Parálisis Permanente – Live at RTVE Studios – Broadcast June 7, 1983 (Tribute) – RTVE Spain –
Heading over to Madrid to end the week for a set by the tragically short-lived Spanish Punk/Darkwave/Post-Punk band Parálisis Permanente, by way of the RTVE program La Edad de Oro, as broadcast on June 7, 1983.
Started in 1981, Parálisis Permanente were pioneers in Spanish Post-Punk. Fronted by singer/guitarist Eduardo Benevente, the band quickly established themselves at the forefront of Post-Punk in Spain, and attracted a large following and enthusiastic press as the result.
During their tenure, they recorded only one album, but had three additional compilation releases after the band dissolved in 1983. And the reason the band dissolved is the tragic part of the story. Shortly after the release of their debut album, El Acto in 1982, the band made a huge initial impression on the Spanish Charts, despite being in independent release, and as follow-up had issued a number of singles and eps as well much touring and this appearance via RTVE in Spain. Although the broadcast is from June 7, 1983 -it is offered as a tribute to the band and the initial sessions are no doubt from much earlier.
It was upon returning from a gig in Zargosa in May of 1983 that the band was involved in a serious traffic accident, killing Eduardo and seriously injuring the other members of the band.
With the loss of the charismatic and larger-than-life Eduardo Benevente, the band had no other alternative but to end what had been a promising career.
Sadly, they never managed to get out of Spain or to investigate the rest of the world, or have the rest of the world discover Parálisis Permanente. Although word about the band had made it across the Atlantic, and they had been heard about in the UK, they were a band relegated to asking the age-old question; What if?
Unless you were keeping your ears to the ground and plugged in to what was going on worldwide in the early 1980s, it’s highly unlikely you’ve heard of Parálisis Permanente. But they were certainly an important element in the development of Post-Punk in Spain – and it offers further evidence that music, especially Rock music, isn’t the exclusive property of the English speaking part of the world – there’s interesting music happening everywhere – and Parálisis Permanente offered ample proof of that.
Play loud.
