Som Persona

Influential South American psychedelic rock sextet Som Imaginário (Imaginary Sound) formed in 1970 as the backing band behind legendary Minas Gerais singer/songwriter/composer Milton Nascimento. Like Nascimento, the collective shared a fondness for mainstream rock & roll acts like the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, crafting sonic freestyle tapestries that had as much to do with early Pink Floyd and Miles Davis as they did with the tropicalia and MPB movement. Matanca Do Porco (their debut recording) is a not so subtle blend of all three of those sounds, chock-full of humor, super-amplified decadence, and haunting melodies…

The final Som Imaginario album sees the group transform from a psychedelic band to a tight fusion unit, with enough classical, symphonic and psychedelic influences to give them a sound which will appeal to a broad range of prog listeners. Showing a great increase in the group's technical proficiency, the album title means "The Killing of the Pig" - not an outrageous anti- police statement, but a reference to a tradition from an old Portuguese town where a slaughter of swine at the height of winter is the centrepiece of an annual celebration. In this case, there's plenty of reason to celebrate, because having fattened up their musical capabilities Som Imaginario serve a delicious feast here.

This progressive rock group has been formed in São Paulo in 1970 by multi-instrumentalist Manito (former The Clevers and Os Incríveis), Pedrinho Batera (drums/vocals) and bass player Pedrão Baldanza. With this formation they released their excellent debut "Snegs" in 1974. Then the band went through a multitude of line-up changes, launched a self-titled album in 1977, comprising mainly funk music and opened for Alice Cooper at the Maracanãzinho Festival (Rio de Janeiro). Soon after the band has been dissolved.
This double CD presents, for the very first time, live recordings from Som Nosso de Cada Dia at their most progressive - during their 70s heyday - carefully selected by the musicians themselves amongst the best sounding tapes available…

This progressive rock group has been formed in São Paulo in 1970 by multi-instrumentalist Manito (former The Clevers and Os Incríveis), Pedrinho Batera (drums/vocals) and bass player Pedrão Baldanza. With this formation they released their excellent debut "Snegs" in 1974. The music presented here is actually a kind of mixture of Italian symphonic prog and (south)-american jazz with some influences by English space rock.

According to Nelson Motta's biography of Tim Maia, "Vale Tudo," this record had a working title of "Verão Carioca" and marks the period where Tim began imbibing large quantities of coke. Whatever, Motta's book is in fact poorly written, lacking any kind of sources, or even a comprehensive discography (or a partial one, for that matter). But Motta was a personal friend, so we have to take his word. What is for certain is that this is the record where disco begins to be felt in his music in a positive way. Rug burners like "Feito Pra Dançar" nestle alongside low-down heavy funk like "E Necessario." Another highlight is "Não Esquente a Cabeça" which has memorable hooks and melodies, and tasty electric piano and guitar work over a smokey post-bossa pan-latin groove.

Gothic Voices’ reputation for the originality of its programming is cemented with its first recording of medieval Christmas music, in which Julian Podger reimagines a fifteenth-century carol evening. Mirroring the modern practice of performing mostly music from the preceding centuries alongside some contemporary repertoire, the programme includes late medieval English carols, chant, mono-and polyphonic songs and motets for the Advent and Christmas season, focusing on Mary, her Annunciation and the birth of Jesus. Larger-scale festive motets and mass movements by English late medieval celebrities John Dunstaple and Leonel Power also feature.