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José Cid - 10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte CD (album) cover

10.000 ANOS DEPOIS ENTRE VÉNUS E MARTE

José Cid

Symphonic Prog


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Steve Hegede
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars "10,000 Depois Entre Venus E Marte" is a space-influenced prog album from the mid-70's. Although the music is quite good, it does have a dated-quality to it. All of the songs are keyboard-heavy, and emphasize interplay between Moogs, piano, and Mellotron (in fact, the photo, inside the booklet, of Jose CID next to his collection of vintage keyboards will make analog-freaks drool). But the guitarist is given plenty of room to solo for long amounts of time which tends to balance things out. Jose CID also sings on several tracks in a style typical of mid-70s Italian and Spanish prog. "10,000 Depois Enter Venus E Marte" is a very satisfying album that will survive repeated listenings.
Report this review (#23349)
Posted Monday, March 22, 2004 | Review Permalink
Proghead
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Portugal isn't exactly what you call a prog rock hotbed, but perhaps the most surprising figure in the prog rock scene was that country's biggest pop star, and he went by the name of José CID. Yes, this was the guy who entered in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. Of course, by that time, the guy had little to do with prog anymore. But in 1978, that was a very different story with this, "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte". Here, he's loaded with tons of great analog keyboards like Mellotron, Mini Moog, Solina string synths, and created a sci-fi concept album about the destruction of Earth, and the two escapees returning to Earth some 10,000 years after its destruction.

Musically, it reminds me a little of such late '70s German bands, like ELOY, especially with the sci-fi concept and spacy synthesizers. The big difference here is CID chose to sing in his own language, which is a huge benefit. One big reason why Mellotron fans are going to need this album is one of the songs actually bears the title "Mellotron O Planeta Fantástico"! Can't argue with an album with such a song. Actually the first two songs, "O Ultimo dia na Terra" and "O Caos" are by far the best, most amazing pieces of music I have heard from the late '70s. Certainly the rest of the album doesn't reach those same heights, but it's truly an incredible album. It's too bad the Portuguese press decided to bury the album upon release, it certainly hurt CID big time, and that's why he turned to more conventional pop.

Report this review (#23350)
Posted Saturday, May 1, 2004 | Review Permalink
loserboy
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Jose CID is a pretty famous Portuguese musician who recorded one incredibly awesome progressive monster concept album in 1978. "10,000 Depois Entre Venus E Marte" is a space-influenced prog album featuring a ton of vintage keybords (Moogs, piano, and Mellotron). Songs and melodies are very captivating and the overall feel is highly symphonic with lots of string synths and mellotron. The Art Sublime CD also contains a rare single released in 1977 which is also very fitting and excellent work. Lyrics are sung in native Portuguese and are quite well done. The guitar work on this album is also amazing and works well with the keyboards... fans of spacey French symphonic rock will love this one.
Report this review (#23351)
Posted Monday, May 17, 2004 | Review Permalink
Prognut
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Who am I? to argue with all the previous reviews..

This one to me came from nowhere!! Love at first sight, yes at first sight. When I got this one on the mail, I thought I had made a big mistake, ordering actually an LP; well I said, keep it and someday when my turntable is fixed I'll enjoyed...surprise! surprise! when I open the cover I found the CD packed inside...very clever my friends!. In other words is an LP pack, with a CD inside, Fantastic!!

Now, from the first note I was blown away! The music...a superb 51 minutes of Keys Masterpiece, drench with mini-mogg and mellotron, with a good dose of guitar; indeed, sound like Germany output late 70's with that vintage taste of 70's progressive music. My highest recommendation, especially for the lovers of Symphonic-spacey material that came from Germany or even France, during that time.... lyrics are in Portuguese and even...I believe there are some French??? mixed in there....

Report this review (#23357)
Posted Saturday, June 5, 2004 | Review Permalink
arnaldosmp@sa
4 stars This album show symphonic rock from Portugal. In seventies, Portugal hade a little movement of prog rock. This is one of the best. Lots of keyboards (moog and mellotron). A story of this album is about the future and show the people on earth goes to another planet (a mellotron planet) between Venus and Mars. Listen and you have a very good experience of symphonic rock!
Report this review (#23363)
Posted Thursday, January 20, 2005 | Review Permalink
tryout_wah@ya
4 stars I'm portuguese and i can tell you that the notion we have of our own music is extremely outdated and it has been so for quite some time. That, along with the pratically non existing support from labels and other established artists, lead to the absolut unawareness that an artist such as José Cid, who unfortunatly is best known for uninterresting pop tunes with a sort of an ethereal and mythical feel to it, are not rigthfully rewarded for the most meaningfull work they produce. We are used to having a very light aproach to everything that we do and unfortunately that is also the case in all sorts of cultural matters. They rarely have the atention and credit they should have. That's why an album of excellent conception by an extraordinary artist such as this is forgotten and by doing so they 'kill' the artist. I found out about this album trough an afternoon tv show. One of those only old ladies and house keepers watch while waiting for the soap opera to start. I was never that much interrested in Jose Cid's work up until then and now I'm a fan. This is trully a masterpiece not only for portuguese music but for any prog music made anywhere around the world. We do have tallented and smart people making music here. but the ones who are supposed to be listening are not that smart and they have no idea of what to look for in a song or in an album. 'Singalong' is king here and most singalong songs are terrible here. It's a shame we have lo live somewhere where we feel sorry for those we know are good but are not allowed a propper way of showing their work to the ones who are really interested in it. To me there is no such thing as a music business in Portugal, and if there is, it's nothing more than a business. Poor José. Still... way to go.
Report this review (#23365)
Posted Thursday, April 28, 2005 | Review Permalink
forever20_77@
5 stars This is the definitive masterpiece of Portuguese Progressive Rock. It's spacey, moody, agressive, nostalgic and truly conceptual. The story is interesting and naïve (like some of the 70's sci-fi movies...).

