me. He was putting together a new band that he was sure would make a huge smash and wanted me to be part of that great project :-)
I had played some acoustic guitar while I was at University, first alone and later on duo and had had some tuition on classical guitar, well just an introduction I would say. I had also started some time sooner learning the classical flute. Just for a year or so, but maybe enough to play around with my friends.
I wouldn't dare to say how exactly everything run that day. My memory has become weaker with the years. But I am almost sure we went right into business immediately, into music I mean. I am almost positive that next to the prescriptive small talk on our days of shared experiences in Law school at the University, the following part of the unwritten script was to listen to Mento's "El Cid".
There was not yet a precise name for that tune, but a series of long excerpts that one day would be stiched together into "Marchando una del Cid". Still, I was probably enthralled by what I heard. And I did probably think it was brilliant.
I appreciated inmediatly the creativity, the musicianship, the inspiration, but also, I should confess a slight imprint of the richness and majestic feel of the work of Rick Wakeman.
Those years I had progressively become a big fan of the then-called "symphonic rock". Well, you know, the big three (Genesis, Yes and King Crimson). But also of some other great groups which by that time have also captured my ear (Camel, Renaissance, etc.) So, how not be impressed that day by the music of Mento, which at least in terms of creativity, seemed to me comparable to the music of those British groups I respected so much?
Probably Mento made already that evening some suggestions as to what could be my contribution towards the definitive shape of his "Cid". Probably he played some parts where I could take the melody with the flute and probably I dared to suggest where I could fill some parts with some classical guitar-based arpeggios. Well I can't really tell exactly. But I felt right away at home in that ramshackle room and ready to embark on this "spectacular" project. I am not sure if that same day I met Vidal, the bassist. It's hard to say. To be continued...
