MEMORIAS DO TEMPO

I have to admit it. I'm a sucker for good Spanish guitar in a prog setting. And this album fills that bill.

The album begins with some fine acoustic guitar work by Gerson Werlang in the opening track. This serves as an appetizwer before the main course, Memorias Do Tempo. This track is a full symphonic prog piece, where Werlang introduces his electric guitar. And if I thought his acoustic playing was good, well his electric is even better. On this, and the other two longer tracks, Rosa Mistica and Saudades Da Serra, he has created some excellent symphonic pieces with a South American flair (Is that an accordion I hear?)

The shorter song, however, tend to pale somewhat against these. While his guitaring is good, I find the compositions to be a bit too ordinary.

But since more than half of the album is made up of the three spectacular pieces, it weighs my rating a bit more toward four stars than three.