Note that this is far superior to Eloy releases. The big comparison would be, IMHO, with another masterpiece: Pulsar - The Strands of the Future (1976).

"10000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte" is a milestone of progressive rock history and universally acclaimed as one of the finest albums of the 70's.

By the way, the bonus track " Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)" is a mini-epic (12:41) that fits very well with the rest of the album, although it's from a 1977 (extremely rare) EP.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Report this review (#40514)
Posted Wednesday, July 27, 2005 | Review Permalink
Kotro
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars 4.5 actually. Definitly a progressive rock masterpiece by portuguese standarts, although no more than a excellent addition in the worldwide progressive rock panorama. A bit dated, but if you, like me, got to meet the "pop king" José Cid (the portuguese Elton John, although apparently straight) before discovering his early works, than this a real treat. It is very good quality space/symphonic prog, and the portuguese lyrics don't sound as bad as they tend to.
Report this review (#55986)
Posted Friday, November 11, 2005 | Review Permalink
5 stars "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte" is a concept album and deals with the destruction of the Earth from the usual (wars, pollution). A Man and a Woman escapes in a spaceship only to return to Earth some 10,000 years later to find the planet returned to her former beauty. A rare vinyl of this album values at least 1500 ? and this album is in the list of 100 better albuns of always of Progressive Rock.

1. O Ultimo Dia Terra - 5/5

2. O Caos - 5/5

3. Fuga Para O Espaco - 5/5

4. Mellotron O Planeta Fantastico - 5/5

5. 10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venu E Marte - 5/5

6. A Partir Do Zero - 4.5/5

7. Memos 4/5

Final Note: "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte" is simply brilliant, excellent musically and lyricall and a special referency to the keyboards and the excellent dose of guitar solos that the band and José Cid execute. Highly Recommended! Pink Floyd and Camel ( Peter Bardens) fans will love it!

5+5+5+5+5+4.5+4 = 33,5

33,5 = 4,7

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music

Curiosity: Unsurprisingly ( or not) , "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte " was a big flop in Portugal, and it apparently hurt José Cid, so he went the more commercial Portuguese pop ( pimba ) route after that album.

Report this review (#56021)
Posted Saturday, November 12, 2005 | Review Permalink
josegoncalo@c
5 stars A fantastic Album. Thank you Mr. Cid for give us what you did so well. José Cid is a great musician, a great keyboard player and a great singer. In the fhotos we can see a minimoog, a clavinet D6, two mellotrons, a fender rhodes mkII, a solina string ensemble and i think on the floor a roland sh 1000. That means that Mr. Cid was in that time on the front of tecnology and know how. The music i like most i "vida sons do quotidiano" his voice in this music is incredible. The musicians who worked with him are very good and are still the best studio musicians in lisbon on this days. Thanks. J.G.
Report this review (#66643)
Posted Wednesday, January 25, 2006 | Review Permalink
chamberry
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars At first I was very curious about this album because of all of the good reviews. This is avery enjoyable album and a really accesible one, you can pop this into your cd or mp3 player and apreciate it from the first spin. It has some very catchy tunes and a very hard rocking sound to it. The album also has a lot of keyboards but in good use so that it won't sound plastic or childish like other bands. Jose Cid is also a great singer too, not in range but in melody.

Great concept, excelent music and musicianchip, very catchy melodies, hard rocking sound. One can't even tell that this album was made in 1978, it sounds more like a prog album from the "golden age". Credits go for mister Cid for making a great prog album while other bands where goin downhill at that time.

An excellent addition to any prog music collection.

Report this review (#68603)
Posted Monday, February 6, 2006 | Review Permalink
valdiviesso@g
5 stars I know this album through the "rare and very expansive" original LP I proudly own and which it's not for sale, by the way. It's an absolute masterpiece of Prog, a hymn to vintage keyboards, a symphonic milestone for European music in the 70's. It's a shame Portuguese social and cultural atmosphere at that time wasn't ready for such a revelation, which led the artist to pursue a career in pop and to earn his living in small village concerts during popular festivities.
Report this review (#70309)
Posted Thursday, February 23, 2006 | Review Permalink
ffilipes@hotm
3 stars Make a review about the only progrocker here in Portugal is a little bit strange... I remember ear it back in the early 80's in my father's stereo. Jose Cid is someone I recognise more from the dubious quality pop (here we call it "pimba" music), than from quality prog rock. The album is full of sounds from vintage keyboards, sometimes without logical connection (it seems that Cid's first concern was to show his skills and his collection of keyboards.). It is a conceptual album, well produced with some moments of good music. Out of time, this is a typical Portuguese effort: good packing with little substance. Although, his historical value is undeniable, here in a country where music is absolutely uninteresting (the kind of music Cid will later succumb), the album is overrated. To those who don't know Cid's later work, I give an example with an excerpt of a "pimba" lyric: "ike the monkey likes banana/I like you/I hide some beneath the bed/and I eat it/eat it" Is this the kind of "poetry" that Jose Cid makes these days.
Report this review (#70647)
Posted Monday, February 27, 2006 | Review Permalink
erik neuteboom
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This album by Portuguese keyboardplayer/singer Jose Cid has a kind of 'cult-status' among the Tron-maniacs. Many years ago I listened to the album but I was not really impressed. Because of the huge amount of sheer euphoric reviews on this site, I decided to give this album a second chance (thanks to Portuguese proghead Roger Silva (obrigado!), I got the opportunity to listen to it).

