VIDA (SONS DO QUOTIDIANO)

When José CID's band QUARTETO 1111 broke up in the mid 1970s, he embarked on his solo career. At this point he wasn't the Portuguese pop icon he would later become, as he was still exploring prog rock, as demonstrated on QUARTETO 1111's final album, "Cantamos Pessoas Vivas", and this one, "Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)", CID's first solo release, which was simply an EP. To me, I don't think it's quite as good as his following release, "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte" (his first full length solo effort), as the mood of this album seems a bit more somber, and the theme is one birth, life, and death, rather than the sci-fi theme of "10.000 Anos...".

On this EP, CID handles piano, string synths, Mellotron, and Mini Moog, with a band backing him on guitar, bass, and drums. There are a couple sections that remind me a bit of Jean Michel JARRE's "Oxygene" (especially the string synths), but overall, the music is late '70s synth driven prog rock. "Vida..." was already included as a bonus cut on the Art Sublime CD reissue of "10.000 Anos...", which is a smart move on Art Sublime's move. It's too bad that CID would venture in to prog one more time, that was "10.000 Anos...", after that, he turned to pop, of the time that got him entered in to the Eurovision Song Contest. Regardless, I still think "10.000 Anos..." is better, but of course, this EP is still excellent.

A good effort coming from one of the top portuguese musicians, at least coming from the seventies. Personally, I find this EP much closer to his solo work "10 000 anos...", in the same vein, and with almost the same musicians. This EP was released when Cid was still heading the Quarteto 1111, so this is not a solo album, although it seems. Unfortunatelly it wasn't yet released in a CD format in Portugal, because in my country, nowadays, Cid has a very bad reputation, due to his later albums that only shows that he has no direction. This could only be find in a Vynil format and it is very rare. If you like spacey prog, in the vein of Eloy or even SFF, this is an album to get. I don't know how, maybe only downloading it through the internet.

Quarteto 1111 is the name of José Cid's early band. 10. 000 anos entre Vénus e Marte is a solo album. 1111 was a victim of the political censure of that time, being forbidden. Sons do quotidiano is in the same line of his solo album. We've got atmospheric lines in that 70's prog style.

As a result of my particular research I found out that Portugal (in proportion) has many prog bands. Not just José Cid, Tantra, Petrus Castros, Hugo flores... there are many, and very good! Prog rock was a boom in 70's, also in Portugal. After the revolution of 25th, April in 1974 the freedom arrives, and many part of the bands of that time were prog bands. Even now there are new prog bands that none want to know about... they're good, but in music maybe it's all a matter of having money!... or not!... José Cid starts to do pop music for living... is that a sin? The man have many gold records in the 70's and 80's (international)!

Just for knowing: JOSÉ CID IS COMING! I FIND OUT THAT HE, JOSÉ NABO AND RAMON ARE IN STUDIO RECORDING A NEW PROG ALBUM!!

In my opinion "Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)" are excellent, as all the prog work of Cid!

A year before the release of the astonishing "10000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte", José Cid released an EP that would be the first of his two solo Progressive Rock works. Although, "Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)" was not his first travel in progressive music. Back in 1974, Quarteto 1111 (his former group) released "Onde, Quando, Como, Porquê, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas" that is his first true Progressive Rock work. The group disbanded and later, in 1977, he released this EP. José Nabo, on the bass, would stay for his following album.

Now talking about this work, it is very difficult to find, even more than "10000 Anos.", and it was a very good idea to put it together in the CD release of the album so we can hear everything José Cid made in prog. It fits well as it is an epic (12 minutes). Translating the title it is "Life (Daily Sounds)", and it starts with birth (sounds of birth and a doctor talking are heard) and, almost in the end we hear sounds of a car crashing. Keyboards are the main ingredient of the EP (moog, mellotron, etc.). This work is 12 of the 50 minutes José Cid made in prog music (for the moment), and this dozen of minutes are a masterpiece, as all the 50 minutes are. They are short, and we, prog fans, for sure wanted that he made more. As that didn't happen, we enjoy this brilliant work that gets us out of our daily sounds in an incredible way.

