SECOS E MOLHADOS

As ProgArchives has widened its outlook to embrace artists who made/make forms of progressive music other than strictly Progressive Rock, I thought I would take a gamble and mention a long-gone Brazilian group that was very progressive (with a lowercase 'p') in the early 1970s and who's first LP sold 700,000 copies: SECOS E MOLHADOS (Dry And Wet Goods). The group lasted only from 1972 to 1974 in its famous guise, but had a big impact on the direction of Brazilian pop and rock music. In fact, the group's contemporaries, O TERÇO, appear to have been influenced by them in "Criaturas Da Noite" and "Casa Encantada", and I even hear a couple of conscious or subconscious licks from the two SECOS & MOLHADOS albums in BACAMARTE's "Depois Do Fim", although the latter is straight-up, no messing Progressive Rock.

 

The SECOS E MOLHADOS was a pop-rock group with progressive tendencies, so personally I would label them as 'progressive pop', although they borrowed from pop, rock, psychedelia, Brazilian folk music and even some 1970s Progressive Rock. Some of the tracks were very lyrical and beautiful, incorporating words from famous Brazilian and Portuguese authors and poets such as Vinícius de Morais, Fernando Pessoa and others. And, not that it matters, but they even used synth on a couple of tracks.

 

Two things made the group stand out: firstly the music itself, which was clearly different from the MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) of the time; secondly the androgynous performance of the music, the wild attire and the face painting. Now, remember that this was well before KISS started painting their faces and before the Rocky Horror Show, so these guys were original.

 

The group was started in São Paulo in 1971 by Portuguese-Brazilian João Ricardo, who wrote most of the music and lyrics. Two members left in July 1971 and the magical ingredient, the singer Ney Matogrosso from Rio de Janeiro, joined in August 1971, having been recommended to Ricardo by a musician acquaintance. Matogrosso was a counter tenor and performed in the most androgynous manner, but it worked. They were joined shortly after by Gerson Conrad.

 

The group's eponymous first album had a string of hits, including gems like the gorgeous 'Sangue Latino' (Latin Blood), 'Rosa de Hiroshima' (Hiroshima Rose), 'O Patrão Nosso De Cada Dia' (a play on words) and the massively camp pop number 'O Vira' (The Turn - the Vira is a type of Portuguese music). I remember first seeing the group performing on TV in 1972 or 1973. Although João Ricardo's Web site makes no mention of it, I am as certain as I can be that I saw the group perform 'O Vira' on Programa Silvio Santos (a Brazilian 1970s TV talent show in São Paulo with a large, young and noisy audience), and I certainly recall seeing them on TV Tupi and TV Globo before they really became famous in Brazil; which didn't take long when you looked like nobody else on Earth and your lead singer was an androgynous counter tenor!

 

You can see a few photos of the group in 1974 on the following Web page, complete with feather boas, grass skirt and beads:

http://www2.uol.com.br/secosemolhados/secos/images/img_fot/1 974_4.htm

Ney Matogrosso left the group (or was pushed?) in 1974 after the group had released its second LP, the group imploded and the ex-members began solo careers, Matogrosso's being the most successful. Ricardo resurrected the group's name a few times in later years using different line-ups, but with little success: the chemistry was no longer there without all the key ingredients. Although Ricardo was the musical brains behind the group and had written some excellent songs, Matogrosso's absence was the supreme example of the tenet "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts".

 

Well, when you watch the following video from 1973 you will either laugh your head off, wonder what on Earth is going on, or be bowled over by OS SECOS E MOLHADOS -- you can see a video of them performing two hits ('Sangue Latino' and 'O Vira') from their first album here:

 

Watch a video from 1973

 

on WFMU's excellent blog page about the group, which I came across yesterday while trying to find videos of the group's performances.

 

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/11/secos_e_molhado.html

 

You can read more detail about the group and its members on the above-mentioned blog page. Thanks, WFMU.

 

The group toured Mexico in 1974, and apparently Matogrosso later wondered whether it was from this tour that KISS heard of, or were told of, the face painted pop-rock group from Brazil and got the idea to paint their faces too. Personally I doubt it, but you never know. But SECOS & MOLHADOS came first, that's a fact.

 

 

Although out of print, you can still pick up new copies of the CD "Série 2 Momentos: Secos E Molhados" via various Web stores (Amazon.com, GEMM etc.). This CD has the first two LPs remastered on one CD, with a nice booklet containing the lyrics and photos. Highly recommended.

 

This was the cover of the first album in 1973:

 

 

 

This was the cover of the second album in 1974:

 

 

 

If you feel adventurous, Warner has a CD still in print that contains several of the group's hits:

 

 

 

Ah, the nostalgia. Bons tempos (Good times).

Edited by Fitzcarraldo

Thanks for mentioning this band. I picked up the 2on1 a year or two ago on the recommendation of a friend who DJs Brazilian music. Fun music, although I have to say that it wasn't as glam or even as rocking as I had hoped. Listened to on its own, it's totally cool. But based on expectations that could arise from their most outre visual aesthetic, the impact might be another matter. Still good, though!