After a first listening session I know why I was not impressed at first: this is a very varied album and it is not layered with Trons as you might expect. The climates ranges from mellow with spacey synthesizers to up-tempo rock with distorted electric guitar. The Portuguese vocals sound very warm and all compositions are tasteful arranged with pleasant work on piano, some sensitive and howling electric guitar soli and frequently the majestic sound of the choir-Mellotron (my favorite one), subtle or surprisingly blended with the melodic and pleasant progrock Jose Cid has created.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL, OFTEN COMPELLING PROGROCK EXPERIENCE!

Report this review (#81005)
Posted Monday, June 12, 2006 | Review Permalink
3 stars After sixty years of fascism in Potugal that lead portuguese society into a hole... the country seems to see the light in terms of music!... José Cid passed into jazz, bossa nova, rock and pop and this album culminates all his experience at the time! I'm still amazed with his work (and Tantra's work) because Portugal is a strange land to acept very elaborated music!...

The musicians like Ramon Gallarza still on musical scene, Zé Nabo still a great bassist and Mike still work with José Cid. 10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte is (sadlly) just a passage or a phase of their lifes. The album is very interessant, knowing of the poor possibilites of that time in Portugal. I'm very proud of him cause they had the courage sing in portuguese, witch is a difficult thing in many aspects.

José Cid's work is not a imported thing! He breathe from inside to outside, in the use of some ethnical portuguese work in "future music". We could say that the space trip he made lead of Portugal into space!

Who knows if there will be another prog jouney in to space from Portugal...

Report this review (#102290)
Posted Saturday, December 9, 2006 | Review Permalink
5 stars In the 1970's, Portugal was the wrong land for modernisms and avant-garde feelings, thanks to fifty years of dictatorship through the fascism of Salazar, that brought many problems to many people, (musicians included), through the censorship. After the revolution, Portugal was the true "Neverland" of Progressive Music. When you hear that there is a Portuguese album among Billboard's Top 100 progressive albums, an album made in the 1970's, and that it was a José Cid you can get KO for some seconds. But there's more to come. If you try to guess the artist behind the album, surely José Cid would be the last one you will say. If you are given some clues about the musician/band, you might think about Cid for a very brief moment, but you instantly turn down that option. That's due to the recent musical tendencies of José Cid who unfortunately abandoned the progressive influences, and was almost obliged to continue his career through a pop orientated path, regarded since then as a ballad musician. For prog music appreciators happiness, he experienced a very futuristic attitude in a country where that was uncommon in the first years of true freedom since the 1920's. Cid has also shown some of this even in the dictatorship, when his former group (Quarteto 1111) had an album completely scratched by the "blue pencil", except for one song, for "the good of the nation". The problem was also about what music was really, and Portugal's letargic state in terms of music industry. Orfeu, the label of the album, didn't initially want to publish the album because it wasn't commercial enough! The cover and the insert were too much expensive. So Cid abdicated from the royalties to contribute to "10000 anos." publication. To add another problem, the whole side two of the album was deleted accidentally, therefor needing to be re-recorded.

"10000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte" is an album where the keyboards are omnipresent from the beginning to the finish, especially with the mellotron having a great role, and the album is a completely masterpiece of its use, and a required album in the collection of any mellotron fan. One song has the title "Mellotron, O Planeta Fantástico", and it's really fantastic, and we can say that the chemical element of that song and planet is the mellotron, after the destruction of the Earth. So, it's a very sweet piece of sugar for the lovers of the mellotron, and that's what leads the album to the status of great progressive work, and to our consideration and billboard's top too. Through the album José Cid is amazingly accompanied by José Nabo, Ramon Gallarza and Mike Sergeant, that contributed significantly to make the album, a great album. Lyrically, the story of leaving and returning to the planet 10000 years later is exposed in a fantastic way through the lyrics, and is very well illustrated in the pictures that are present in the editions of the album with the lyrics in Portuguese and its translation to English. The bonus track that ends the CD edition is the EP "Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)", released a year before the album itself, and that fits well on the album, giving an epic finish to it, as a song that uses many effects that represents the "daily sounds" (Sons do Quotidiano), from the birth of an human being (we hear a doctor speaking), to the death (a car crash). It was a really good idea, as the EP is even more difficult to find than this LP.

In the beginning of the album, we hear a sudden start provided by the mellotron and its famous choir sound. This beginning is the shadow of what will happen in the rest of the song and the album, a wonderful use of this instrument. Then, "O Caos" comes and it's the fastest song of the album. The song has a middle section which is slower and contrasts with the other parts, where Cid sings more melancholic lyrics which refers to the destruction and tells that the dream of Humanity is gone, and their incapacity to solve this cataclysm. Mike Sergeant makes his appearance and plays a good guitar solo. The longest track "Fuga para o Espaço", starts with just piano and the other instruments come later. This song clearly reminds me Pink Floyd: from the guitar solos by Zé Nabo (amazing performance in the whole album) which are made in David Gilmour's style, to the vocal performance by Cid, where his screams remind "The Great Gig in the Sky". The next track shows Cid's keyboards including the mellotron that gave the name to the planet and the song. A good guitar solo in the middle. Recently, Cid has surprised many fans by playing this one live. The title track is greatly instrumental, this time almost only with keyboards. The lyrics tell about the (re)start of civilization. In "A Partir do Zero", they start from the zero as the title says, reborning and reconstruction civilization. The keyboards are the makers of this one. The end comes with "Memos", which is the same thing that is in the end section of "Fuga Para o Espaço". Considering this point and the title (that is close to memória, Portuguese for memory), I interpret this song as when the man and woman remember the painful moments when they had to leave the Earth, ten thousand years ago. This masterpiece ends this way, remembering the past.

