Pateando piedras

After the release of their debut album La voz de los '80, in 1985 Jorge González joined the group with electronic keyboards. According to the accounts of the guitarist Claudio Narea, they had become followers of Depeche Mode and other groups that used the keyboard as their main instrument. González bought a Casio CZ 101, with lowercase keys, and later bought one like it.[7] With this instrument González composed the songs «¿Quién le tiene miedo a las máquinas?», «Pendiente fuerte de ti», «Ellos dicen no» y «Muevan las Industrias» all of these were presented in August of that same year at the Teatro Cariola. The last two songs «Ellos dicen no» or «Muevan las Industrias» were the only ones that made it onto Pateando Piedras. «Ellos dicen no» was reworked under the name of «Porfavor».[8]

The recording of this album began in the late winter of June 1986.[9] For the recording of "Pateando Piedras" they again worked with the engineer Caco Lyon, who in this work had a fundamental role, according Narea: «Seven of the songs do not have bass but keyboard bass. All the drums are programmed and three of the songs do not have a guitar». Narea bought two Fender guitars, a Lead 1 and a Deluxe Telecaster, both black;[10] Jorge got himself a Linn drum machine, loaned by Miguel Conejeros from group Pinochet Boys,[11] in addition, three Casio synthesizers were used, and a Simmons electronic drums.[9] The first disc was recorded with an 8-track recorder and the second disc with a 16-track recorder. For this disc the sequencers were used as the Voyetra, where it was recorded with a time code that controlled the sequencers leaving 15 free tracks, Lyon noted.[12]

Claudio only participated by playing the guitars, he couldn't get used to going from being a guitar, bass and drums trio to being a techno group, and he never felt comfortable playing the keyboard, so he left early. sessions to go see who would be his wife months later, Claudia Carvajal.[13] He played acoustic guitar on the song "El baile de los que sobran",[14] they recorded a first version of this song, it was a drum machine with a bass,[15] at the beginning I didn't have a guitar, and the tempo was faster. Jorge didn't like it, so he recorded it again and asked Claudio to play the guitar, they lowered the tempo, and added dog's barking with a Sampler,[11] According to Jorge Gonzalez, without the dog, the issue would not have been bright. "Muevan las Industrias was a recording in which only Jorge participated. "And the gas balloons and all that, he recorded them" Lyon said. They also recorded the song with a Linn Drum, the programmable drums that existed in Chile at the time, he concluded.[16]

Compact disc of the album Pateando Piedras made in Canada, 1992

The cover of the album, shows to Los Prisioneros on line No. 2 of Santiago Metro heading to the commune of San Miguel, the photoshoot was made by Jorge Brantmayer.[17] In the original photo, Miguel appears standing, with his arms behind his head staring into space; sitting in front of him, Jorge and Claudio looking at the camera. Jorge with an ironic smile and Claudio laughing happily.[18] At first Jorge González, I had thought of making the cover green and reflecting the South of Chile. However EMI did not like the idea and the cover ended up being in the "Metro" (Public transport),[2] in 1987, during a promotional tour in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Narea related in his book "Los prisioneros: biografía de una amistad" (The Prisoners: Biography of a friendship), that the cover of "Pateando Piedras" had a different photo. "It seemed the same except for one small detail: I didn't appear laughing" he said.[19]

According to the group's representative Carlos Fonseca, the original had been lost, so they decided to look for the one closest to the sequence taken a second before or after the other to replace it. "It was almost the same, except that in this one I had a lost look," explained Claudio. Later, in Chile, the photograph was also changed, later, when Pateando Piedras came out on CD, the photo of Claudio was smiling, however, soon after they replaced it with the other one. "In short, the story goes like this: Pateando Piedras was released in September 1986. But already in April 1987 there was another photo. Then in 1991 it appeared. Then, in 1992, it got lost again," he concluded.[19] Los Prisioneros never liked the Metro photos, according to Fonseca. At first Jorge suggested to Carlos that the three of them appear in the photo in a huge green field, and that they see each other in the distance walking, however, EMI rejected the idea, since, according to them, it would look like a Los Huasos Quincheros.[17]

This album was released on September 15, 1986,[20] a week after the attack against Pinochet in the Cajón del Maipo, in the middle of a country under "state of siege".[21] The album sold 5,000 copies in the first ten days of its distribution, a record never reached by a youth music group in Chile, later they received their second platinum record with 20,000 copies sold in two months and 20 days, something that did not obtain any artist of the Nueva ola.[22]

Later the Chilean band broke a record by filling the Chile Stadium twice in a row, in which a total of 11 thousand people attended.[22] In addition your first single in being launched was «Muevan las Industrias».[4] Consecutively the media began to take seriously Los Prisioneros, the magazine Super Rock named Los Prisioneros as the best Chilean band, and in addition his album "Pateando Piedras" was awarded as the Best Album of the Year. On the other hand, Jorge González was awarded as the Best Composer and their song "El baile de los que sobran" was chosen as the Best Song of the Year, all these recognitions were made by the magazine Super Rock. Later they were awarded in Peru for the song "El baile de los que bobran", and in Ecuador for the song "Sexo".[23]

In 2006 the album was chosen as the album most important of the Rock Ibero-American No. 160 from the list of the "Los 250 mejores discos de rock iberoamericano" (The 250 best Ibero-American rock albums) by American magazine Al Borde,[24] and in 2008 was chosen as the best 15th album from the "Los 50 mejores discos chilenos" (The 50 best Chilean albums), according to the magazine "Rolling Stone Chile".[3]

The musicologist Juan Pablo González considers the album «essential and a turning point in the band's career». He also adds that «It marked a sonorous bridge in the 80s, from an artisanal sound, where the wool of the Chiloé vests and arpeggiated guitars prevailed, towards this world new wave, of technological sounds and very clear texts, where there was no room for metaphors and the political agenda of the time». He's also said that the simple things like the barking of a dog on «El Baile de los Que Sobrán» genuinely portrayed Chilean society at the time».[21]

Side A

All tracks are written by Jorge Gonzalez, however some were written together with Miguel Tapia..

Side B

• Aguayo, Emiliano (2005). Maldito Sudaca. Conversaciones con Jorge González. Ril Editores. ISBN 978-956-284-449-9.
• Narea, Claudio (2009). Mi vida como prisionero. Norma. ISBN 978-956-300-186-0.
• Narea, Claudio (2014). Los Prisioneros: Biografía de una amistad. Thabang. ISBN 956-353-804-8.

• Rata.cl: Jorge González desglosa "Pateando piedras" de principio a fin