DOS BENEFÍCIOS DUM VENDIDO NO REINO DOS BONIFÁCIOS

October 1974. Portugal was in a state of great political upheaval, with the April revolution on 25 still very fresh, and with a not yet fully established and stabilised social order after having left a 48 years of a dictatorship political regime. It was in this month, and in this socio political troubled context that a new prog group in Portugal named Banda Do Casaco came into the studio to recorder their debut studio album, "Dos Benefícios Dum Vendido No Reino Dos Bonifácios".

The final result of the work made by the band was a conceptual album of Portuguese progressive folk music absolutely odd that no one managed to overcome in other subsequent efforts tested in this musical style, and in my humble opinion, not even the group itself. In reality, it's, therefore, a musical work of the highest quality level. That is true to the instrumental and composition level, to the level of the concept and lyrics and to the level of the art cover of the album.

From the lyrical point of view, it treats the Portuguese reality, setting it in a very highly intelligent and ruthless political satire. The album develops around the story of a character who sells his soul to the Devil in return, not so much for knowledge or wisdom, but only for money and social prestige. This entire narrative is served to the listener through excellent satiric lyrics, always cared, poetic, corrosive, allegorical and metaphorical, occasionally adorned with inspired puns which, moreover, are perfectly evident even in many of the titles of the tracks such as "Henrique Ser Ou Não Henriquecer", "Lavados Lavados Sim" and "Horas De Ponta E Mola". The use of puns is frequently used in Portugal, which is particularly evident in the dialogue of many Portuguese films of the 40's of the 20th century. Moreover, a simple attentive listening of this album is enough for realizing the enormous importance that the lyrics have. They're at least as important as the instrumental aspects, and, in fact, there are few moments unsung throughout these almost 40 minutes without it. However, this abundance of vocalizations never becomes tiresome. Probably, the fact that the sung parties will be divided by many performers contributes to that. So, this is a work that must be seen in both aspects, in lyrics and music. But, it's very difficult for those who don't know the Portuguese language to have the complete picture.

In music and in instrumental terms, the group will drink their musical influences from several different musical sources. The two most important are the intervention political songs and the traditional Portuguese music. To that we can join the jazz, some progressive music, experimentation and boldness, all served by an exemplary implementation. Indeed, we can find on this album, side by side, the reverence to the tradition of the old time music, and some absolutely revolutionary aspects such as the use of dissonances, the intricate composition or even the use of unconventional instruments like the use of stick and deodorant sprays. In terms of composition, its notorious the rich of new ideas that were put on the album, preventing any possibility of it becoming boring or repetitive, even after several hearings. This rich of ideas is particular evident on the song "A Cavalo Dado" where, thanks to the constant changes in melody, the band cans built a true epic track, which however, doesn't reach more than 3 minutes long. Which is more impressive to me is that despite all these changes in such a short time they never sound forced or seems to be put out of the place.

Finally, it deserves also highlighting the beautiful graphic work of the art cover of the album, courtesy of Carlos Zingaro, which involves the album with a kind of comics that reproduces some of the moments of the narrative presented on the album. If you have a copy of the original vinyl disc, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about.

Conclusion: Finally, I returned to review some more Portuguese progressive albums. After reviewing albums from Quarteto 1111, José Cid, Petrus Castrus and Tantra, here comes the time to review some albums from Banda Do Casaco. So, I decided to begin by their debut. And what an album it is, especially because we are talking about a debut. In my opinion, it belongs to one of the few and best Portuguese progressive albums from the 70's with some others like "Onde, Quando, Como, Porquê, Cantamos Pessoas Vivas" from Quarteto 1111, "10.000 Anos Depois Entre Vénus E Marte" from José Cid, "Mestre" from Petrus Castrus and "Mistérios E Maravilhas" from Tantra. "Dos Benefícios Dum Vendido No Reino Dos Bonifácios" is really an exceptional album from the lyrical, musical and even from the art cover point of view. It's an entirely acoustic album with lots of instruments performed, which some of them are very unusual, plenty of vocal works and an irreverent musical approach to the composition mixed perfectly completed with very special lyrics of the concept story. The final result is and incredible and very original album. So, and concluding, if you want to hear a traditional progressive album with long epics and where the use of electric musical instruments is common, stay away from it. However, if you are an open mind and you are looking for something "new", strange and original, even if you don't catch a word of Portuguese, you are in the right place. You can't lose your time checking it.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Share this BANDA DO CASACO review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to VianaProghead
• Report this review (#2492404)
• Buy BANDA DO CASACO music online with PA partners
• Show all BANDA DO CASACO MP3/Stream
• Go to BANDA DO CASACO page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Dos Benefícios Dum Vendido No Reino Dos Bonifácios page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for BANDA DO CASACO related discussions