CICLOS

Los Canarios was a Spanish symphonic band which made two studio record and one live record. This is their second and last studio album and this was made in 1974. On this time the group made up by - Alain Richard (drums, percussion), Antonio Garcia de Diego (guitar, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, voice), Mathias Sanvellian (electric piano, Hammond, acoustic piano, violin), Christian Mellies (bass, synthesizer), Alfredo Carrion (choral arrangement and conducting), Teddy Bautista (keyboards, synthesizers, voice) and Rudmini Sukmawati ( voice). This is a long lasting record with an amazing cover which shows a butterfly with a beardy man's head including the world.

It is hard for me to describe this music. It's totally amazing and exactly how pretentious and flamboyant prog should be. Los Canarios mixed every good elements they could find and did a musical treasure box I beg you to explore. If you don't you'll miss something. I just wonder how the came up with the thought about this record. It is as ambitious as Yes' "Tales from topographic oceans" or Jethro Tull's "Thick as a brick". This is also a perfect record for all of you with a love for classical music. A lot of the inspiration here came from Vivaldi's "The four Seasons" and this record has four side-long pieces: "Primera Transmigración", "Segunda Transmigración", "Tercera Transmigración" and "Cuarta Transmigración". It is hard to explain this music. Sometimes it is symphonic as Yes, ELP or sometimes even more, like real symhphonic and sometimes it's so crazy that RIO would have been a good definition. On the other hand sometimes the similarities with eclectic music like King Crimson are distinct and sometimes they are so progressive they are outside the progressive world. I can hear echoes from opera, 50s popular music, Spanish folk music and extravagant keyboards a la Wakeman. This band shows great electric guitar and concerto piano. The third track begins with Spanish guitar and Spanish vocals and in the end there is a church choir and finaly some comical sentences. In the last song I hear a choir that sounds Swedish or German.

Over all, this is something allmost beyond fantasy. Are you open minded and like progressive rock and classical music, don't miss this chance to widen your views. It is just as weird, extravagant and narcissistic only a prog record can be. Five shining Spanish stars!