P.S.: I said "for the moment" because there are some news that he is in studio with Zé Nabo, Ramón Galarza and some other musicians, recording an album that was started in the 70's and that will be called "Vozes do Além". There's no release date yet. Let's wait.

Review Nº 102

"Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" is the only solo progressive EP of José Cid and was released in 1977. The line up is José Cid, José Moz Carrapa, Zé Nabo and Guilherme Scarpa Inês.

"Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" became to be Cid's first journey into progressive rock world as a solo artist. Quarteto 1111, the original band of Cid, broke up and then he decided go solo and continued on, in the progressive rock direction. However, before he released his so acclaimed sci-fi album "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte", first he released an EP in 1977 called "Vida (Sons do Quotidiano)", which is also loaded with lots of Mellotron, Mini Moog, and string synthesizers. So, we can say that somehow "Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" was a prelude, a kind of a test, precisely in the year before, for what would appear in the following year, his only solo progressive rock album.

At the risk of being wrong, since it's a personal interpretation, I really think that "Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" has a very personal and political attitude of the composer. This became to be a special EP for Cid and, I would even dare to say, very important for the new attitude that the country needed to take after 25 April 1974, the day of our revolution, the day that brought to us the hope we needed so desperately. "Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" is widely considered as a prequel to the masterpiece, "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte" and one of the greatest music hits of Cid's career.

However, "Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" has nothing to do with the concept of "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte". This time we don't have a sci-fi story but an earthly story, a story of everyday life so common to many of us. "Vida (Sons Do Quotidiano)" is a conceptual EP with more than 12 minutes, following the path of life from birth to death. The lyrics are once more in Portuguese, a trademark of almost all the Portuguese progressive rock bands in the 70's. It starts with the doctor who performs the birth of a child and ends with the automobile accident that interrupts the life of the adult, with clarity and common lyrical mastery in all progressive discography of Cid. However, the most magical and even more political moment on the EP is reserved for the little phrase of the girl with the reference to "love, freedom and peace among men", a very usual motto used in Portugal after the April revolution, adding to this EP, the same political subject of the album of Quarteto 1111, "Onde, Quando, Porquê, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas".

This release follows the same musical direction of his predecessor album with Quarteto 1111, "Onde, Quando, Como, Porquê, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas". The presence of the synthesizers and the mellotron extend the musical connection with all these instruments holders of a sound very often used by the large and best progressive rock bands of the 70's, such as King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, Pulsar, Le Orme and Van Der Graaf Generator, only to mention a few of them. As a conceptual album the music flows naturally and progressively all over the theme, despite the usual cut between the two sides of the record. The symphonic progressive component of the album is more pronounced in the final phase of the track after the car accident. However the entire track has a more symphonic sound than the early psychedelic aspects of the beginning musical career of Cid with Quarteto 1111. It follows the more symphonic path of the previous album of Quarteto 1111, "Onde, Quando, Como, Porquê, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas" and opens the door to his next album "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte", an album strongly influenced by the symphonic progressive rock bands of the 70's.

Conclusion: Despite being perhaps a farfetched interpretation and even exaggerated of the EP, what is really important in my perspective, is that all progressive discography of Cid circulates around the values of life, liberty and feelings. We have racism and immigration one the first album of Quarteto 1111, we have freedom and peace on their second album, we have self-destruction of the human race on his solo album and we have the life of an ordinary person on this EP. So, it wouldn't be so surprising that Cid had intended to portray life in one of the most turbulent periods in Portugal, and add a more political component to a song that tries to cover the life of a human being in just over 12 minutes. By the other hand, the increase of the quality of his music, in terms of progressive rock music, is perfectly seen on this EP which would be even more evident on his following album "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte". This work with only 12 minutes long of Cid is really an amazing piece of music. It's short, and we progressive rock fans for sure wanted that he could make much more. And as that didn't happen, what we really can do is enjoying this great short working that gets us out of our daily sounds in an incredible way. However, what can impress me most are the regularity and the increasing of the quality of his working in Quarteto 1111 and as a solo artist. That always impressed me very much. I always thought that Cid was born in the wrong time and place. If the circumstances were somehow different, maybe he could be one of the greatest names of the progressive rock music in the 70's. Maybe.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)