SAGRADO CORACAO DA TERRA

For whom is not in the habit with this important prog band from Brazil (Their homonimous debut album, plus "Farol da Liberdade" and "O Grande Espirito" are true must-have among the others melodic symphonic works...), this collection could be a good place to start with them: perhaps you could start with "Rapsodia Cigana" to get an inkling of Marcus Viana's grandeur and then to "taste" something from their excellent debut album you could prosecute with "Sagrado" and "A Gloria Das Manhäs" plus "Deus Dançarino" (probably it should have been better to insert something from "Farol da Liberdade" into, like the jewel "Dancas das Fadas" or "The Central Sun of the Universe", but nevermind).Moreover you can find their fine tune "Tocatta" taken from "Flexa", side 1 (but side 2 is to be forgotten) and something else which is unedited...of course it's not their best album, but you can have an idea of them, by means of this short resume.

is a great satisfaction even talk about this album because it is a band from my country and be one of the best albums of Brazilian prog. The sound of SCT blend the best that is in the symphonic prog leading to extreme violin from Kansas with touches of camel and a clear influence of regional rhythms of Brazilian music and creating an environment full of heavenly feeling. "Dan'a das Fadas" led by the violin and characterized it seems any rebuilding works of Beethoven or Mozart soft touches of flute and bass and weight characteristics. "Solidariedade" joined the best that the camel had with violins and guitars and beautiful nuances of break time. "Amor Selvagem" with lyrics that mix romantic love and appreciation of the natural resources of Brazil with a beautiful atmospheric environment. "Pantanal" brings an interesting rhythms carried by regional qubrada shy violin and keyboards and testing of natural effects. "Ov'dia" transition effects to the next track. "Farol da Liberdade" the title track has a footprint more neo prog but returns with blazing fast guitar work. Intense until the end. Amid the constant symphonic environment seems to have been made with the soul. "Raio e Trov'o" timid line neo prog mix of flamenco and a little symphony. Interestingly the original size of the violin arrangements on several tracks. "The core of the Sun of Universe" epic filled with atmospheric sounds and repetitions, perhaps the weakest track on the album. Farol da Liberdade 'captures what is symphonic prog with lots of creativity and originality, perhaps one of the main prog albums from Brazil

First thing i have to say : the very good quality of the images and sounds. Maybe I miss a DD5.1 only D 2.1.

Mostly songs from the two first albums and mainly Flecha. Concert of 1996 in Rio are excerpts from mostly Grande Espirito(a more harder time of Sagrado)Very, very symphonic(two keyboards and a violin),very orchestral and beautiful.

Marcus Viana geniality is fully demonstrated here.Very good composer, violinist and singer too. Very good musicians accompany him. Very nice scenario too.

This part is of course the most ambient spacey symphonic ...then Sagrado went to a more hard tendency . So hoping for such a good Part 2

4,5 stars

Hyped theme from 2001 Space Odyssey ? Hell yeah & Prog on. Actually, I did get this album by blind luck and so I didn't know about it being compilation. I intended to look on PA later to do my review, complain about how uneven this album is (full of perfect and average tracks with few ambient boring ones - bad way of doing ambient), how good some moments are, but instead, I ended here, on my I suppose tenth Boxset&Compilation review.

As I said, this is very good album. As somebody else on this album page said, this is perhaps good place to start with their music. I'm surely interested a lot, as this lovely combination of classical & rock music is different than in other Latin (you know what I mean) bands, which, although good, sounds quite alike in this manner. Very powerful music at times (Power Prog without metal?). Perhaps that's the point, diversity of this album, but it doesn't work all the times. Or just some tracks aren't good for me and will be for others. Hell it, this is my review.

3(+), let's await other albums with sheer interest.

EDIT: Lowering of rating, because even it's good, it's not so good.

***1/2 in fact, but Side 2 of this 1987 vinyl : "the symphonies" gets 5 star to me : "Toccata" plus "cosmos x caos" and the instrumental "o futuro da terra" are among the best SAGRADO compositions, they are "organic" full of life, not "high tech cloning prog". So this and 1st Sagrado (1985) are hero records, showing that prog survived as independent acts around the world though 80's. Hey, "dark ages" was for Prog mainstream, NOT TO independent acts. The advantage of the 80's heros (SOLARIS, IQ, CODA, ICONOCLASTA, DIFFERENCES "the voyager", MARILLION, etc.), is that they kept the innovation and self expression spirit that nowadays seems reduced to virtuoso-high tech 70's cloning. See my CODA and ICONOCLASTA reviews, please.

