Rocha, Marcio - Juno

Year of Release: 2000
Label: Odiss?ia Records
Catalog Number: ODCD2001
Format: CD
Total Time: 43:39:00

Marcio Rocha's Juno is an eclectic mix of styles - one moment contemporary instrumental, one moment classical, and another rock. Helping out Rocha is a plethora of guests, including Andr? Mello (Tempus Fugit), Alex Frias, Silvia Brasil, Cl?udio Cepeda...and a dozen others.

While this is a very pleasant album to listen to, some of the instruments seem a bit higher in the mix than they need to be and the drumming of Alexandre Costa in "Desolation Of Fools" seems a little flat, though it's sound versus ability. The other colours that make up "Desolation..." are violin, bass, sitar, tablas, castanholas... "Horizonte" gives Rocha his first opportunity to stretch out, and stretch out he does in a very Gilmourish way - those extended, slowly developing solos that marked at least some of Gilmour's Floyd work. Of course, a quarter of the way in it becomes a growly piece, where the instruments get a little dirty and the keys have an ELP feel about them.

"Concertino" is quite classical sounding, not unlike some Italian progressive bands - light, pastoral for the most part...but things rev up rather quickly with sharp, soaring guitar leads, driving piano and percussion, and then darker, heavier, slower tones come in...some great acoustic guitar strumming and picking here. Speaking of guitar arpeggios, there's one during the title track, "Juno," that reminded me of Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle" and the song has that same lyrical, romantic feel. "Odiss?ssa" contains classical, waltz-like passages...I thought of Mozart, personally. This is followed by the decidedly rocky "Fly With Your Winds." Guitar growls, yelps, and screams over subdued keys and drums... it ventures close to Kansas' territory musically, but I think Rocha's vocals here sound a bit like Glenn Hughes (without some of the histrionics). Fans of meaty guitar solos will like this - here it is Mindinho...and Mello contributes mini-moog. Nice blues rock.

A lazy, warm summer breeze is the groove that both "Vento" and "Wind" get into, with percussion taking prominence over the rest of the instrumentation - flutes, violin, clarinet, etc. Rocha's vocals here, as elsewhere, are mix of pleasant, warm tones, with often flattened notes. While I can't pin down specifically why, I thought of the Beatles (latter period) and of America. "Vento" and "Wind" are the same composition, the difference being that "Wind" is the English language version, "Vento" in Spanish (or, more likely, Portuguese, as Rocha is Brazilian).

A very nice album overall and recommended.

Tracklisting:
Samahdi (0:38) / Desolation Of Fools (6:49) / Horizonte (4:22) / Vento (3:29) / Concertino (8:42) / Juno (3:40) / Instante (4:35) / Odiss?ia (2:34) / Fly With Your Winds (5:42) / Wind (3:31) / Samahdi (1:37)

Musicians:
M?rcio Rocha - viol?o nylon, guitars, craviola, samples, synths, bass, viol?0 a?o, and vocals
Daniel Andrade - violin 2, 4, 5, 8, 10)
Alessandra Baiocchi - castanholas (2)
Silvia Brasil - swaramandal indiano (1)
Denner Campolina - acoustic contrabass (4, 5, 8)
Celso Ramos - ?
Cl?dio Cepeda - bass (2, 3, 5, 9, 10)
Alexandre Costa - drums (2, 3, 5, 9, 10)
Alex Fonseca - tabla (2, 4, 10)
Alex Frias - ebow & loopings, guitars, (1, 3, 4, 9)
Gabriel - clarinet (4, 8)
Frank Mellande - guitar (4)
Andr? Mello - mini-moog (10)
Mindihno - guitar(5)
Michel Mujalli - sitar (1)
Beth Pellicione - vocals and backing vocals (7)
Djalma Pereira - flute (8)
Luciano Rocha - violoncello (4, 5, 7, 8), flute (4, 5)

Discography:
Juno (2000)

Genre: Various Genres

Origin BR

Added: October 31st 2000
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Hits: 2016
Language: english