MOTO PERPETUO

Moto Perpetuo is a little known prog band from Brazil, which had a very brief career. Formed by future pop star Guilherme Arantes (keyboards, vocals) and Claudio Lucci (acoustic guitars, cello and electric guitar), the duo recruited Arantes old friend Diogenes Burani (drums) and two young musicians, Egidio Conde (electric guitar) and Gerson Tatini (bass). They were mananged by Moraci Do Val, then nationally famous for making the trio Secos & Molhados a huge success in Brazil and even some other countries in south america. They got a recording deal through Do Val connections and released one self titled LP in 1974, a very quick deal for such young and unproven act. After some real hard rehearsals they recorded what would be their sole album.

Problems started by the recording itself: the band was only allowed to use an already obsolete 8 track studio and few hours to do their work. Although critics praised the songs and the musician´s skill, they also bashed the poor production and mixing. To make matters worse the LP had some distribution issues, making it hard to find even then. Needless to say, the band folded not long after that, unable to find places to play. Arantes decided to go solo and would eventually make it big as a pop singer/songwriter in the beginning of the 80´s. For a time he was one of the hottest songwriters in Brazil. Egídio Conde went on to join another seminal brazilian prog band, O Som Nosso De Cada Dia. The others reunited with singer Monica Marsola and issued an album - São Quixote - in 1981 (with Arantes providing keyboards on some of the tracks as a guest). This second album is so rare that few people is even aware Moto Perpétuo did release a (very different) follow up.

Recently their debut was re-released in a remastered version through the effords of Charles Gavin (Titãs ex drummer) who is doing a great job in rescuing from obscurity several important but forgotten musical jewels. I got this CD a few days ago and I as quite impressed: their music is a cross between traditional prog music of the time (in the arrangements) and brazilian popular music, more specifically the music of my state, Minas Gerais: there are echoes of the works of the famous Clube Da Esquina sound, where young musicians like Beto Guedes and Lô Borges were mixing folk, classical, jazz and Beatles stuff to produce a very unique work. The tracks are more in the ´song´ format, meaning that if you´re looking for long solos or extended instrumental parts you´ll be frustrated. But if you like concise, melodic and very well craft tracks, performed by skilled musicians, then chances are you´re gonna like it a lot.

The remixing did improve the overall sound, although it is also clear that the production was not the best even for the time as I explained above. The songs are good and quite interesting: Arantes was already showing a knack for great hooks, even if the lyrics are way too pretentious (he would go on to write better ones) and the instrumental parts could have at least a little more room to expand. The soaring vocal harmonies are another plus, as it is Lucci´s fine acoustic guitar playing. The record´s highlight is the closing number (and the longest track in the album),.Turba, where the prog influences are quite evident and maybe showed the direction their second album should have taken if they stayed together longer.

All in all I found this record to be good, but far from essential. It was quite promising and the fact that so many fine musicians could not get the chance to grow and fulfill the initial promise is a sad story. However, I really liked this CD and I recommend it for fans of bands heavily influenced by brazilian country music like 14 Bis and O Terço. Rating: between 3 and 3.5 stars.