01	Primer Acto: Paraiso Remoto						16:58
	02	Segundo Acto: Abismo Proximo						16:49
	03	Tercer Acto: Ciudad Futura						17:53
	04	Cuarto Acto: El Eslabon Recobrado						21:56

Canarios: Ciclos
Ariola (74321 17814 2)
Spain 1975

Alain Richard, drums, percussion;
Antonio Garcia de Diego, guitar, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, voice;
Mathias Sanvellian, electric piano, Hammond, acoustic piano, violin;
Christian Mellies, bass, synthesizer;
Alfredo Carrion, choral arrangement and conducting;
Teddy Bautista, keyboards, synthesizers, voice;
Rudmini Sukmawati, voice

Tracklist:
1. Paraiso Remoto - 16:57
2. Abismo Proximo - 16:47
3. Ciudad Futura - 17:51
4. El Eslabon Recobrado - 21:52

total time 73:27

Steve Hegede:
After hearing for years about how wonderful this album was, I finally bought a copy around 1999 only to be extremely disappointed. But, over the next year, Ciclos began to slowly reveal itself to me until one day it became one of my favorites. Most of you probably know by now that Ciclos is an adaptation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. But this album is much more than just a cheesy rock adaptation. The band put a lot of effort to mix elements from jazz, blues, opera, and even the modern avant-garde classical into Vivaldi's original. Listeners are treated to harpsichords competing with blues and jazz-infected electric guitars, moog synths that let loose a flurry of notes from Vivaldi's original composition before jumping into funky seventies fusion, classical guitars that gently play melodic interludes as the drummer bangs away inspired by John Cage's compositions for percussion. Well, you get the point. These guys simply loved to mix different genres of music together. And, as a result, Ciclos is probably one of the most complex rock albums ever recorded. There is so much detail in the music that it takes time to digest it all. But, like Yes' Tales of Topographic Oceans, it slowly begins to reveal its musical charms, and outstanding musicianship. To this day, I still have problems with some of the analog synth sounds used in a few sections which sound like something that you would hear at Disneyland. And the vocals still sound a bit awkward since I think that they would have sounded better in Spanish rather than English. But otherwise I have to agree with other prog fans that this is a classic.

Sean McFee:
One description that is sometimes used for progressive rock, albeit often by its critics, is a form of rock music that aspires to incorporiate influences from jazz and classical music. If this description is considered valid, than Los Canarios' adaptation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons would have to be seen as one of the great progressive rock triumphs.
This is not a straight adaptation, of course; each of the four seasons is adapted with rock instrumentation. Some original music is mixed in, with some interesting vocals (often choral or solo soprano). The concept for the album, over and above the musical adaptation of classical work, is life as a cycle. Vocals are in both Spanish and English.
The best comparison I can draw is to another band who attempted the same kind of rock adaptation, namely RDM with Contaminazione. Those who find themselves groaning at the idea of "plundering the classics" may not go for this much, but for anyone who ever thought that Keith Emerson was on to something this is surely a treat, as it strikes me as a near-perfect execution of converting centuries-old music into something more modern.

Brandon Wu:
This is a monstrous concept album which (assuming my cursory examination of the Spanish liner notes is more or less on target) spans the entire life of a planet/civilization, using Vivaldi's most famous composition as a musical framework. Its four long movements are musical reworkings of said classic, with lots of new music and vocals added in to move the concept along. The instrumental adaptions are excellent, though the synth timbre gets on my nerves a bit and the sound overall is a bit dated. The vocals take some getting used to, especially the ones in English, and I'm still not sure how much I like them. Nevertheless, any fan of prog-rock reworkings of classical pieces will go nuts over this one: intelligent, creative, and with its own character, not just a ripoff. It's a bit overblown, but that's to be expected. I myself hated this album at first due to the keyboard timbres and the vocals, but it's been growing on me steadily; though I still can't sit straight through all 73+ minutes of it, I do enjoy it very much. You know who you are if this sounds good!


conrad

There are many pitfalls for rock adaptations of classical music. This album neatly sidesteps a number of these while falling ignominiously into others.
The concept of Ciclos is sound. It tells the story of the cycle of life (for both man and the Earth), and incorporates the music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons to do this. As Vivaldi began with "Spring", this metaphor works quite well, and the fact that most of the music has strong beat at a medium rock tempo makes it ideal. Canarios present this album like an opera, with each singer taking on a diffrerent persona. Indonesian born Rudmini Sukmawati's classical trained voice adds to the effect.

