page_title: Almendra (Almendra album)
section_title: Release and commercial reception
hierarchical_section_title: Almendra (Almendra album) / Release and commercial reception
caption_attribution_description: Almendra en vivo
context_page_description: Almendra is the self-titled debut studio album by Argentine rock band Almendra which was released in 1969 on Vik, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. To distinguish it from the band's next release, Almendra II, it is also known as Almendra I. The album represented the first full-length musical endeavour of nineteen-year-old Luis Alberto Spinetta, having formed the band in the mid 1960s along with Emilio del Guercio, Edelmiro Molinari and Rodolfo García. The famous artwork, showing a crying man with a toy arrow stuck on his head, was designed by Spinetta to embody the different lyrical themes of the album.
  By the late 1960s, the nueva ola phenomenon was losing popularity and Los gatos' debut single, "La balsa", had catapulted the emergence of Argentine rock. The success of Los Gatos paved the way for Manal and Almendra; the three groups are considered the foundational trilogy of Argentine rock, singing serious and artistic songs in Spanish at a time when this was discouraged. Spinetta's lyricism has been celebrated for its poetry, surrealism and idiosyncratic use of grammar and accent.
context_section_description: Almendra was released on November 29, 1969 on Vik, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. Some sources, however, place the release of the album in early 1970, time in which the band released a typewritten, photocopied flyer that said: "Over the course of six months of intense work, we have learned that what is transcendent is no longer owned by the author and belongs to everyone. That is why January 15 is an important date for us and for you: it is the release of our first long play to you." The band produced a 35mm black-and-white promotional short film featuring "Campos verdes" and "El mundo entre las manos", which was shown in cinemas as part of the newsreel Sucesos Argentinos. On June 6, 1969, Almendra presented the album in Teatro Coliseo with Vox Dei, Leonardo Favio and Los Abuelos de la Nada. They made television appearances on Tropicana, Sábados circulares, Sótano beat, and "an unhappy appearance" on Bernardo Neustadt's show. Regarding the songs' concert presentation, particularly of "Muchacha (ojos de papel)", Spinetta stated in 1984: "... when we premiered ["Muchacha"] in Coliseo, the success of the song was so resounding that I cried myself, I could not believe it. [...] The emotion that I felt was tremendous. Indelible. I cried on stage, because I felt that all the people were shocked with that. Instantly. Success came later. I felt that the song pierced through the people, just as when I premiered "Plegaria" or "Figuración", "Muchacha" pierced through the people. With Almendra I repeatedly saw boys and girls crying, of emotion or of happiness." In early 1970, Spinetta published a series of drawings in the second number of the short-lived magazine Alquitrán, in which he illustrated each of the songs of Almendra.
  Ricardo Alejandro Kleinman had signed Almendra with RCA Victor as part of his project of promoting new and "distinguished" music such as Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who and Traffic, which he featured in his radio show Modart en la noche alternating with more commercial acts. Part of this project was the inclusion of Spanish-language music that acted as "an Argentine equivalent of the aesthetic searches of post-Revolver rock, which is what was consumed by young people with purchasing power, mostly university students, in Europe and the United States." However, Almendra found its audience outside of the demographic target that had been expected, becoming popular among the common porteño youth. Wide commercial success arrived when "Muchacha (ojos de papel)", was used in a television commercial for fabrics aimed at the youth. The song, with "Ana no duerme" as its B-side, was released as the album's only single on January 20, 1970. In 1996, Spinetta stated that he was unhappy with that advertisement, but did not have enough money to hire a lawyer at that time. On March 5, 1970 Gente stated that, 20 days since its release, the album had sold 10,000 copies. Cristina de Irala of the magazine reported on their successful presentation in the touristic city of Mar del Plata, writing: "At that hour of the early morning, in a city in full summer season, one became aware that the 'beat music' movement really is a phenomenon. Which one of our musical monsters could go on a stage and fill a room in those conditions?" The same year, journalist Margot de Kumec noted the "religious attention" and identification that the band generated among its young audience.
  Tracks off Almendra appear in various compilation albums of the band released by RCA Records, including a self-titled one of 1972, Muchacha ojos de papel of 1980, Serie 20 éxitos of 1995, and Inolvidables - 20 grandes éxitos of 2003. In 1979, Almendra reunited and performed a series of concerts that attracted massive audiences, something that had been rarely seen in the country because of the so-called National Reorganization Process. A double live album recorded at Estadio Obras Sanitarias in December 1979 was self-released on May 3, 1980, featuring several renditions of songs from the band's 1969 studio debut. In 1992, BMG Argentina released the first CD reissue of the album.
caption: Almendra performing in 1970.
exif: {}