CICLOS

LOS CANARIOS did an original and majestic recreation on the most well-known VIVALDI's opus, "Le Quattro Stagioni". Very complex and creative, plenty of beauty and instrumentally great. In a different way, bands like EKSEPTION or SKY gave a sort of rock rythm to classic stuff, but this Spanish band made a complete work, adding own structures and keeping the magic of the original baroque piece.

I just heard another album in the same vein, IL ROVESCIO DELLA MEDAGLIA's "Contaminazione", another essential masterpiece beside CANARIOS' "Ciclos".

For those who love progressive rock Classical adaptations will simply freak out over Los CANARIOS' "Ciclos" who re-interpret Vivaldi's classic symphony "Le Quattra Stagioni" (The Four Seasons). I would say the RDM's "Contaminazione" is to Bach as CANARIOS is to Vivaldi. For those who know the Four Seasons well will immediately recognize the substitution of electric guitar and analog keyboards for violins. Vocals although not overly dominant are sung mostly in English and are mostly operatic by the magical vocals of Rudmini Sukmawati. "Ciclos" offers some simply outstanding keyboard work with loads of moog and mellotron thoughout. Essentially "Ciclos" is a musical re-interpretation of Vivaldi's 4 Seasons with some complete re-interpretations and variations on his masterpiece. One of the most striking aspects of this album is the vast use of instrumentation throughout (ie. Theremin, orchesta, banjo,, phase shifter....).

LOS CANARIOS started off as a typical, run of the mill pop/rock band (probably not unlike Los Bravos, but I'm not sure) and released three albums from 1968 to 1972. I'm sure fans of the pop CANARIOS were in for a total rude awakening when they released this double album, "Ciclos". The band totally went off the prog deep-end and went and adapted Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" in a prog rock setting. The main guy of this band, Teddy Bautista included lots of great analog keyboards like the Moog II-P modular, Mini Moog, VCS-3, ARP 2600, Mellotron M400. Other members included Alain Richard on drums (and tons of percussion), guitarist Antonio Garcia de Diego, Mathias Sanvellian on additional keyboards (piano, organ, RMI electric piano, harpsichord, etc.), and bassist Christian Mellies. Add that with a choir (both male a female), a couple of male vocalists (I bet the not-so-great singer was one of the band members), and a female soprano, provided by an Indonesian named Rudmini Sukmawati (in which photos of her make her look Gothic, one scary picture of her makes her look like Marylin MANSON!).

This is a totally complex and densely layered album which you're not likely to get on the first listen. Lots of really amazing analog synths. In between classical themes are rather bizarre and twisted use of synthesizers. One part finds the band being really silly by having a barbershop quartet sing "Plastic Christmas" with lyrics that go: "It's another plastic Christmas / Santa Claus has died / One more thing to celebrate", suggesting they felt Christmas had became a big load of crap (they should try Christmas here in America some 30 years later, which got so bad I tend to leave the radio and television off that time of year because of the hype and overcommercialization, not to mention worn-out Christmas carols).

My only real complaint goes to "Himno a la Armonia Implacable del Fin" (on the fourth and final movement entitled "Cuarto Acto: El Eslabon Recobrado"), I think that piece downright sucks with the overly dramatic and cheesy male operatic vocals and choir. I can live without that, but the rest of the album demonstates why not only is this regarded as one of the best prog albums to come out of Spain, but one of the best prog adaptations of classical aside from Il ROVESCIO DELLA MEDAGLIA's "Contaminazione". My other complaint is CANARIOS never followed up "Ciclos" with perhaps another full-blown prog album, perhaps this time, original band compositions. This was unfortunately their only prog album. Aside from "Himno a la Armonia Implacable del Fin", I truly think this is one of the all-time great prog take on classical music. Totally essential album.

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

I am generally very wary of these albums that rob , steel and dress up the classic composer especailly the well known classic. I generally disapprove of this and if you are to read my reviews on some of the most shameless groups Trace and Ekseption , you will see this clearly. It always seemed that a category of progressive musicians always suffered from not being accepted by the so-called "Higher Culture Circles" (Classical and artistical circles) and tried to force the doors open by sticking some (rather clumsy) orchestrations and/or re-working the classics.

