10.000 ANOS DEPOIS ENTRE VÉNUS E MARTE

Portugal isn't exactly what you call a prog rock hotbed, but perhaps the most surprising figure in the prog rock scene was that country's biggest pop star, and he went by the name of José CID. Yes, this was the guy who entered in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. Of course, by that time, the guy had little to do with prog anymore. But in 1978, that was a very different story with this, "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus e Marte". Here, he's loaded with tons of great analog keyboards like Mellotron, Mini Moog, Solina string synths, and created a sci-fi concept album about the destruction of Earth, and the two escapees returning to Earth some 10,000 years after its destruction.

Musically, it reminds me a little of such late '70s German bands, like ELOY, especially with the sci-fi concept and spacy synthesizers. The big difference here is CID chose to sing in his own language, which is a huge benefit. One big reason why Mellotron fans are going to need this album is one of the songs actually bears the title "Mellotron O Planeta Fantástico"! Can't argue with an album with such a song. Actually the first two songs, "O Ultimo dia na Terra" and "O Caos" are by far the best, most amazing pieces of music I have heard from the late '70s. Certainly the rest of the album doesn't reach those same heights, but it's truly an incredible album. It's too bad the Portuguese press decided to bury the album upon release, it certainly hurt CID big time, and that's why he turned to more conventional pop.