ART ROCK

The album's title is true. This Brazilian band did, in 1999, an artistic work that reminds the progressive epic and glorious times, adding ethnic and folk touches.

Influences could be PINK FLOYD (some atmospherical moments), CAMEL (the melodic line) and ELOY (symphonic and pompous soundscapes). Nevertheless, music sounds fresh and always interesting due constant changes and surprises. "Art Rock" is basically instrumental (fortunately, because the vocalist -singing in English- is the band's lowest point).

"Krakatoa" is the highlight: a long epic piece conformed by many short, beautiful and very symphonic compositions, cohesively joined. A majestic track. "Amadeus I" is a sort of vals played in samba rythm (the Brazilian national music), very nice. "Lei Seca II" is melodic and plenty of rythmical changes, great piece. In the same vein is "Amadeus II": along seven minutes, music flows from atmospheric to energetic moments, including a short homage to Mozart through a classical melody composed by the fantastic Austrian musician. "Sr. Walker" is a very nice instrumental track with lots of percussion. Finally, "Keep the Koram II" is another epic song plenty of changes with some Eastern and folky hints (accordion is used here).

One of prog rock characteristic is the frequent rythmical variation inside the same composition. Many bands do it, but just a few are able to be so cohesive as LEI SECA in "Art Rock", keeping -at the same time- the melodic beauty along the whole stuff. An excellent album.

Lei Seca was a Brazilian band that later on became Tarkus and after an album they spli into two bands: second Tarkus incarnation and Family Free Rock. Art Rock (1999) is their second album and besides the ridiculous artwork in the cover and in the inlay (where the band members appear as D&D RPG characters) we have some good music in here.

'Krakatoa' is a 16'17 minutes suite divided into eleven different parts that pretty much shows the love of Valdir Zamboni (guitars and vocals) by Devil Doll (later even more explicit in Tarkus and Family Free Rock albums). Lei Seca used to interpret their own music as Art Rock (just as the name of the album states), but in fact they fall pretty much in the Symphonic umbrella.

'Amadeus I' is a folk-driven song with acoustic guitars and mandolin. A very good track. 'Lei Seca II' is yeat another suite, this time divided into six parts in its 10'12 minutes. Cesar Frezzato's drums has a very weak sound throughout the album and end up compromising his performance. Not just that, Valdir Guimarães bass playing isn't good too, sometimes even out of tune in his solo tries. Much of their music is based in Mickey Nicolas' keyboards and in the excellent Valdir Zamboni guitars.

Then we have another three tracks in Art Rock (1999): 'Amadeus II' that follows the same steps as the first part, even in the melody. Although it changes the pace towards the middle including a very weak bass solo, amateur style. Then 'Sr. Walker', another good folk moment with nice synths that reminded me some ELP moments. 'Keep The Koram II' closes the album somewhat like 'Abaddon's Bolero from ELP's Trilogy (1972) album, but with guitars.

Art Rock (1999) is a good album that was released by Medusa Records almost 15 years ago. But don't expect any classic.

Key tracks: Krakatoa, Amadeus I & Lei Seca II

Another interesting brazilian group that I had never heard of until recently, which seems odd since Brazil is my country (and I had to be advised by a dutch fellow about them!). So far, so good, anyway. Even if the CD cover is apalling their sound is quite good: melodic and accessible, and still bombastic and complex enough to please the demanding average symphonic prog fan. The guitar parts are the highlight: Valdir Zamboni is a creative and skillful musician that leads the band all the way through the CD. If you like guitar led prog bands, this is for you!

The band plays mostly instrumental pieces and this is clearly their forte: I liked very much their variety of sound landscapes and mix of styles. The CD never gets boring. Zamboni even includes some mandolin bits that are really nice. The other band members are as able as him.The vocal parts on the other side suffers from the same plague of so many prog bands through the style´s entire history: they are weak and uninteresting, more a hindrance than a good add on to the overall work. Not that bassist Valdir Guimarães is bad vocalist. But with a real, trained singer with a better voice it would have made all the difference. Fortunatly vocal parts are few and far between. The best track in my opinion is the first, the 16 minute epic Krakatoa (great keys and shifting moods all over it)

With a good production, good ideas, tasteful arrangements and excellent playing the band succeeds to deliver a fine CD that promises better things in the future. Unfortunatly it seems that those guys didn´t release anything since this album was out. I hope they will come back soon with something like this one. My rating: 3,5 stars.