If you begin to listen "Flecha" side 1- "the songs" you can consider the 80's beat influence (few) annoying. Side 1 is made of sweet songs blending symphonic, Minas Gerais state melodic music (romantic) and many prog touches. The lyrics are so positive and beautiful I get full of good energy, only the 5th "carinhos quentes" is boring. So if you want prog, you should skip to side 2 tracks 6, 7 and 8. Here you find symphonic prog, better style comparisons goes to BANCO, QVL from Italy. Originality is SAGRADO CORAÇÃO DA TERRA (translation : Sacred Heart of Earth) high point so if you prefer to feel comfortable with ala Yes-Genesis models ore others models forget SAGRADO, as they sound innovative like the true spirit of progressive music is. As I mentioned side 1 is song oriented but is neat, so I'll keep 3,5 stars.

I choose their 2nd vinyl to review also because, in 1987, Marcus Viana (violins, keyboards, compositions ands vocals) was still an unknown artist from Minas Gerais state. Later he became very famous here in Brazil for lots of soundtracks and new age solo albuns., And even for French MUSEA label SAGRADO was elected one of late 80's early 90's best band. Overall maybe their best record is the 4th "Grande Espírito" (1994). There's no track from "Flecha" chosen for the "Sacred Heart of Earth" 2001compilation anthology CD. This anthology is all sung in English, but I prefer SAGRADO "in natrura" singing in Portuguese.

If you like (or even if you don't), Ezra Winston, Kerrs Pink, Rousseau, North Star, Vermilion Sands, Halloween from France, these bands composed especially for "Seven Days of a Life" MUSEA team concept CD : the cycle of the journey through Life. The result is GREAT, believe this cosmopolitan project works ! "Seven Days of a Life" is a ****1/2;1993 CD with only unpublished material, except the SAGRADO "the central sun of universe" which was also composed to this CD, but due to long delay was allowed to appears at SAGRADO 1991 3rd CD "Farol da Liberdade". By the way the project idea was old as all bands recorded the cuts around 1991, but the CD was released only in 1993 . Please, take a look at my "Seven Days of a Life" review.

Undoubtfully SAGRADO CORACAO DA TERRA is one of the most well known groups ever to come out of the strong brazilian progressive rock scene.SAGRADO had a bif and succesfull career in Brazil and the main man behind the group was the master of violin Marcus Viana.We are talking about 1985 here when the band made their debut with one of the most uneven albums I've ever heard...

...and we are not talking about different style of tracks but also about uneven parts in the same track!For example ''Arte do sol'' contains some excellent symphonic piano work and fine violin solos by Viana but where the vocals are added the track turns to cheesy...or even the longest track of the album ''A gloria das manhas'' where the first part of it delivers boring keyboard/flute work in a hypnotic slow tempo while the second section delivers some intense piano and nice work by Viana on violin...What about the rest of the tracks?Well some of them are far out of prog purposes and it is obvious that the band tries to approach a wider audience like the ballads ''Asas'', ''Corpo veleiro'' and ''A vida e terna'' which have a sound and vocals close to the soundtracks of the most famous love stories in brazilian soap-operas...''Memoria das salvas'' is track influenced by the brazilian tradition with little interest while ''Deus dancanarino'' and ''Sagrado'' contain some nice symphonic work with beautiful keyboards and classical influenced violin...

Unfortunately,and despite the fine moments, over half of the album contains rather pop influened music or some uninteresting moments while the rest of the album has a symphonic sound that,in my opinion,remains undeveloped or unfinished...So it is better for you to leave this album out of your collection...Only for collectors and fans of the band...2 stars...

Until a few months ago all I knew about SAGRADO CORAÇÃO DA TERRA were the positive comments about them, because despite Brazil limits with Perú, the albums from this country were never popular or accessible in our country, except maybe for BACAMARTE.

So, when a friend traveled to Rio, I asked him to get me the first four SAGRADO CORAÇÃO DA TERRA, hoping that as usually this ones were the best, something partially truth in this case, and only from the fourth release "Farol da Liberdade".

Their self titled album starts with "Asas", a track clearly in the 80's vein, not Neo Prog but some sort of weak Symphonic, despite the excellent violin performances and the correct vocals by Marcus Viana and Vanessa Falabella, they don't fly too high.

"Luces da Historia" has one of the longest introductions I ever heard, almost half of the track so you could expect a climatic conclusion, but never happens, just a couple of seconds when the whole band joins for a couple of interruptions. Absolutely disappointing.