This album deserves 5 stars because of this I mentioned. This is a masterpiece of mellotron and keyboards, and so it's also a prog masterpiece, from a prog artist that is gone, and that was invisible here, in his home country on that decade, and only appeared with pop-orientated works. But works like this one stay between the fans forever, to be listened and appreciated and to gives us very good moments.

Report this review (#125933)
Posted Friday, June 15, 2007 | Review Permalink
4 stars Portugal isn't exactly where progressive music of any kind has been thriving. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Being a native, I could tell you in a thousand different ways how believing in one's music regardless of the risk of not being commercially accepted is the exception rather than the norm. In this case, José Cid is certainly an extreme case of going from one end of the spectrum all the way to the other.

After a few years testing the waters during the hey day of classic prog, he released what many believe to be a landmark progressive rock album in 1978, entitled "10,000 Anos Entre Vénus e Marte". The critical acclaim was so at odds with what he believed was the true value of his work, that prog rocker José Cid seemed to die right there and then. From the ashes, rose a pop singer/songwriter of the same name who, a mere two years later, partook in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest. From then on, he has been enjoying a prolific career to this day, with no trace of prog whatsoever.

But what really matters here is the prog and what a godforsaken album "10,000 Anos..." is. Case in point: if mellotrons are your thing and Moogs, pianos and string synths don't hurt a bit, then this album is for you. Cid was a sucker, at least back then, for vintage keyboards and he put his huge rig to good use on this record. Right from the get-go, on opening track "O Último Dia na Terra", Cid sets an enigmatic tone soon to be joined by the drums and bass, building up a slow and sombre melody complete with monotonic vocals from Cid himself. Fans of Chroma Key will probably sense deja-vu, except when this came out Kevin Moore was probably still getting his nose wiped.

Things get a lot more rhytmic right on the second track, "O Caos". And boy, this is a rocker. In true progressive fashion, the mood alternates wildly between melodic synth, roaring big riff guitar and elegant guitar soloing. The spirits are lifted from that quirky opener and the listener's head will inevitably bob back and forth. Drummer Ramon Galarza shows amazing restraint playing solely for the song, being especially groovy during the brief moments of guitar noodling. All the while, soft synths in the background form the basis for the dreamlike quality of the entire record and this track is no exception. Cid had no boundaries, only his vision of what keyboard driven prog rock should sound like. I describe this track at length as it may well be the strongest of the lot.

It's probably interesting to note at this point that all lyrics are in Portuguese and they work quite well, much for the same reason symphonic Italian prog goes down so well with english speaking audiences. The two languages have the same root in Latin and their "musicality" is quite similar. Of course it helps that Cid has a good voice, something he still sports to this day. It's also important to point out we're in the presence of a conceptual album, again in reliable prog fashion, this time dealing with affairs within our own planet (located between Venus and Mars last time I checked) from a science fiction point of view (well, he better, since we're dealing with matters ten thousand years from now).

Things proceed with "Fuga Para o Espaço", clocking in at a little over eight minutes, making use of beautiful piano interleaved with synth to create a moody piece that gains emotion as the Gilmour-like guitar sets in and solos freely and wholeheartedly. Emotion and feeling are key words here. A beautiful piece right before the Genesis influences get more evident in the next track which goes by the suggestive name of "Mellotron, O Planeta Fantástico" (Mellotron, The Fantastic Planet). An infectious and grooving bass line sets the tone for almost seven minutes full of the inevitable Mellotron, twists and turns galore. While this is indeed a keyboard driven album, one must heavily underline Zé Nabo's guitar and bass work on pretty much every track. His soloing is drenched in emotion, fitting the music and never wearing out its welcome. And while we're at it, "Memos" reminds me so much of Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" for all the right reasons and that's where Nabo soars to the highest heights on this record.

The title track and "A Partir do Zero" follow the same keyboard-driven path laid out before, openly tapping to the Genesis and Eloy influences for good measure. The album closes with "Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)", which is quite funny if you understand the lyrics as it contains voice samples of a surgeon narrating in detail the birth of a baby. This was part of a previously released EP and seems to work more like a bonus track, but it nevertheless works pretty well. The sound is noticeably a little different, a little more raw, a little patchwork, but pretty much paving the way for what was soon to come.

It's a most unfortunate circumstance that Cid decided to pursue a radically different path for whatever reasons. Clocking it at a perfect 50 minutes, this is pretty much the only significant true classic prog rock release ever to come out of Portugal, but one that stands unashamedly alongside the best work done in prog's golden decade.

Report this review (#137982)
Posted Thursday, September 13, 2007 | Review Permalink
Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This really has been a joy to listen to this past week. Beautiful, melodic and often drifting music, with those warm Portuguese vocals that remind me of some of the Italian vocals I like. There should be a warning label about the mellotron though, because those mellotron choirs are intoxicating, and they are all over this album.

"O Ultimo Dia Terra" opens with a blast of mellotron. It takes a minute to really get going as mellotron, drums and synths start off quietly and build. Vocals are reserved almost ELOY-like, while the mellotron is so heavenly. It's all over this song. Great start. "O Caos" is an uptempo track with a good rhythm. Vocals with floods of mellotron. A tasteful guitar solo before 2 1/2 minutes. A calm a minute later as spacey synths and vocals lead the way. The full sound returns with a more aggressive guitar solo. "Fuga Para O Espaco" opens with piano, light drums and synths. Waves of synths continue as a beautiful lazy guitar solo follows. Nice. Vocals 2 minutes in are very expressive and Italian-like. Another guitar solo 4 1/2 minutes in as vocals follow. Piano continues. The best guitar solo is saved for last as it soars above the drums and piano. Vocal melodies go on and on with the guitar.

