Grup Estel – Nadal (1973) (24/96 Vinyl Rip)

Nadal = Christmas in Catalan. I'm not a friend of Christmas songs, but here we have a psychedelic monster, in my ears one of the best vocal productions ever. I bet your family will hear this more than once during the next weeks ;-)
There's a limited vinyl re-release out by Guerssen, and although it's often listed as LP, it's only a 12" Maxi-Single with 4 of these songs.

Review from Musicdirect:
Guerssen Records presents this special vinyl reissue featuring four astounding rare tracks from the Catalonian psych band Grup Estel. The songs were culled from a 1973 album of classic old Catalonia Christmas songs, all in a psychedelic acid-folk style and with stunning fuzz-way guitar, moog synthesizer and incredible vocal harmonies. Remastered from the original tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl with exclusive artwork plus liner notes in Catalan, Spanish and English and unseen photos of the band. Limited to 500 copies.

Biography from Antoni Parera Fons' website:
Antoni Parera Fons was born in Manacor, Majorca. He first studied music at the Conservatory in Palma de Mallorca and then at the Music College in Valencia. Later on he also studied piano with Rosa Sabater. His early success as a singer and songwriter received national and international recognition with such well-known hits as “Les muntanyes”, “Tot ja és mort”, “T’estim i t’estimaré”, etc. In later years, he combined his job as a record producer with his talent as a composer. As one of the most respected Spanish record producers, he has made hundreds of recordings with many well-known performers, orchestras and conductors. Some of the most outstanding would include names such as Josep Carreras, Jaume Aragall, Joan Pons, Mª Dolores Pradera, Antoni Ros Marbà, Josep Pons, Víctor Pablo Pérez, ONE, OBC, and many, many more. He also was in charge of producing an anthology of Zarzuela which included historical recordings with such famous names as Alfredo Kraus, Plácido Domingo and María Bayo. He has written over 250 works, many of which are songs or song cycles composed on commission from other performers. He has recorded his own works as well, but his compositions have been sung as well by such outstanding performers as José van Dam, Montserrat Caballé, Josep Carreras, Joan Pons, Núria Feliu, Mª Dolores Pradera, etc. In the last few years, he has increasingly devoted more of his time to composing and has received many commissions to write not only symphonic music, opera, choral music and cantatas, but also orchestral songs and chamber music as well.

Tracks
01. Fum, fum, fum 02:36
02. El Desembre congelat · Anem a Betlem · A Betlem m'en vull anar 03:56
03. Sant Josep i la Mare de Deu 04:04
04. Canço del pobre 01:50
05. La Mare de Deu · Sante nit 04:18
06. El noi de la Mare 03:15
07. El dimoni escuat · La rabada · Les dotze van tocant 06:50
08. L'adoracio dels pastors · La pastora 02:41
09. El cant dels ocells 04:24
Total time: 33:50

Musicians
Guitarres: Josep Ma Bardagí
Baix: Albert Moraleda
Bateria: Enric Oliva
Piano: Juan L. Moraleda
R.rs. moog, orgue, piano: Antoni Parera Fons (9)
Adaptació i arranjaments: Antoni Parera Fons