BALADA PARA D. INÊS

Well, the name of Jose Cid may sound familiar to you, since he released one outstanding symphonic prog album in the late 70s, but before creating that record, he was part of a legendary Portuguese band called Quarteto 1111 which was formed in 1967 and as I mentioned in the first line, that band was without a doubt one of the most important and influential rock bands from Portugal, not only talking about progressive rock, but as a rock band or even psychedelic.

Their best album is "Onde, Quando, Como, Porqué, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas" which I personally love and highly recommend, but this time I am reviewing a short EP released by Quarteto 1111 back in 1967, which name is "Balada Para D. Ines".

Containing just 4 songs and a total time of only 10 minutes, so it is something really short, a brief proof of the bands first steps. "Balada Para D. Ines" opens the album, and since the very first moments you will notice that they may be a Portuguese version of The Moody Blues, with delicate vocals, and excellent use of keyboards orchestra-like as background, nice song.

"Partindo-Se" starts with something like harpsichord and then drums, acoustic guitar, nice drums and bass, when the keyboard sound provokes a psychedelic- like sound, but the song overall is very catchy and simple.

"Vale da Ilusao" reminds me again to the 60´s Moody Blues, or even The Zombies, a short 4/4 song with small musical changes, and which is probably my less favourite of this EP.

This short album ends with "Dragao" which is actually the shortest song, lasting only a couple of minutes, it starts with spoken word, then nice acoustic arpeggio and soft vocals, suggesting what the EP's title says, a ballad.

This is not recommendable to a prog fan, but if you already know Quarteto 1111 and want to explore their first steps, this may interest you, so my final grade is 2 stars, just for collectors.

Enjoy it, anyway!