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14 Bis - Ao Vivo CD (album) cover

AO VIVO

14 Bis

 

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1.35 | 4 ratings

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CCVP
Prog Reviewer
1 stars An hour display of bad pop music

I have known 14 bis for quite a wile, at least their earliest studio albums, and although there is absolutely no denying that the band always had that popish feeling in their songs, I would have never imagined that the passage of time would have such a strong negative effect on their music. They went from an inteligent and interesting popish prog band in the late 70's and early 80's to some of the cheesiest, most generic and unispired pop group I have ever the displeasure of listening.

Mind you, the music they play have changed so much that even the classics from their best albums have lost their magic of days past and now hold the distinct characteristics of plain bad music. Once rooted firmly as a rock group, now 14 Bis have transmuted into a MPB (the acronym for Brazilian popular music) group, what, by itself isn't a bad thing at all, but they became one of the worst stocks of MPB ever available for purchase. Once a band comparable to icons of Brazilian progressive rock, now 14 Bis is hardly any better than any of those artists or groups you hate to listen, wherever you live.

The explanation for that less than mediocre performance is possibly rooted on three things. First, and by far the most important, the poor choice of songs for a setlist. Starting right from the opening song, the poor setlist plagues the band's performance like the Black Death plagued Europe. The poor lyrics also takes it toll and, even if the song is listenable by the music itself, the lyrics ruin the experience either by being plain bad or by being placed in a strange or bad way. An example of the latter is the second song of this album, entitled Canções de Guerra.

Second, even if the song is actually good, the way the band chooses to play it destroy its original environment. That happens, for example, in the third song of this album, entitled Bola de Meia, Bola de Gude, originally appearing in 14 Bis's second album, 14 Bis II.

Third and finally, when the band actually plays a good song, for a change, that particular song makes the bad ones sound so much worse that it becomes nearly impossible to listen to the rest of the album (or at least to the next song).

Despite all its downs, I will not be as bold as to say that this album is completely useless. There are at least three songs in the entire album that are worth listening, being them the fourth (Caçador de Mim), the sixth song (Canção da América) and the eleventh song (Planeta Sonho). However, they hardly make up for the other 11 songs that are in this live album. Not even the participations of Brazilian progressive rock legend Marcus Viana and ex -member of the band Flavio Venturini (who was also a member of O Terço in the mid 70's) are able to push up the quality of this release.

My only consolation is that I didn't spent much money buying this. Avoid at all costs.

CCVP | 1/5 |

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