TERRENO BALDIO

Introduction: There was Mutantes, there was O Terço and there was one of the less known of them all, Terreno Baldio. A band that not only sounds similar with Gentle Giant, but also have great musicianship to be compared with them. Besides the unfavorable environment (brazilian dictatorship with high protectionism) they reached the sky which "the mountains come out and stand there". In other words, they created a progressive rock that worth a listen.

Album (General) - Terreno Baldio: I truly don't know how did anyone can accomplish something like this in 4-track recording, impressive. And it was Allan Kraus (former Mutantes) that did the sound engineering. In 1976, 16-track recording was pratically the default ("Tales from Topographic Oceans", in 1973, used the first 24-track machine). The album art is great, really proggy, by the way, one of the reasons of the album's delay to 1976.

Songs:

Passaro Azul - Like many prog songs, it begins with a rhythm played by few instruments, like a xylophone in this case, and the number of them rises to create the intense moment. In the song, a electric guitar in a blues style enters. And well, the lyrics is just "a blue bird that flies high". "High" i think (laughs), because psychedelic is the main characteristic of Passaro Azul. Good vocals.

Loucuras de Amor - Good Hammond's sounds. Vocals and lyrics are regular. "I will love you one more time". A little too romantic. The weakest of the album.

Despertar - Great funky/jazz groove of the Joao Ascencao's bass. The song gets intense in the middle: "And then came the time to the jump to the air", and the Roberto Lazzarini's hammond accompanies the vocals in a great way. Like the song's title says (Awakening) i think the album turns better and better from here.

Agua que corre - The song starts literally with the "water that flows" (song's title). Experimental. Keyboards's arrangement produces a creepy vibe. Here João Kurk's vocals reminds more of Sergio Dias from Mutantes: "You are like the water that runs searching your place to stop". Psychedelic.

A Volta - The guitar riff from the beginning seems like it's from a Gentle Gentle's song (too obvious, eh?) and soon after a Samba percussion starts. "Bird that flies searching a warm place". Wow, another song about birds (drugs? fetish? laughs). It must connect with Passaro Azul in some way. Hammond works great in the song.

Quando as Coisas Ganham Vida - One of the moments that i most love in music: Instrument's dialogues. Someone plays one riff, stops and other musician plays another riff. Lyrics are Yes-esque: "The day painted to clean the stars and the demons".

Este e o Lugar - Longest and the best track. The most Gentle Giant-ish too mainly because of the vocals and electric guitar. Great sounds from the Moog. "This is the place to you to dump what is left". What this place is? A wasteland (Band's name).

Grite - Well composed. The harmony reminds me of baroque music. "In the wasteland you can shout". And the vocals fades out in a peculiar way.

I will give 4 stars but i think i need more time to absorb more of this album to a final rating.

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