Week of October 14, 2007

Los Canarios

Personnel:
Teddy Bautista - keyboards, vocals
Mathias Sanuellian - keyboards, violin
Antonio Garcia De Diego - assorted guitars, vibraphone, lira,
harpsichord, vocals
Christian Mellies - bass, Theremin, synthetic bass
Teddy Richard - drums, percussion
Alfredo Carrión - chorus arrangements
+ choir and opera voices

Album:
Ciclos (2LP), 1974 Ariola
CD: Ariola 74321 17814 2, 1993

In the sixties, there was a beat group named Canarios (originally from the Canary Islands) but I'm not sure whether the two groups are connected. The 1970s Canarios, led by Teddy Bautista, certainly had a totally different line-up.

Ciclos” was a very ambitious concept album using Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" as the framework, both musically and symbolically, for the story of a human from birth to death - the cycle of life as represented by “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter”. The four record sides are wrapped in myriads of keyboard overdubs, mostly all mellotrons and moog synthesizers. This is an album people will either love or hate. Some think it is among the best records made in Spain. In my opinion, Los Canarios (with Bautista in charge) didn't improve Vivaldi's original composition, as he obviously hadn't pomp rock or Wagner's total art in mind when he wrote it. Large scale concept albums can be rewarding, but I find this particular effort a bit overblown. It would have been wiser to write an original work or find an alternative to this, the best selling classical work of all time.

Taken from Scented Gardens of the Mind - A guide to the Golden Era of Progressive Rock (1968-1980) in more than 20 European Countries, by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-12-2


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