Although this sole album by Canarios (an evolution of spanish pop band los Canarios) is full of those flaws , the high rating I give should hint you that there is much more than the re- working of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Sure there are moments when the ridiculous is followed by the sublime when the overheard chorus/reprise of Four Season's main theme is slowly changed to a driving prog rock with choirs (sometimes ala Carmina Burana - reminding you of Magma). This double vinyl is now on a single Cd and is a great value for money but also artistically. There are some real weird moments where an old blues song ending seems atrocious in such a finely crafted album , but on the whole this is a very odd , curious but ultimately rewarding acquisition.

The fact that this album exists at all is a bit of a wonder, since it was recorded in 74 during the closing years of Franco's fascist dictature and Spain's progressive period was not really to start until the death of the dictator. Maybe the fact that these guys hailed from the touristic Canary Islands helped, but the production of such an ambitious album was obviously too expensive , so much that I cannot see this being done without some official help. Just an educated guess by my many childhood vacations throughout Spain in the 70's and the striking contrasts of then-relatively-rich E C countries and the poor , rural , dictatorial Spain of those years.

This intricate album from Spanish one shot band Canarios can be compared with the 'cult- classic' "Ys" from Il Balletto Di Bronzo": a very original, captivating and compelling progressive blend of several styles but almost beyond mainstream! If you listen to the four long compositions, you will experience cascades of breaks and shifting moods. The one moment you hear pleasant and melodic prog, the other moment you're blown away by avant-garde or very experimental sounds. If you are up to a fascinating progrock adventure, this CD will be a challenge! I rate this album with four stars because it sound so original but I'm aware of the fact that not every proghead wil be pleased with this unique prog.

This is a monumental album. A potentially cheesy concept, a space opera with music based on Vivaldi's Four Seasons, ought to have fallen flat on its face, especially at 73 minutes running time. But it's such an explosion of unbridled creativity that it just plain works. The songs are excellent and the choral arrangements are stunning. Both female and male lead vocals are excellent. The Vivaldi adaptations rock surprisingly hard, driven by some of the best (rock critics would say "propulsive", for which they should be shot) drumming I've heard on a Seventies album (and some of the best-produced drum sounds as well). Unapologetically stident synths alternate with lush mellotron, and thunderous upbeat sections contrast with pleasant ambient sections. The music's so good, I've never even bothered to follow the storyline. Despite many abrupt changes throughout the long album sides, the music never fails to be melodic and interesting. The group was wise to quit after releasing this monster...they couldn't have done any better. This record's glorious pomposity represents symphonic prog at its best.

Did you think that "Tales from Topographic Oceans", "The Lamb" or ELP's "Pictures" were bold and ambitious projects? Well, they pale in comparison with this album from Canarios, mostly the creation of band leader Teddy Bautista. Another adaptation of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" to rock? Aargh no, vade retro! Well don't worry, this one is really special and in my opinion deserves full credit. It never intends to be a transcription of the classical work to rock instruments, it's an avant-garde loose re-interpretation of the theme which revisits several fragments of the Vivaldi's work, but has also a lot of own material.

The ambition put in this work was huge, double vinyl album with a trascendental concept, integrating early 70's prog-rock, classical music, electronic experimentation with Moogs, Mellotrons, ARP's, Theremin and such stuff, opera, classical choir, gregorian chant, broadway musical, greek chorus narration, lyrics partly in english, spanish and latin, you name it.

With such a daunting task the result would inevitably be a totally ridiculous pastiche or a masterpiece of modern art, and they achieved the latter. We also need to consider the context. If this album would be released now in 2010 I'm not so sure what my opinion would be, but this was made in early 70's underdeveloped Spain, which was in most respects 10 to 20 years behind compared to the main european countries. The sense of authenticity and the conviction and professionalism with which Canarios undertook this mamooth task makes you take your hat off in front of this work.

