DONOVAN ~ ANTHOLOGY 6

This Donovan's Anthology ends here. Six CDs totalizing 8 hours and containing 145 songs, from 1964 to 1981

ADAMO 1977

Original edition on Gatefold LP CBS 82417 (FRANCE, 1977)

PINK FLOYD ~ "ANIMALS"

Original released on LP Harvest SHVL 815 (UK 1977, January 21)

BONNIE TYLER Debut Album

Original released on LP RCA Victor PL 25063

(US, March 1977)

Bonnie Tyler's debut album is filled with promise and indications of great things to come. Produced (and largely written) by Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, "The World Starts Tonight" walks the fine line between country and pop that was popular in the mid-'70s. As an introduction to Tyler's voice, this was an impressive debut. But it merely paved the way for Tyler's teaming with Jim Steinman when she would realize her true potential and start the second phase of her multi-faceted career. A formidable debut, highlighted by covers of "Love of a Rolling Stone" and "Piece of My Heart." (Tomas Mureika in AllMusic)

CARLOS DO CARMO: "Fados e Canções"

50 Fados e Canções que reflectem o que de melhor Carlos do Carmo gravou até 1980

Há menos um Homem na cidade

Edição original em LP Trova MOV.7005

(PORTUGAL, 1977)

"Um Homem na Cidade" é unanimemente considerada a grande obra-prima de Carlos do Carmo e indubitavelmente um dos grandes discos da música portuguesa de sempre, um album conceptual sobre a cidade de Lisboa, inteiramente com poemas de José Carlos Ary dos Santos. A execução instrumental esteve a cargo de Raul Nery (1.ª guitarra), António Chaínho (2.ª guitarra), Martinho da Assunção (viola) e José Maria Nóbrega (viola baixo), nem mais nem menos que a fina-flor no que respeita a instrumentistas da área do fado. Como já se disse todos os poemas são da lavra de Ary dos Santos. «Foi uma ideia que o Ary teve. Resultou em vários temas da cidade, alguns considerados intemporais, outros que teriam a ver com referências que, com o tempo, serão apenas aguarelas de Lisboa», recorda Carlos do Carmo. E acrescenta: «O Ary dos Santos gostava muito de fado e tinha uma grande ternura pelos fadistas antigos. Não está feito nenhum levantamento disso, mas tenho a certeza de que existem bons fados do Ary, que ele, num gesto de generosidade e ternura, deixou em algumas casas de fado. Tinha uma particular ternura pelas pessoas velhas e deixava numa noite umas quadras ou uns decassílabos a uma fadista antiga. Esse seu gosto pelo fado foi sublinhado no trabalho que fizemos». E ao contrário do que geralmente sucede na concepção de canções, Ary dos Santos escreveu as letras sobre as músicas: «Os compositores foram-se deslocando a casa do Ary, tivemos momentos inesquecíveis. Cada poema era feito em cima da música e normalmente cada fado não demorava mais do que três horas a ser feito pelo Ary, que tinha uma imaginação que diria genial».

 

Sobre a génese do belíssimo "Fado do Campo Grande", com música de maestro António Victorino d’Almeida, então adido cultural em Viena, Carlos do Carmo conta: «Fomos os três à Gôndola, em frente da Gulbenkian, e depois viemos para casa. Mas no trajecto que fizemos da Av. de Berna para a Av. dos Estados Unidos da América, ao passarmos no Campo Grande, estava ali um prédio em ruínas e o António disse: "Se tivesse dinheiro não deixava que demolissem esta casa, onde passei a minha infância, e era aqui que gostava de viver o resto dos meus dias". E o Ary ouviu-o. Nessa noite surgiu "Fado do Campo Grande"». Sobre o álbum assim escreveu Rui Catalão: «"Eu sou um homem na cidade / que manhã cedo acorda e canta / e por amar a liberdade / com a cidade se levanta". Muitos anos depois, talvez pareça um abuso conotar este disco com a Revolução dos Cravos (a que qualquer trabalho deste período não consegue escapar, pela febre histórica que então se vivia), até pelos poemas de Ary dos Santos, refugiados de euforias militantes que então celebrou com outros cantores. "Um Homem na Cidade" é, no entanto, uma peça diáfana e a sua luz matutina engana uma audição rápida (ou um olhar directo). Este disco celebra, por vezes de forma entusiasmada, outras melancólica, a cidade de Lisboa, mas a cidade castiça, dos gestos antigos, dos objectos que resistem ao tempo, dos ofícios que vão desaparecendo, dos bairros guardando os vestígios ancestrais, das ruas bronzeadas por um sol mouro. O que pode parecer frívolo num período de outras ambições. Acontece que "Um Homem na Cidade", erguido pela polida expressão da voz de Carlos do Carmo, está abençoado pela luz da liberdade, pela gentileza dos olhares frontais, pelas gentes redescobertas com uma imensa ternura». (in Portal do Fado)