"Mellotron O'Planeta Fantastico" opens with a great instrumental section with tempo changes. It calms down with vocals after 2 minutes. Mellotron before 3 minutes as bass and guitar follow. The contrast continues. "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte" features beautiful spacey sounds with vocals arriving 3 minutes in. "Parter Do Zero" features swirling keys as mellotron and drums create a great sound. Synths, bass then vocals come in. Instrumentally this is just gorgeous. "Memos" opens with drums and piano before the guitar comes in and goes on and on with vocal melodies joining in like on the end of "Fuga Para O Espaco". "Vida(Sons Do Quotidiano)" is a bonus track that fits perfectly. Piano with someone speaking and mellotron to open. Gale force mellotron continues as passionate vocals come in as the tempo picks up. The same themes are repeated. The conclusion is so relaxing as it drifts endlessly with mellotron and synths.

Well, if your looking for complex and challenging music look elsewhere. If your into tasteful, melodic and classy music with lots of mellotron, you need to take this recording for a ride. Easily 4 stars.

Report this review (#155538)
Posted Saturday, December 15, 2007 | Review Permalink
CCVP
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars The lonely prog rock album of a successful Portuguese pop artist, and it rocks!

I gotta say that this album always impresses me for three basic reasons: 1) It IS a very good album 2) It's a Portuguese album recorded in the 70's (at that time Portugal was very poor due to its great military expenses maintaining its overseas colonies in Africa) 3) José Cid is actually a pop rock artist (something that can be proven listening to his other solo releases and / or his albums with Quarteto 1111 prior to Onde, Quando, Como, Porquê, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas). Both the instrumental and the lyrical works are very good, besides the great difference between the portuguese spoken in Brazil and in Portugal.

The music made here by José Cid is symphonic in nature, but the lyrics are more fitting in a space rock album. That is because, in the concept of 10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte, the Earth is apparently doomed due to humanity's actions and so some humans escape the Earth and search for a new planet to live. 10,000 years later, the humans that escaped Earth were still searching for a planet to live until they find a planet between Venus and Mars, where they start everything from the beginning.

One interesting thing with the album I have is that it does not have the bonus track Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano). At first i was quite disappointed, but now i realize that its better without it for 2 reasons: 1) the track doesn't fit the concept 2) It makes the album too long for its own good. However, if you have the opportunity, listen that song because it is quite good.

However, there are some drawbacks here. The biggest one is the pronunciation. The portuguese spoken in Portugal is very different from the portuguese spoken in Brazil, besides being written the exactly same way, and that makes the lyrics to be a lot harder to comprehend, to understand. The other drawback is technological: the mellotron and the synthesizers sound old, dated.

Grade and Final Thoughts

This album is a very good product from the 70's and is one of the few representatives of the Portuguese prog rock from the 70's. However, its grade is 4.5 stars.

Report this review (#183238)
Posted Monday, September 22, 2008 | Review Permalink
ProgShine
COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars 01. O Ultimo Dia Na Terra Shout! Silence! Sounds! The bumbo ... marks the beginning of music, vocalizations to the bottom and a synthesizer well headed in the background. The voice of Jose entirely in Portuguese (Portugal) is very well sung, and the letters are very well made. The concept leads us to a science-fiction in the style of Super Man (I am not surprised if the whole concept has been taken of the story.) The guitars are well played by Joe Turnip (that name!).

02. O Caos The guitar is an original charm. And the tones of keyboards that fill the disc only pave the way for a disk-space. Then enter a guitar divine a strange time. This to me is the highlight of the disc. Sensational voice with charming Portuguese accent. The space rock caused by the keyboard is a delight. The second part of the music is very beautiful that you then return to start for the basis of a great guitar break. Epic so sensational.

03. Fuga Para O Espaço Beginning of a beautiful piano, synthesizers and mellotrons, low fat. Jose invites us to take a tour of the ship by fleeing to escape and start a new life. Sensacional the symphonic arrangement for the song. The guitars of the whole disc is a case the party, also here in this beautiful land. Beautiful voice also folded. The vocalizations The Great la Gig In The Sky leaves give the final.

04. Mellotron O Planeta Fantastico That introduction of low! Wow! Beautiful tone and riff, drums and guitar together wha-wha. Why then the instrument that gives its name from the band in action, you then divide the area again. The parades make me remember to follow a sound that I can not remember exactly who it is. The vocals are very beautiful in a sad lament.

05. 10,000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte Instrumental with influences of Camel (only missed the flutes). Vocals and keyboards simply duplicates superb tell us that everything can start ...

06. A Partir Do Zero ... From scratch again. Tones and more tones, tons of them. Keyboards for all corners, sharp band playing the theme at your fingertips and very precise.

07. Memos Memos is a song of passage of the most beautiful, full of Floyd influence here.

Simply this unforgettable 10,000 Years Later Between Venus and Mars, a conceptual disc (the best) and that the difference is the voice in the native language Portuguese, which is the charm.

www.progshine.com

Report this review (#196895)
Posted Friday, January 2, 2009 | Review Permalink
4 stars I've never heard Jose Cid's Pop music, and i'm afraid to try it... i don't want anything to taint my perception of this great album.

