NO TENGO IDEA

Listen to NO TENGO IDEA by Almendra.

I've learned through the last few months that I'm not the hugest fan of Argentinian rock. As far as I can tell, the scene is all about brittle guitar soloing and needlessly fussy arrangements. (Either that, or a massive massive Stones fetish, which is how it sounded to us when us when we visited. As one blogger puts it, "few bands from Argentina these days overcome their OMG Rolling Stones = teh awesome phase." Check out that link for proof.)

Anywayz, I do know with some confidence that Almendra is one of the most important Argentinian rock groups, and I've got most of what they recorded. Some of it is very good, some of it is not to my taste (see above). But I love No Tengo Idea for a very specific reason, and that reason is, it sounds almost exactly what you would imagine the Kinks would sound like if they decided to do a Victoria or Lola-era jam with Spanish lyrics. Seriously, doesn't that sound like Ray Davies vamping along? I think this is a very funny observation.

Photo: View from Acela.