ANACRUSA II

This isn’t really a very good album as far as I’m concerned. Only a few songs would qualify as progressive folk, and those only on the strength of some mildly creative flute and acoustic guitar arrangements. On the whole I’d say this is closer to run-of-the-mill contemporary adult music.

I don’t speak the language but I’m pretty sure these guys are singing Portuguese. The vocalist Susana Lago also plays piano and something that sounds like a pump organ. Her voice is pleasant enough but without much range or depth, and seems a bit weak at times.

Several tracks like “Coplas de Cundinamarca”, “Calfucurá” and “Saqué mi Corazón de la Tierra Quemada” come off as rather pedestrian seventies soft rock, although on the latter two there is some fair piano/flute interplay to offset the average vocals. Two tracks (“Polo Coriano” and “Palmera”) are heavy on piano and flute (there are two flautists in the band). “Polo Coriano” is an instrumental, and had the band put together an entire album in the vein of this one it would have been much stronger than the mixing in of contemporary vocalized songs.

Really the biggest problem with this record is that it is so one-dimensional. Flute and piano arrangements with some tepid female singing (occasionally backed by male chorals); that’s about it. Not the kind of record that is going to get people all excited, and one that obviously has been largely forgotten in the thirty-plus years since it released, probably for good reason. I’m going to say this is a two star effort that the band’s fans undoubtedly appreciated in its time, but which has no real hope of attracting many new progressive music fans today.

peace