Spinetta y los Socios del Desierto

After several years and battles with record companies, Spinetta released a double album, simply titled Spinetta y los Socios del Desierto, featuring songs he had already performed live. With exceptional artwork, this CD quickly reached the top of the charts. With this group, he would release two more albums: San Cristoforo in 1998 (live) and Los ojos in 1999. With these musicians and other guests, he also recorded the album Estrelicia (MTV Unplugged) in 1997, revisiting songs from throughout his career.

The band began rehearsing, still without a name, in April 1994. On May 25 of that year, Spinetta offered Torres and Wirtz the opportunity to officially form the group, naming it Los Socios del Desierto (The Desert Partners). After rehearsing for six months, Spinetta and Los Socios del Desierto debuted at the Velodrome in Buenos Aires on November 18. It had been more than two years since Spinetta had last performed live. This desire to return to his roots was expressed in the decision to open the concert with "Despiértate nena" (Wake Up, Baby), a classic by Pescado Rabioso. All the other tracks, except for "Los libros de la buena memoria"—the emblematic song from Invisible—were new: "Tony," "Espejo en una sombra," "Cuenta en el sol," "La orilla infinita," "Bosnia," "Las olas," "Se volvió en la noche," "La luz te fue," "Cheques," and "Mi Chevy y mis franciscanas," the latter from the first album by Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas, performed with the duo. All the new tracks, except "Mi Chevy y mis franciscanas," would be recorded on the 1997 double album.

The band's direct and physical style was reminiscent of Pescado Rabioso, the legendary rock trio that Spinetta led in the mid-1970s. Despite this, the band's sound also incorporated the musical and artistic experience that Spinetta had accumulated over twenty years.

In 1995, they undertook a mini-tour of Argentina (Bariloche, Córdoba, and Mar del Plata), played in Santiago, Chile—with a television and radio broadcast—and gave five concerts at the Opera Theater in Buenos Aires, which was voted the Best Show of the Year by polls. "The critics were swooning, and the fans were ecstatic with a performance that reminded them of Pescado Rabioso and Invisible." Despite this success, Spinetta couldn't get record companies to release an album by the band, arguing that there was no "market" for that kind of music. Simultaneously, Spinetta had another clash with the Establishment when he was hounded by gossip magazines because he had begun dating model Carolina Peleritti. During one of these hounding attempts, he appeared with a sign that read, "Reading trash damages your health; read books."

In 1996, Los Socios held two massive open-air concerts in Buenos Aires: on March 9, they drew 100,000 people to Palermo (Figueroa Alcorta and Dorrego), and on September 22, they gathered 50,000 people in Parque Chacabuco for the closing of the II Biennial of Youth, donating their fee to the literacy program of the University Federation of Buenos Aires (FUBA) and dedicating the concert to the defense of public education.

By the end of 1995, the band had already recorded their first album, a double album, at Spinetta's own La Diosa Salvaje studios, but the major record labels refused to release it, citing artistic reasons—they refused to release a double album and accept the cover art—and market reasons. After almost a year of fruitless negotiations, Spinetta released a statement titled "The Album and Time," in which he harshly criticized the record labels for their lack of consideration for his career and the artistic value of his work, as well as certain print media outlets that had intervened in the conflict by disseminating false financial figures, which he described as "pseudopods of the power of certain record companies." After several years and battles with the record companies, Spinetta y los Socios del Desierto finally released their first album, a double album released by Sony Music, simply titled Spinetta y los Socios del Desierto, featuring the songs they had already performed live. It was recorded at La Diosa Salvaje studio. With exceptional artwork, this CD quickly reached the top of the charts and was considered the best album of the year.

It was officially launched at the Hard Rock Café in Buenos Aires, where the band played a few songs and held a press conference. There, Spinetta recounted how much effort it had taken to get the album released.

In 1996, Spinetta was invited to perform in the classic acoustic concerts that the MTV Unplugged program had begun producing in 1989. The musician decided to perform most of the set with Los Socios del Desierto, accompanied on this occasion by Mono Fontana and Nico Cota, and on two songs by Daniel Rawsi and Eduardo "Dylan" Martí. In total, Spinetta and Los Socios del Desierto performed fourteen of the nineteen songs.

Spinetta's unplugged performance was unique in that it did not include the Argentine musician's classic hits and lasted an hour and a half, instead of the standard hour-long program. It was broadcast on October 29, 1997 in the standard one-hour version and the following weekend

On Thursday, August 6, 1998, Spinetta y los Socios del Desierto began a series of thirteen concerts at the Pablo Picasso Hall of the Paseo La Plaza cultural complex, during which they would record a live album. A total of six thousand people attended the show. The CD was recorded at the concerts held on August 20, 21, and 22, while the DVD was recorded at the last two.

The discography was completed with the release of "Los Ojos" on December 12, 1999. In contrast to the previous two albums, here the group focused much more on electronic pop, and Spinetta refrained from fully utilizing the band's power, prioritizing the vocals over the melodies. It is an introspective album, with slow, melancholic, and poignant songs. Spinetta would disband the group in 2000, but its members continued as guest musicians, Torres until Silver Sorgo (2001), and Wirtz until Para los árboles (2003).

At the end of 1999, Spinetta decided to end the Socios del Desierto experience, which gave its last performance at the Chateau Carreras stadium in Córdoba, on November 26, 1999.