The cyclic nature of the seasons is re-interpreted into a mystical adaptation of the Eastern culture cyclic concept of the universe and life in it. As in Genesis "The Lamb", the booklet includes apart from the lyrics a text explaining the story (in spanish at least in my edition, which being my mother language I understand).

Spring is translated in the first concert "El Paraiso Remoto" (The distant paradise) as the creation of the universe and the birth out of mother nature's Matrix of the perfect life form, Embryo, eager to assimilate everything around him.

The second concert "El Abismo Proximo" (The nearby abyss) takes the place of Summer, with life now around the year 1700 impersonated as Febos, sucumbing to the temptation of mastering the world, the process of alienation from nature and its creator, discovering technology and becoming an impersonal and anonimous being.

The third concerto "La Ciudad Futura" (The Future City = Autumn) sees life (now middle- aged Metantropus in the year 2126) immersed in an extremely technocratic and grey society where beings are given doses of "alcoholin and nicotin" to keep them quiet or even subjected to the "cybernetic process" where they are reprogrammed to be submissive (George Orwell and Aldous Huxley revisited). Metantropus escapes to the mountains where he has a revelation telling him that the only way out is to recover his sense of unity with the universe and the creator, but he gets caught.

In the fourth concert "El eslabon recuperado" (The recovered link = Winter), life is now the elder Anacros and finds itself in an impersonal dying world in the year 2700 where the radiation of the sun has been depleted and society keeps a hopeless life harnessing some remaining cosmic energy. The prophet Oracle tells Anacros that his fate is to reunite with the creator ("the Supreme Programmer") by crossing the doorway of death. Anacros submits to his fate, voluntarily going to the Expiatory Machine which gives his prana-less material body back to Matrix, while his spirit or karma returns to sit at the right of the Supreme Programmer, from where they witness the Apocalypsis of the material world and its return to the primeval state, from where the cycle will start all over again. A truly astral voyage not only in its storyline, but also in the music which goes along with it.

This album is surely not for everybody's taste. For my personal taste there is a bit too much experimental material and the parts of true 70's symphonic rock (reminiscent of King Crimson, The Nice, Focus, the most experimental side of Yes etc) feel too short because of it, but they are nevertheless great, with wonderful work by all the musicians.

At any rate this is an often forgotten masterpiece, an album which every lover of early 70's prog-rock should have or at least know, a classic in its own right.

After the release of a disastrous debut album ("Libérate") recorded in 1970, this Spanish band gets back with something totally different this time. And quite good, I must say.

It is not the first time that a rock band approaches some classical oeuvre. Their model with this double album might well be ELP with "Pictures At An Exhibition". It is particularly true during the opener "Paraíso Remoto". One can find lots of bombastic (pompous) moments and appreciate the rework around this famous theme.

The second movement "Abismo Próximo" is more complex and mixes art-rock, opera-like vocals and some folkish moments as well. The second half of this song is really brilliant: a superb combination of mellotron, superb vocal part and a moving guitar solo: it sounds as THE archetype of the symphonic style we appreciate so much. Still, this great passage is a bit too short IMO.

Mostly instrumental, this album shows a very good musical maestria and if ELP (and the usual clones) are on your list of fave band, there is no doubt that this work will enjoy your ears.

The third movement Is not so pleasant: from classical to eclectic prog, this track is quite difficult to apprehend. There is also some similarity with ELO (the spoken intro from "El Dorado") at the middle of the track. I am lacking harmony and great instrumental passages. It is the less achieved section of this good album. Too much choir and church-related effects to my taste.

The inspiration seems to lack for the fourth section "El Eslabón Recobrado". An unnecessary percussion part like the one during "The Ancient" (from "Yes" TFTO) is quite useless in my opinion. It only makes a long track even longer. The synth moments just after this are quite noisy.

In all, this album holds some excellent musical moments and some?other ones. In my rating system, three stars sound logical.