The songs have a floating, slow-motion atmosphere and a dream-like feeling similar to Eloy's 'Ocean'... but Cid's vocals are much better. The sound is somewhat comparable to Pink Floyd at times as well. Cid's synth overload dominates every track... stacks and stacks of Moogs, Mellotron, Arps and 'who knows what else' are heavily multi-tracked and layered until they create a true synthetic symphony.

The rhythm section is very good, and reserved... they simply lay back in the pocket and let Cid's voice and synth playing take the spotlight. Zé Nabo's bass in particular is very tight and often bathed in a beautiful shimmery chorus effect.

The spacey opener 'O Ultimo Dia Terra' is the highlight of the album... even at only 4 and a half minutes it creates a vast epic atmosphere. The main vocal melody is beautiful and compelling... and when a Mellotron choir join in with him it's an absolutely magical and ethereal moment. This is a rare perfect song; Jose Cid's masterstroke.

'O Caos' loses the magic, but only momentarily... i feel this song is the one misstep on the album. There are some disco-beat sections that make me cringe, while the rest is a failed up-tempo rock song featuring a downright ugly sounding distorted guitar riff... just bad. There is a decent quiet section about 4 minutes in, but not enough to save this song... this is the lowpoint.

The remainder of the album is stellar: 'Mellotron O Planeta Fantastico' has some excellent Eloyian guitar parts and fiery Moog solos. 'Fuga Para O Espaco', and it's reprise 'Memos', are more Floydian and remind me A LOT of 'The Great Gig in the Sky', especially the wordless shrieking vocals on Memos.

'A Partir Do Zero' is the second best song on the album and contains some of the greatest (and most memorable) Moog parts i've ever heard... this is such a brilliant and unique composition that it's really indescribable. Like 'O Ultimo Dia Terra' this song is very short, but every second is perfect and paints an immense lasting image of drifting in deep space.

10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venu E Marte is a remarkable album, and has only one lesser song keeping it from being a 5-star masterpiece. I think any Space Rock fan could easily get into this, and most Symphonic Prog fans could as well.

Report this review (#204700)
Posted Saturday, February 28, 2009 | Review Permalink
5 stars A great album of this Portuguese musician. I realy don't like the other albuns because they are a comercial songs and nothing special in progressive world but this are a masterpiece. He don't believe that this albun is a great work and all progressive listeners now his work. Very epic with a sound very powerfull with a psichedelic story very usual in this time. He is a good keiboards player and this album show us a great space sound very advanced in Portugal in this time. I hyave 3 different editions of this album. The Portuguese edition that are nothing special, a Corean edition in digipack made by M2U editions with a great record sound and an edition with LP side and a cartoon book inside but not with vinil but with cd and I think that just a few persons now this last editions. Great work with a very good vocal and some nice guitars and soberb keyboard, that made a masterpiece very rare in this country. One of my favourites.
Report this review (#240666)
Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 | Review Permalink
5 stars Amazing stuff here! I'm Portuguese so obviously I know (although I try to avoid it at all costs) the kind of horrible and unispired pop music Mr. Cid has been doing for the last three decades. Therefore it's really surprising (in a very very positive way) to hear what he was doing before giving up and trying to earn some money the easy way!

This album is absolutely stunning. Excellent classic prog (despite being released a few years after the golden age of progressive music), not difficult to get into at all. It's mainly a symphonic album with some space rock (floydian space rock in fact). The concept is also very much in the style of space rock bands, describing a trip to the space to escape the end of the world. All songs are at least very good. The majority of them are symphonic prog (with a lot of mellotron), but there is also a straight rock one ("O Caos") or even Portugal's version of "The Great Gig In The Sky" ("Memos").

Definitely 5 stars. A masterpiece made in the middle of the desert that was Portugal at the time! The only complaint is the length (too short...) but that really isn't enough to stop this being an essential work.

Report this review (#241775)
Posted Sunday, September 27, 2009 | Review Permalink
Ivan_Melgar_M
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars 2.5 stars really

Around 1980, when I left the radio I was helping in (because the became a POP station instead of Classic Rock), the owner gave me several Prog albums that he didn't cared about and/or didn't needed for the station, among this LP's I received "10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte" (10,000 Years Later Between Venus and Mars) by JOSE CID, then I noticed this guy had several releases and asked for them, but the musical editor told me that the others were in the line of the radio (in other words plain POP).

So took it and listened it at home in my old but reliable "Dual turntable", what a disappointment, the album in my opinion is less than average, to be honest it was not a terrible album, but I imagined hat it could sound like other Portuguese artists as PETRUS CASTRUS who released the fantastic "Mestre" and "Ascenção e Queda", but there's no comparison.

So threw it in the pack of forgotten albums, and never cared about it again. A few months ago I read the reviews about this album in Prog Archives and all were so good that gave a second chance to JOSE CID, but my opinion hasn't changed at all, it sounds as a hybrid between Symphonic, POP and Space Rock, well played but lack of greatness.

The greatest problem is in the vocals, JOSE CID reminds me of those artists with fake accent who try to sing in their native language but sounding as an English or North American vocalist (read MIGUEL RIOS from Spain), Portuguese is such a beautiful and warm language that you need to listen he songs with the full native accent and JOSE CID tries to hide it.

There are some excellent moments as the PINK FLOYD influenced "Fuga Para O Espaco" which is really inpressive and the fantastic (but short() instrumental "Memos",. full of drama and good taste, but other terrible ones like "Mellotron O Planeta Fantastico" (The Fantastic Planet Mellotron), which has nice (even when excessive) use of Mellotron, but the organ sounds terrible, as if CID was using a cheap "Casio".

