VELHAS ESTÓRIAS

It was common at the end of the 60´s for most rock groups to play at popular music festivals. Those festivals were quite a fad at the time. It was a good way to promote their name and show that they were more than ´just´ a rock band. Velhas Estórias written by Renato Correa and Gutenberg Guarabyra (from the famous folk rock duo Sá & Guarabyra) was the song O Terço decided to compete the Juiz De Fora Festival (which they won). Later on they got a third place on a much bigger festival, the FIC (in portuguese, International song festival), which was broadcast on TV and gave them a big exposure.

Both songs were released as a single in 1970, and their first album came out later on the same year. However, the tunes included here are quite different from their self titled debut, both relying mostly on their harmony vocals and heavy orchestration, bringing their sound much closer to the brazilian popular music of the time than the psychedelic rock experiment that was most of their first full length. And quite better too, I should say. Unfortunately the production was terrible, very muddy and unbalanced. It would be great to see them re-record those songs with today´s technology, because both tracks are good and show glimpses of the style they would embrace in a few years.

Rating: Even if the songs themselves are good and the performances are ok, the dire production makes it nothing more than a collector´s item. Two stars.