"Arte do Sol" starts as a soft ballad but after a minute and a half acquires a bit more of strength but in the same mood, the tack flows gently to the end with exquisite performance but a weak structural work, seems that they never allow themselves enough freedom to reach the climax.

"A Gloria das Manhas" begins with a sweet flute that goes on almost 5 minutes without radical changes, it's just in the last minutes when you can enjoy a short elaborate section, again they don't know where to cut the intro.

"Feliz" in contrast with the name that means happy, is a nostalgic song with an incredibly beautiful violin solo that lasts the 55 seconds and works as an introduction for the excellent "Deus Dancarino", a pompous and well elaborate track where the whole band gives one of the best performances, especially Marcus Viana with his violin. The highest point of the album until this point.

Seems that the last track gave SAGRADO CORAÇÃO DA TERRA de impulse they required to go for the prize, another outstanding song that mixes rhythms with a jungle flavor with a keyboard performance in the vein of VANGELIS first albums. Pompous and brilliant, another great song.

"Corpo Veleiro" is just another ballad with little interest for this reviewer, after the past two tracks anybody could expect something more impressive.

"Sagrado" puts the band again in the Progressive Rock path, with pompous arrangements, excellent performances, radical changes and a couple of amazing solos and the sweet voice of Vanessa Falabella who puts the cherry over the cake.

The album ends with "A Vida E Terna", again they fall in the easiness of the soft ballad with little to comment.

To summarize, "Sagrado Coração da Terra" is an uneven album, with magnificent and very weak moments; with strong and elaborate tracks side by side with long boring ballads, so the rating can't be too high.

So I will go with 3 stars and recommend new listeners to begin with the third album Farol da Liberdade which is much more rewarding.

SAGRADO's debut and namesake album contains the 4 Ns so characteristic of the mid-Eighties releases: Neo-prog, New-Wave, New-Age and Nothing spectacular. This album is fairly catchy and hearable but none of the songs are memorable; much more important is to check the original nursery where this great band was shaped and the promising and uplifting band's skills. Also noticeable is the high-quality production, a witness of the time, around 25 years ago, when many Brazilian recording studios were au pair with their peers from other countries.

The mentioned Ns make this release a bit dated and sometimes boring (although that was a very reckoned mood in the 80s) and I think that SAGRADO should revisit a couple of songs here in their future compilations, especially 'A glória das manhãs' and 'Sagrado', the best album's tracks , along with 'Deus dançarino', the proggiest album's moment.

Average but the lack of continued progressive segments and the weak tracks makes me recommend this album for collectors and fans only.

This is the most orchestrated of the Sagrado albums I have heard, which include all but their eponymous debut. It comes across more as a pleasant romantic soft rock album than a progressive rock album. The naturally romantic sound of the Portuguese language is well suited to this style, particularly on songs like "Seres Humanos" and "Carinhos Quentes". The longest track, "Cosmos X Caos", combines sugary sweet vocal sections with intense orchestrations featuring Viana's many flourishes on violin. The closer is basically a classical piece.

While this early Sagrado album largely lacks the requisite edge for most fans on this site, it demonstrates a great deal of compositional and arranging skills, and provides some hints as to the launching of the arrow and the marvelous trajectory it would ultimately take. 2.5 stars rounded up.

Sagrado continued to strengthen with each release, producing music that managed to appeal to progressive rock fans and the record buying public in general at the same time, quite a feat for the 1990s. This is the album that preceded their masterpiece, "Grande Espirito". While it does not possess quite the elegance of that work, it is nonetheless a uniformly strong and layered work of art. It features Viana's spirited violin playing in the breaknecked opener "Dança das fadas", following through seamlessly to the instrumental "Solidariedade". The song quotient is also augmented by the needs of the Brazilian soap opera industry in the form of "Pantanal", a lush ballad of the type in which Sagrado excels. At times it is hard to believe we are listening to a band and not an orchestra. Even the very short, synthesized Olivia has a grace and warmth that might be compared to the best of Tomita or Kitaro. The title tune alternates between romantic piano accompaniment and a monster of a hook with Viana's fiddle weaving in and out among the celestial keyboards. It seems that Viana is the primary vocalist here, not having yet ceded to Bauxita, and he acquits himself brilliantly. "The central sun of the universe" has many layers of complexity if it lacks the immediacy and cohesion of some of the epics from Grande Espirito, but such is the maturation of the band. If you favour warm and melodic song -oriented prog with a strong Brazilian accent, set your course for the "Freedom Lighthouse".