The guy has good ideas, and obviously he's a well trained musician but sounds like a POP musician trying to show the world he can simultaneously play as many different keyboards as any Prog artist, without knowing when to use Moog and when to stop using too much Mellotron, so all his efforts are lost with his lack of depth and the cheesy use of different synths.

Not bad, not good, simply average, so 3 stars is the most I can give to this release, a rating that would be lower if we were allowed to use half stars.

Report this review (#244940)
Posted Friday, October 16, 2009 | Review Permalink
Marty McFly
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars He!

Symphonic Synth Prog Rock of grandiose kind which is done by supposedly Portugese pop rock star. Well, lyrics (and vocals) are good, good enough to be pleasant and not to sound bad as with Petrus Castrus (even I quite like this band). After (how people colloquially call it) $hitload of Symphonic Prog today (about 15 Symph. albums heard today), I would say this is just another album of this kind, of very special value, very great quality, extremely Symphonic, exactly as we like it.

But what's so special about it ? How can we compare it ? How to determine final rating ? Well well well, let's figure it out while typing these words.

It's easy. Even when we compare superb album to other superb album, they can be different. Even mostly in little things. For example Fuga Para O Espaco is extremely exceptional track, because (it's common that in these comparisons that there will be a lot of positive adjectives) it's quite hard to be so pleasantly symphonic, but not cheesy. And not only this, this record as whole sounds so great that it's hard to think about certain tracks only, maybe also because it's a concept album. Even sung in language I don't know (Brazillia hello), I somehow feel it.

5(-) and exactly as I feel tempted to give high rating, I will do so because (as I say) when I stumble over something of great value, sheer impact this has on every human living being that can feel magic of this album, well, I'm breathless.§

Good one José (my father's nickname)

Report this review (#279285)
Posted Saturday, April 24, 2010 | Review Permalink
Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This classy concept album by Jose Cid is an excellent mostly-instrumental symphonic prog piece with a strong space rock influence in the guitar parts. Like Bo Hansson, another pop keyboardist who turned his hand to producing prog solo albums, Cid does not use the album purely as an ego trip - he knows when his (well-played) keyboards need to be at front and centre, and when he needs to step aside to let another instrumentalist take the lead. In particular, Zé Nabo's excellent guitar contributions - reminiscent of Dave Gilmour's work at points - enhance the album notably. Cid is also adept at using both newer synthesisers and classic prog stalwarts like the Mellotron, and shows great taste in choosing which to use when and blending the new and the old.

It might have sounded a bit retro even in 1978, but 10,000 Anos is a fine album - and whilst it might have been the only solo prog effort by Cid, it's one that I can listen to over and over again.

Report this review (#558260)
Posted Friday, October 28, 2011 | Review Permalink
5 stars On a personal note I was amazed a copy of the original vinyl record fetches over $11,000usd among collectors!! 3,000 copies only ever made!

The lyrics are extremely poetic when it comes to the subject at hand: The voyage of man to achieve a better existence.

The voice unifies the music almost in unison.

10,000 years after the auto destruction of mankind a man and a woman return to earth to recolonize it.

The tone of the musics is one of contemplation over the mistakes mankind has done (and is doing) and a sign of hope for future generations.

Ahead of his time in the 70's "and still today" the lyrics empower a vision of hope for our existence on this planet.

Jose Cid has many great works. I became a fan recently and am amazed at the genius of this irreverent musician! He is a musician that ignores the establishment and produces what he wants, from crap Popular Music to Master Pieces like this one and others.

This is a classic and will continue to be evermore!

Hopefully one day he will re-edit and sing it in English for the world to hear the beauty of the lyrics.

Report this review (#560500)
Posted Monday, October 31, 2011 | Review Permalink
stefro
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars For those not yet in the know Jose Cid was Portugal's grand godfather of pop...and folk, and rock, and, for a brief while during the mid-to-late 1970's, progressive rock. His overall contribution to the genre was limited, yet that didn't stop him from producing one of the genre's cult items in the form of this quaint yet much-loved slice of synthesized space-rock. A concept album, '10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte' arrived pretty late to the prog-rock party - 1978 no less - yet still managed to rack up impress sales figures in both Cid's homeland and throughout Spain and, to some degree, across mainland Europe. Non-Portugese speakers, of course, will have difficulty deciphering the album's story, yet thanks to some startlingly inventive music, it doesn't really matter. This is an album chock full of dreamy mellotron runs, ethereal acoustic moments, Cid's yearning vocals and neon-kissed guitar solos, whilst also featuring a truly cosmic atmosphere. It's a fairly short album, running at just over 38 minutes, yet when listened to from beginning to end it seems to stretch out for a lot longer thanks to the many fluid instrumental passages that bring to mind elements of 'Meddle'-era Floyd, touches of Klaus Schulze-style synthadelia and Cid's own folk background. Maybe occasionally '10,000 Anos...' delves into slightly poppy territory, and if the whole affair may well sound a tad dated to some ears the album does, for the most, prove pretty captivating listening. Opening piece 'O Ultimo Dia Na Tera' sets the standard, as pulses of gleaming keyboards and shimmering guitars swirl into a grand cosmic mesh, though the real highlights prove to be both the excellent 'Fuga Para O Espaco', which features a soaring guitar solo as its centre-piece and the self-explanatory 'Mellotron O Planeta Fantastico', which pins dense mellotron washes over yet more impressive guitar work and is, funnily enough, pretty fantastico. The fact that Cid would take such a stylistic detour to produce this lushly epic work - he would revert back to producing simpler pop product soon after - speaks volumes about this highly revered Iberian musician, both in terms of his musical ambition and his technical ability. The real joker in the Jose Cid career pack, '10,000 Anos...' proves a dreamy psychedelic opus, mixing prog-rock flourishes and space- rock atmospherics into an science-fiction fused whole that should delight all true prog-rock fans. Surely one of the great European albums of the 1970s, this is heady and highly enjoyable stuff indeed. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012
Report this review (#861526)
Posted Saturday, November 17, 2012 | Review Permalink
5 stars Acordding to Billboard, This Album is One Of The 100 Best Prog Rock Albums ever recorded.