The Watermark of GARFUNKEL

Original released on LP Columbia JC 34975

(US, January 1978)

The original idea was for Art Garfunkel to record an album of songs written by Jimmy Webb. But when the leadoff single, "Crying in My Sleep," failed to make the charts, Columbia Records withdrew the album and induced Garfunkel to put together a cover of Sam Cooke's "(What A) Wonderful World" with Paul Simon and James Taylor harmonizing. The single and a revised version of the album then made the Top 40. But "Watermark" is still a Garfunkel-Sings-Webb album, except for one song. And the initial idea was a good one: Garfunkel handles Webb's wistful pop songs well, and he has made good choices from Webb's songbook, dating back to the '60s, though avoiding his big bits. The result is Garfunkel's most cohesive solo album. [The original version of "Watermark", on test pressings and only a very few commercial copies, was available briefly in October, 1977. The revised version, containing "[What A] Wonderful World," was released in January, 1978.] (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

TROVANTE: O 1º Album

Edição original em LP Diapasão DIAP 16013

(PORTUGAL 1977, Dezembro 23)

Não será porventura o melhor disco dos Trovante, é certo – “Baile no Bosque” (1981) é grande, parece maior, no entanto, não deixa de ser também esta uma peça importante, quanto mais não seja por ser o primeiro álbum do histórico grupo. Fundado em 1976, por João Nuno Represas – percussão, flautas e voz, Luís Represas – viola, bandolim, percussão e voz, Manuel Faria – piano, sintetizador e voz – e João Gil – viola, bandolim, percussão e voz, os Trovante tem em “Chão Nosso” um documento bem característico do tempo que o fez nascer. É um documento fortemente marcado pelo seu carácter de intervenção política – quase óbvio naqueles tempos. Por outro lado, é através da música tradicional portuguesa que os Trovante procuraram dar cor aos poemas que Francisco Viana um dia criou – e tão bem. Do cante alentejano de “Chão Nosso” à bela homenagem a José Dias Coelho com o tema “À Flor da Vida”, há toda uma componente política a gritar por entre o ressoar tão tradicional deste jovem Trovante. O Pontapé de saída: sincero, inocente e socialmente implicado, eis mais um disco nascido do mergulho voluntário no combate político do pós-25 de Abril de 74; grito de revolta de um país há tanto amarrado, amordaçado. Escuro. São recordações. Que é preciso não esquecer!

Doce de Shila

Edição original no LP Diapasão 16006/R

(PORTUGAL, 1977)

«Para cantar um dia connosco,

a Shila veio dos quatro cantos do mundo.

Dos cantos do Canadá,

onde os cantos que se cantam

se perdem nos cantos que não se encontram,

tanto é grande a terra

que lhes serviu de terra-mãe.

E através de outros cantos desencantos viagens e desviagens

a Shila foi parar a estas paragens.

E por aqui tem ficado a cantar com a gente.

A chula que ela canta neste disco não é só uma homenagem:

é um assunto de família

é uma chula para bailar e girar

é que ela gosta do ritmo, catrapum

pum

pum

é que ela gosta e faz parte desta gente

que "quer se queira quer não queira é bela".

E como ela já cantou com muitos de nós

pusemo-nos nós a cantar com o muito que é dela.

E foi assim que este disco foi feito.»

(Sérgio Godinho)