Spanish prog epic you need to discover

The story of this little known progressive rock gem is almost as interesting as the music itself: a true, sprawling four sides of pure symphonic grandeur of the scope and ambition of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" or "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." The Spanish band started out as the pop/rock group Los Canarios and had several releases which did well, but were of little interest to prog fans. Then around 1973, leader Teddy Bautista split with his bandmates and retained the name, shortening it to just Canarios. He surrounded himself with all new people and decided to create an epic work for the ages. Today, "Ciclos" is little known and rarely discussed, but I think this is likely the most significant Spanish progressive rock title of its time. As Hugues points out, even the fact that such a project could come to fruition given the political/social oppression of Spain in this period makes it very existence incredible. The high-minded plot themes deal with the circle of life and the history of humanity.

"Ciclos" contains only four songs, each covering an entire side of this double album. The music is a free reinterpretation of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and a serious attempt to meld together classical music with symphonic progressive rock. I say reinterpretation because this is not purely a rock band covering a piece of classical music. Everything is subject is change here and the four pieces show a wealth of creative writing and arrangements. The band brings in all various styles to play with: symphonic prog, jazz rock, avant-garde, operatics, and melodic pop/rock. The end result ends up being something not far from the Italian prog of the same period: ambitious, bold, a bit naïve, and sometimes a bit over the top. The "everything but the kitchen sink" approach is on display here. It's a complex album and in my view a great success, but it takes time to reveal itself to the listener. Like some other reviews I've read, the album did not appeal to me at first. Had I written a quick review it would not have been complimentary. But the more you play this one, the better it gets, which is why I rarely write quick reviews. Sections of the album are beautiful beyond belief, other sections rock hard, and other sections leave you scratching you head at what you just heard. Not bad at all!

"this album is much more than just a cheesy rock adaptation. The band put a lot of effort to mix elements from jazz, blues, opera, and even the modern avant-garde classical into Vivaldi's original. Listeners are treated to harpsichords competing with blues and jazz-infected electric guitars, moog synths that let loose a flurry of notes from Vivaldi's original composition before jumping into funky seventies fusion, classical guitars that gently play melodic interludes as the drummer bangs away inspired by John Cage's compositions for percussion. These guys simply loved to mix different genres of music together." -Steve Hegede

As some have pointed out, it can be a bit garish and cringeworthy at times-this is a fair criticism. The keyboard sound choices in particular can be a little cheesy and may make the album too dated for some. In a pure sound sense it does not hold up quite as well as the Yes and Genesis titles mentioned above. But, for those who don't insist on refined restraint in their prog adventure, "Ciclos" is a pure roller-coaster ride that may leave you breathless with listening pleasure. It is certainly not the least bit ashamed to wear its heart on its sleeve. Tightly performed and with reasonably deep, punchy sound, the album lays out a convincing and jamming rock base over which it displays incredible window dressings: I most love the oodles of unique instruments, the little baroque elements, the occasional operatic vocals and choirs, and the adventurous avant-garde excursions. The album can seem inspired by Topographic Oceans although Yes were more seasoned, and Oceans final product more "musically mature" than this one. My personal guess is that most people who like classic era Yes, Genesis, or Banco will be very happy to have acquired Canarios. I consider this title nearly essential to a deep prog-rock collection.

The vocals are in English which pains me, but will no doubt make this title more accessible to some proggers who don't like non-English vocals. Try to get the Japanese mini-lp sleeve CD which will give you a beautiful gatefold presentation, great sound, and the reproduced inserts.

As much as I like Prog adaptations of classical works, this try doesn't work for me. Too long, too many weird parts that I either don't get, or that doesn't make sense at all, sense of big "What?" for first five minutes of Primer Acto, however, pure classical Prog heaven for the rest of this song (and I mean whole 12 remaining minutes). This is being mixed together in a very uneven way and I think that in the end, it hurts the music. Impression I get from it could have been better if these compositions were edited in better way. But as I see from other's reviews, some of you are satisfied, some even excited.

3(+), I take this warmly, but not so enthusiastically.

Los Canarios' only true prog album is an adaptation to the Tales From Topographic Oceans format of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Unlike many prog bands who took the "rocking the classics" route of producing rock cover versions of classical music, the group don't take the usual Keith Emerson approach of trying to get the keyboards to do absolutely everything whilst the guitar and drums provide rhythm and perhaps the odd shot of flavour; there are several sections where the guitar takes the lead in mimicing the classical orchestra, in fact.