This Concept Album Is Based in the destruction of the Earth by the mankind. 10.000 years after mankind's self-destruction, a man and a woman travelling in space return to Earth to repopulate it. The tone of the lyrics is of contemplation over mankind's past mistakes and future hopes. In this Album we can find influences by bands Like The Moody Blues and Pink Floyd. The translation of the album's name is "10,000 Years Later Between Venus and Mars". For the most of critics is the best album ever recorded in Portugal

Report this review (#880896)
Posted Sunday, December 23, 2012 | Review Permalink
VianaProghead
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars Review Nº 101

"10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte" is the only solo progressive rock album of José Cid, as a solo artist, and it was released in 1978. Beyond it, he made another progressive rock experience, "Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)", an EP released one year before, in 1977. The line up on the album is José Cid, Mike Sergeant, Zé Nabo and Ramon Galarza.

If you're American or if you were born in other part of the world, the name José Cid might not mean much to you. But if you're from Portugal, you know him as one of the biggest names of the Portuguese pop music. But there was a short time, in the 70's, where he was exploring the progressive rock music, relying heavily on the mellotron and synthesizers. He co-founded Quarteto 1111, the real first band to take a new approach to the rock music in Portugal, with a modern line up and instrumentation. As a solo artist, his own solo LP, "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte", was perhaps Cid at his finest moment during his progressive rock phase, a phase in his musical career. He didn't pursue it any further, since progressive rock by this time had pretty much reached a dead end just about in everywhere, and since there wasn't much competition in Portugal for this kind of music. Tantra was one of the other few progressive acts from Portugal, in those times. So, it's simple to wonder why this is considered, by many, the finest progressive rock act from Portugal. Regardless everything, Cid was basically the daddy of the Portuguese modern pop music and of the Portuguese progressive rock, since he was there from the start playing covers of the 50's American rock and roll music.

"10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte" is a conceptual album based in a very simple sci-fi story by Cid. The story is set about 10.000 years after the mankind's self-destruction in Planet Earth, where a man and a woman are travelling in space to returning to Earth to repopulate it. The lyrics are very simple and contemplate the past mistakes and future hopes of all mankind and the hope to correct it in the future. In addition to the auditory component, the artwork of the album is accompanied by beautiful illustrations that tell us the stories set in each track of the album.

Musically, this is very much a spacey album that reminds a little of Pink Floyd and Eloy, especially their album Ocean, except the fact that Cid had the sense to sing in his native tongue, the Portuguese. This whole album is a vintage keyboard lover's dream come true. The gatefold features Mr. Cid standing next to his assortment of keyboards, which includes a piano, two Mellotrons, a Hohner clavinet, a Mini Moog, and several keyboards that I couldn't recognize all.

About the tracks, the first two songs "O Último Dia Na Terra" and "O Caos" are nothing short than two incredible pieces. The mellotron choir sound has got to be heard to be believed. I just love the spacey sci-fi sound that sounds so to the 70's. And if you're a mellotron fan, like me, you can't argue with an album in which one of the songs bears the title of "Mellotron O Planeta Fantástico", another great number. I especially like the use of bass guitar and the Moog synthesizers. And of course, the mellotron is ever present all over the album. The title track is another nice ballad. "A Partir Do Zero" is another good one, I especially love the use of the synthesizers on that one. The album ends with "Memos" which is mainly the main piano theme found on one of the earlier songs on the album, "Fuga Para O Espaço".

Unfortunately, this masterpiece was very little known, in those times, even in Portugal. I think it only sold about 500 LP's, when it was released, which was really a pity. So, unfortunately, it just was born to the world many years later by the hand of an American music producer, I think. However I'm very happy and proud of knowing that it has been much acclaimed all over the world. Eventually, it has been included on a list of the 100 best albums of progressive rock music of all time, organized by U.S. Magazine Billboard, achieving the rare status of a cult album, which is really amazing.

Conclusion: Undoubtedly, we are in presence of a classic album from the 70's. It's very clear the strong influence in this working of some of the greatest names of the progressive rock bands of the 70's such as Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Eloy. But unfortunately the album was a flop. Orfeu, the Portuguese record label, didn't have faith on the album, not to mention the gatefold with a full color booklet (with nice sci-fi artwork and lyrics) would be more expensive to make Cid agreed not to receive royalties. It quickly went out of print and became a major collector's item. I'm really convinced that Orfeu made a big mistake, as many people in Portugal think, too. This is a clear example how a record label can destroy, perhaps, a great musical career of an artist, in the progressive rock scene. I can't forget that of all the albums that Cid has recorded, through the years, this is particularly the album he's most proud, giving the impression that he'd rather have had a career in the progressive rock. But as he couldn't, he had to stick to the mainstream pop. Anyway, progressive rock was never a huge thing in Portugal. So, this is an excellent and perfect example of it. However, I just want to say one more thing: Thank you Mr. Cid for having contributed to our pride of being Portuguese.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Report this review (#1677964)
Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2017 | Review Permalink

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