Album de estreia desta canadiana nascida Sheila Charlesworth em Toronto, a 14 de Julho de 1949, que nos primeiros anos da Revolução de Abril participou em diversos trabalhos de intérpretes portugueses, sobretudo de Sérgio Godinho, com quem era casada na altura. Conheceram-se em Paris, quando ambos faziam parte do elenco francês do “Hair” e integraram pouco depois o Living Theatre de Julian Beck numa tournée ao Brasil. Neste disco de estreia a parte de leão das composições vai naturalmente para Sérgio Godinho que assina (a solo ou em parceria) oito das dez faixas que compõem o album. Com arranjos do próprio Sérgio, de Fausto e Júlio Pereira, o disco é riquissimo musicalmente, contando com as colaborações de Carlos Zíngaro (violino), Manuel Guerreiro (sax e flauta), Guilherme Searpa e Rui Monteiro (bateria e percussões), Paulo Godinho (baixo), Júlio Pereira (viola-baixo), Sérgio Godinho (violas), entre outros. E ainda as vozes de Francisco Fanhais, Carlos Vaz e Eugénia Melo e Castro nos coros. É um disco muito agradável de se ouvir, mesmo a mais de 40 (!) anos de distância. As qualidades vocais de Shila emprestam a todo o album uma doçura cativante, sobretudo por causa do sotaque estrangeirado da cantora. Dois anos depois um segundo e último album confirmaria todas as promessas desta estreia. Chamar-se-ia “Lenga-Lengas e Segredos”, e também será aqui divulgado. Escusado será dizer que estes dois discos nunca foram re-editados em CD, pelo que esta será uma oportunidade única a aproveitar. Até porque a qualidade de transcrição se encontra em excelente estado.

ALAN PARSONS PROJECT: "I Robot"

Original released on LP Arista AL 7002

(US, June 1977)

Alan Parsons delivered a detailed blueprint for his Project on their 1975 debut, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", but it was on its 1977 follow-up, "I Robot", that the outfit reached its true potential. Borrowing not just its title but concept from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi Robot trilogy, this album explores many of the philosophies regarding artificial intelligence - will it overtake man, what does it mean to be man, what responsibilities do mechanical beings have to their creators, and so on and so forth - with enough knotty intelligence to make it a seminal text of late-'70s geeks, and while it is also true that appreciating "I Robot" does require a love of either sci-fi or art rock, it is also true that sci-fi art rock never came any better than this. Compare it to Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds", released just a year after this and demonstrating some clear influence from Parsons: that flirts voraciously with camp, but this, for all of its pomp and circumstance, for all of its overblown arrangements, this is music that's played deadly serious. Even when the vocal choirs pile up at the end of "Breakdown" or when the Project delves into some tight, glossy white funk on "The Voice," complete with punctuations from robotic voices and whining slide guitars, there isn't much sense of fun, but there is a sense of mystery and a sense of drama that can be very absorbing if you're prepared to give yourself over to it. The most fascinating thing about the album is that the music is restless, shifting from mood to mood within the course of a song, but unlike some art pop there is attention paid to hooks - most notably, of course, on the hit "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You," a tense, paranoid neo-disco rocker that was the APP's breakthrough. It's also the closest thing to a concise pop song here - other tunes have plenty of hooks, but they change their tempo and feel quickly, which is what makes this an art rock album instead of a pop album. And while that may not snare in listeners who love the hit (they should turn to "Eye in the Sky" instead, the Project's one true pop album), that sense of melody when married to the artistic restlessness and geeky sensibility makes for a unique, compelling album and the one record that truly captures mind and spirit of the Alan Parsons Project. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

NEIL YOUNG: "American Stars 'n Bars"

Original released on LP Reprise MSK 2261

(US 1977, June 20)

Neil Young made a point of listing the recording dates of the songs on "American Stars 'n Bars"; the dates even appeared on the LP labels. They revealed that the songs had been cut at four different sessions dating back to 1974. But even without such documentation, it would have been easy to tell that the album was a stylistic hodgepodge, its first side consisting of country-tinged material featuring steel guitar and fiddle, plus backup vocals from Linda Ronstadt and the then-unknown Nicolette Larson, while the four songs on the second side varied from acoustic solo numbers like "Will to Love" to raging rockers such as "Like a Hurricane." Just as apparent was the album's unevenness: side one consisted of lightweight compositions, while side two had more ambitious ones, with "Will to Love," for example, extending the romantic metaphor of a salmon swimming upstream across seven minutes. The album's saving grace was "Like a Hurricane," one of Young's classic hard rock songs and guitar workouts, and a perennial concert favorite. Without it, "American Stars 'n Bars" would have been one of Young's least memorable albums, and since it turned up the following year on the compilation "Decade", the LP was rendered inessential. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

DAVID BOWIE: "Heroes"

Original released on LP RCA Victor PL 12522

(UK 1977, October 14)

