LIVE AT PALACE

After some mishaps since their come back in the early 80´s the group finally released a good, even if a bit uncharacteristically, album in 1992 (Time Travelers, their first written and sung entirely in english). It conquered for them a new audience, kept most of the old one and gave the group a lot more confidence for their next project, something leader and only original member Sérgio Hinds was dreaming for a long time: a live album with an orchestra. This would be a project where the band and the orchestra would work together for the entire performance, not only to enhance some moments. Better still: the arrangements would be done by the legendary Rogério Duprat (a revolutionary arranger and maestro who had worked with several artists during the 60´s and 70´s, including O Terço). The orchestra was to be led by another great brazilian concert master, Júlio Medaglia.

So Live At The Palace was released in 1994. It was recorded during one of their concerts in São Paulo in november, 1993. The results were highly satisfactory, even if the mix of their old classics (sung in Portuguese) and their new material (in english) and the different styles make one wonder if you´re listening to two distinctive bands on the same CD. Nevertheless, the record in general is excellent, showing their tremendous musicanship and songwriting capabilities all along. There are only a couple of tracks where things don´t really work out that well: the cover of Metaformose Ambulante (meaning walking metamorphosis, written by Raul Seixas, a great brazilian popular songwriter) is completely out of place here. I still wonder why such odd choice of song when they had so many other terrific stuff left out. Hey Amigo is another: this rocker sounds better without the orchestra. However, the highs are way more numerous than those two lows.

I specially loved the long instrumental tracks: 1974 and Crucis are the album highlights, with fine interactions between band and orchestra. The 9+ minute Suíte is another great track, with lyrics added this time (written in english). The group, while not the classic line up we all hoped to see in this format, is still great, capable of reproducing the old stuff with perfection and the new one with great energy and conviction (drummer Franklin Paollilo seems specially fired up). But the star of the show is still Hinds beautiful, fluid guitar solos and licks. He is one of the most underrated rock guitarists.

The recording sound is very good and well balanced, you can hear every instrument and voice the overall production is top notch for the time.

All in all an excellent CD that, finally showed the band in their full potential after such a long time. If you don´t know O Terço yet, this a fine starting point.

Final rating: something between 4 and 4.5 stars. Highly recommended.