O TERÇO (1970)

This was a hard album to find. O Terço´s debut release is a rather quite obscure work. For many years most people thought their second (called Terço, without the "O") was really their first. However I recently could get a copy of it. And I was surprised to know that the brilliant guitarist Sérgio Hinds (and only remaining original member throughout their whole career) started out as a bass player. Jorge Amiden was on the guitar and was the founder of the band and main songwriter in the beginning. Vinícius Cantuária completed the trio on drums (he would have a succesful, but brief, solo career in the early 80´s)

A rather good and promising start. Although there was still a long way to go. Their sound at the time was a mix of various influences that still needed to gel: psychedelic rock, MPB and folk-rock. The closest comparison is without doubt Os Mutantes. That group from São Paulo was quite an influence for those emerging bands of the period. some orchestrations and arrangements are quite close from the Mutantes style. Not really a copycat, but hardly original. Even the mixture of portuguese and english lyrics, sometimes both on the same tune, is present here, something Os Mutantes were famous for. There must be guest musicians playing here beside the trio, plus several orchestrations, but the cover gives no clue of who they were.

What seemed to set them apart from the very beginning was their am in delivering good vocal harmonies, something most brazilian bands at the time lacked badly. Contrary to most rock bands that played only rock music, O Terço was always backing other brazilian non rock acts and among them were Sá & Guarabyra, a legendary folk-rock duo which was crucial for their future development of their sound and, most important, their vocal style.

Overall I found this work to be more interesting than really good. The sound is leaning more on the tentative side of things. The band had yet to find their own sound, even if a few hints of what they would do in the future can be found here and there, like the acoustic Longe Sem direção, Flauta and specially Velhas Estórias (penned by the aforementioned Guarabyra).

Rating: 2.5 stars. Good psychedelic brazilian rock with very good vocals, but little prog on it.That part was meant for the future releases.