The result is a decent album with a fairly diverse sound, although the performances don't quite hold my attention over the entire double album format and I never find prog covers of classical compositions to be as compelling as original symphonic prog songs. Three stars seems fair.

Spain was a late player in the prog game because during its peak years in the early 70s, was still under the isolating dictatorship of Franco but following his death in 1975 managed to recover, however a few classics still squeaked in under the radar with the most adventurous prog album of the entire Spanish speaking world to have emerged in 1974 by LOS CANARIOS. The name derived from the fact that this jazzy folk and beat band turned prog formed on the Spanish owned Canary Islands which sits perched off the coast of Morocco.

The group formed in 1964 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria by the talented singer / songwriter Terry Bautista and after releasing a series of hits in English under the moniker THE CANARIES, finally relished in their own Latin roots from 1970 on by changing to CANARIOS and then for their final and most ambitious release of their career, LOS CANARIOS. While the early hits and first two albums were a mix of beat music, psychedelic pop and soul jazz with stealthy wind and brass arrangements, on their third album CICLOS, Bautista not only joined the prog universe but delivered the Spanish world's equivalent to the pomp and awe of "Tales From Topographic Oceans."

CICLOS is considered the absolute pinnacle of Spanish prog, which is a larger than life concept album that is based on the melodies of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and likewise is divided into four sprawling tracks with each track hovering around or above the 17 minute mark (initially swallowing up entire sides of vinyl) and totaling 73 minutes. While the expected Baroque classical influences are well on board, CICLOS is a loose interpretation of Vivaldi's magnum opus that utilizes familiar aspects and then improvises new creative avenues in full symphonic prog regalia that dishes out the full potentials of mellotrons, vibraphones, electric guitars, a soprano diva and a full classical choir.

The CICLOS era of LOS CANARIOS is in effect a completely different band that Bautista completely reformed with several new members joining the major upgrade in sound including drummer Alain Richard, keyboard player Mathias Sanvellian, bassist Christian Mellies and guitarist Antonio García de Diego. An extra nine performers sat in and the "official" members of the cast expanded their comfort zones by adding the rich sounds of sequencers, lyres, violin, therein, glockenspiel and various percussive instruments to the musical palette. It seems no ambition was too great in the making of CICLOS which Bautista obviously created to put Spanish prog on the map as it was notably absent from the European scene.

While often simply considered a mere symphonic prog adaptation to "The Four Seasons," CICLOS is actually a more complex creation which only utilizes Vivaldi as a loose canvas upon which to paint a rather nebulous plot which portrays the history of humanity from the big bang all the way to the apocalypse, almost primarily in instrumental form with human vocals simply adding more texture to the sonicscape. The music is quite diverse as it traverses through not only Baroque classical and symphonic prog rock but also jazz, soul, traditional folk and straight forward rock. While the keyboards provide the lead role as melodic developer bringing an Emerson, Lake and Palmer feel to the mix at times, the supplemental sounds is staggeringly rich and allows CICLOS to exist in a world all its own.

While touted as some as a veritable masterpiece with others finding it overweening and pretentious, i find it somewhat in between those two extremes. To the modern ears, there are some parts in the beginning that remind me of the Transiberian Orchestra in the transliteration of classical to rock during the unabashed Vivaldi sections, but overall this album really jumps all over the place and offers an interesting journey throughout one of the most ambitious musical journeys of the entire musical universe with excellently executed musical workouts taking LOS CANARIOS to a whole new level of musical complexity.

Much like other albums of such staggering magnitude, this is one that need to be experienced over a period of time to really comprehend. While there are certainly parts of the album that don't quite work as well as others, i can't help but love CICLOS and its unique musical bombast from one of the forgotten corners of the European music scene. If you seek one of the musical giants of the era then you can't ignore CICLOS, which put a lagging Spain, at long last on the prog map in its classic era and sits nicely next to other over-the-top prog albums such as Yes' classic "Tales From Topographic Oceans," Jethro Tull's "A Passion Play" and Aphodite's Child's classic "666."