ONDE, QUANDO, COMO, PORQUÊ, CANTAMOS PESSOAS VIVAS

I remember when Quarteto 1111 was being suggested for addition and i thought that my knowledge about portuguese music was very limited (is, actually) anyway i was interested in this band and by chance i found their third release called Onde, Quando, Como, Porque, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas which was released in 1974 and if im not wrong was the last studio album of the band. My previous experience with portuguese prog rock was that highly acclaimed Jose Cid album, and oh surprise, Jose Cid playde in Quarteto 1111, so that was an extra point of interest to me.

This album is actually very short, it's lenght reaches only 30 minutes but which in my opinion are 30 well used minutes, the music is always contstant and maintain us interested in what is next. This record is divided in two songs with the same name of the album, the only difference would be the parte 1 and parte 2 thing.

Parte 1 starts with a great mellotron sound, and the vocals of Jose Cid inviting us to stay tuned since it sound with power and delicacy at the same time. The song has several changes but all of them are excellent planned, the music sometimes sounds aggressive and sometimes very pastoral, the acoustic guitars and drumming along with the almost predominant mellotron sound makes this really interesting, at the half of the song we will listen to some slower passages but it always return to the constant and beautiful musical sound produced, after the eleventh minute we will listen to another sudden change which is probably the most aggressive of them all, with a very nice guitar solo and a faster sound but wait, it makes a sudden stop and some spoken word enter, just to come back to that faster sound, the mellotron is simply exciting and the blend of symphonic pastoral and aggressive sound is simply awesome, i also think that the vocals of Cid play a main role here there are some kind of screams he does and soun very good, great music and what a powerful ending, pure mellotron bliss!

Parte 2 basically follows the first part as it would be just one song, i am not sure but i believe this is actually a one song album, but cut in two parts due to the LP issue, side A and B i mean. This part has also several changes the first one is after one minute, when it slows down, acoustic guitar appears, a melodic vocal style and there will always be a keyboard sound as background, sometimes mellotron, sometimes moog, etc. This part of side 2 has a bit more folkish and pastoral moments than the first one i think, there are no weak moments, it is a whole that always sounds fresh and interesting, i didn't find a boring minute, all is compact and enjoyable and actually i have no complaints for any musician, all of them play their instruments very well, and all the changes they did are in the right moment, it ends very emotional, with some high vocal notes that may cause you goosebumps, what a great end and a great album.

In general, pastoral music sometimes folkish, but very symphonic after all, mellotron heaven and a great melodic voice style, a beautiful album, which does not reach the 5 star level, but without a doubt is highly recommendable to any prog lover, especially for those ones who love mellotron, if someday is decided to add that .5 rating, i would give this a 4.5 one.

4 stars! Enjoy it!

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