CASA DE ROCK

As the title implies (house of rock in portuguese), Casa das Maquinas, after releasing one of the most impressive prog albums of the mid 70´s came back in 1978 with a hard rock album. Who can blame them? Progressive music had passed its heyday a long time ago and it never was very popular in Brazil. Punks were the new darlings of the critics and disco was the new fashion. So several bands went back to the safer ground of good the old rock´n roll, and Casa das Maquinas was one of them. Not that everybody was comfortable with that: original bassist and songwriter Carlos Geraldo Carge left the band prior of the recording and all the bass parts were recorded by guitarist Pisca.

The band already had a new lead singer, Simbas, soon after the second album was out. His androgynous figure and high vocal tone always divided their audience, but he did a good job on the material here. Of course the keyboards were pushed back in the mix and the guitars up front. Still, Marinho Testoni did his best and he is quite featured on the three ballads (Certo Sim, Seu Errado, Mania de Ser and Sonho de Um Vagabundo ), where they also flirted with brazilian popular music for the first time. It would be an interesting path had they persisted longer, but, for a number of reasons, they did not survive the decade, disbanding about an year later. The title track did get some airplay at the time and it is hailed by many fans as one of their classic tracks. However, there is very little prog in here. In practical terms, Casa de Rock is as different from the previous album, the excellent Lar de Maravilhas, as that one was from their self titled debut. In other words, they was, again, a whole new band. In this case, it was not the best move.

Conclusion: the group did prove that they were more than competent musicians, good songwriters and capable of handling very different styles, which is good in many ways. But Casa do Rock was a step (or two, or three) back and if you´re looking for anything related to their excellent sophomore CD, you´ll be disappointed. The album is good collection of hard rockers and ballads, and that´s all. For PA, 2 stars.