Bowie's second instalment in the Berlin trilogy is a criminally underrated masterpiece, brimming with invention and vigour. "Low" was most certainly an amazing achievement and an absolute treat to listen to, but unlike most, I feel that "Heroes" tops it in every regard. The first side (like "Low", containing the more conventional songs) has more urgency than the tracks on "Low". There is more energy and more depth to the song writing. Where "Low" was fragments/ideas with magnificent textural framing, "Heroes"' first side shows really intricate song writing being beautifully combined with dense and innovative arrangements that take the clunky synth and electronic sounds of "Low" and fuse them into a more sophisticated whole. The lyrics are also much more intriguing. "Low" was lyrically and vocally quite sparse, but on "Heroes", Bowie delivers some of his most compelling lyrics. Just a couple of the fantastic snippets that pop up include:

«Your lips cut a smile on your face»

«There's slaughter in the air

Protest on the wind

Someone else inside me

Someone could get skinned»

«Sons of the silent age... Don't walk, they just glide in and out of life

They never die, they just go to sleep one day»

And of course we all know the gorgeous lyrics that the title track possesses. Not to mention Bowie's ultimate vocal performance on this track. In fact, the vocals on the "Heroes" album soar like on no other release of his. The songs climax and Bowie belts out some amazingly expressive and emotive performances. Overall, the first half of the record takes the best parts of "Low"'s first half and "Station to Station" and turns it into the most successful and engaging group of tracks that he has ever released. The second half of the album sees Bowie reprising the ambient themes explored on "Low" but once again this album outdoes its predecessor. The instrumental tracks on "Heroes" are even more evocative than those on "Low". Bowie and Eno once again strip away the clunky synth and electronic sounds and create more focused and more atmospheric pieces second time around. Bowie feels like more of a presence on this album overall. Less detached, and not hiding away from himself as much. This is further displayed by the re-introduction of his sax playing on a number of tracks. He adds personality and flair to "Sons of the Silent Age", provides one of many gorgeous melodic layers on "V-2 Schneider" (which trumps both "The Speed of Life" and "A New Career in a New Town"), and his free-jazz styled, heavily treated playing on "Neukoln" is oddly appealing. Bowie also plays the Japanese Koto on "Moss Garden" giving a beautifully subtle and sensitive performance on what is a perfect ambient piece. If you own "Low", love it, and are wondering which album to get next... well I can't recommend "Heroes" highly enough. If you own "Station to Station" and love it... ditto. If you have some of Bowie's other albums from some of his other periods and are curious about which of the more experimental albums to start with, this is the one. It's one of those albums that is experimental without compromising quality song writing. It takes the ideas first generated on "Low" and expands and improves upon them, while introducing a highly unique and infinitely appealing aesthetic all of its own. It is also more timeless than "Low". It's sounds are still fresh and haven't dated a bit in the 4 decades since its release. It is not only the best of the Bowie and Eno collaborations (The Berlin Trilogy), it is also, in my opinion, the greatest achievement by this most amazing artist. (in RateYourMusic)

Repeating the formula of "Low"'s half-vocal/half-instrumental structure, "Heroes" develops and strengthens the sonic innovations David Bowie and Brian Eno explored on their first collaboration. The vocal songs are fuller, boasting harder rhythms and deeper layers of sound. Much of the harder-edged sound of "Heroes" is due to Robert Fripp's guitar, which provides a muscular foundation for the electronics, especially on the relatively conventional rock songs. Similarly, the instrumentals on "Heroes" are more detailed, this time showing a more explicit debt to German synth pop and European experimental rock. Essentially, the difference between "Low" and "Heroes" lies in the details, but the record is equally challenging and groundbreaking. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

DAVID BOWIE: "Low"

Original released on LP RCA Victor PL 12030

(UK 1977, January 14)

Following through with the avant-garde inclinations of "Station to Station", yet explicitly breaking with David Bowie's past, "Low" is a dense, challenging album that confirmed his place at rock's cutting edge. Driven by dissonant synthesizers and electronics, "Low" is divided between brief, angular songs and atmospheric instrumentals. Throughout the record's first half, the guitars are jagged and the synthesizers drone with a menacing robotic pulse, while Bowie's vocals are unnaturally layered and overdubbed. During the instrumental half, the electronics turn cool, which is a relief after the intensity of the preceding avant pop. Half the credit for "Low"'s success goes to Brian Eno, who explored similar ambient territory on his own releases. Eno functioned as a conduit for Bowie's ideas, and in turn Bowie made the experimentalism of not only Eno but of the German synth group Kraftwerk and the post-punk group Wire respectable, if not quite mainstream. Though a handful of the vocal pieces on Low are accessible - "Sound and Vision" has a shimmering guitar hook, and "Be My Wife" subverts soul structure in a surprisingly catchy fashion - the record is defiantly experimental and dense with detail, providing a new direction for the avant-garde in rock & roll. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)