All twelve pieces from the Four Seasons make an appearance, but there is almost as much material that is original. In general, Vivaldi's music does not appear at the outset of each track, but is built up to, making it seem like a natural extension of the music rather than a gratuitous rock interpretation. Of course, drawing from a great work such as this has another advantage: the music is of a consistent quality right throughout this double album.

That being said, there are still a number of problems I have with this album. The English lyrics, though good in parts, are just plain bad in others, and some of the vocals are either poorly sung or used inappropriately. The most serious criticism I have, though, is that in a couple of places the instrumentation for Vivaldi's music is not only questionable, it is comic.

How do I view this album, then? Put it this way: I have heard two interpretations of the Four Seasons from the seventies; this and a straight interpretation from a respected British orchestra (who best remain nameless). Of the two, I turn the straight interpretation off in disgust, because it's so dull and lifeless. I would still prefer to hear Nigel Kennedy's recording of the Four Seasons, as well as most of the straight recordings from the eighties and nineties, but this album is at the very least entertaining and energetic.

6-20-03


Other resources:
There are no dedicated sites to speak of, but there are lengthy reviews at the GEPR and NSA, and a few at ProgNet.


Canarios, Los

From:
Canarias

Musicians:

Teddy Bautista (keys),
Christian Mellies (bass),
Mathias Sanveillan (keys and violin),
Antonio Garcia de Diego (guitars and vocals),
Alain Richard (drums and percussion).

Discography:

Lo mejor del Clan (1968)
Liberate (1970)
Canarios Vivos (1972)
Ciclos (1974)


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Canarios, Los [Spain]
Updated 9/01/01
Discography
Ciclos (73)

Reviews
Spanish ensemble's Ciclos may be *the very best* progressive adaptation of a classical work that I have ever heard. On this one they do "Four Seasons" over a double LP and do it in such a mindblowing and classic way, that all I can say is I'm going to throw away my Pictures At An Exhibition album! Weird electronics, stunning classical rock, and some out and out space music highlight this classic of the genre.
Los Canarios created an outstanding 73 minute work based on Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Obviously, the music is very Baroque in nature because of the original but Los Canarios's version is much heavier because of the electric instrumentation of a rock band. You may instantly think of ELP's take on Pictures at an Exhibition but Los Canarios take a more refined approach relative to ELP's bombastic and sometimes erratic interpretation. But don't be fooled: Ciclos is a heavy and dynamic work in its own right with plenty of synth and organ work as well as guitar. Vocals (in English) are heard throughout but I'd say the album is dominated by instrumental sections. Ciclos is a classic of the Spanish progressive scene. If you like heavy prog dominated by synth and guitar, check this out.
Fans of symphonic progressive with flip their tails over this one! THE best rock adaptation of classical music EVER, and that is NO exaggeration! It's a rock adaptation of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" with some original music added to make the concept flow. The original music consists of electronic music, vocal music and the like, but based on Vivaldi's original themes and motives. The mixture of multiple keyboards (mellotrons, synths, acoustic and electric pianos), powerful vocals, some rock, some choral and some operatic and manic Akkermanesque guitar make for varied and interesting listening. The arrangements of the string quartet pieces for rock band work beautifully, especially on the adaptations of the "Spring" and "Winter" sections, which work surprisingly well as rock music. They even include a short "Christmas carol" in one track! Originally a 70-plus-minute double album, issued on a single CD. My highest recommendations go out to this one!. -- Mike Ohman
Los Canarios was a Spanish band that started playing back in the late 60's. At the beginning, they played Soul and R&B influenced music, singing mostly in English. They got some hit singles in the Spanish charts such as "Get on your Knees" and "Free yourself" and opened concerts for The Beach Boys. The leader, Eduardo "Teddy" Bautista disbanded the group to take the military service. When he finished it, he reformed the band, still keeping the name, but the members and the concept were completely different. At the time (early 70's) he was experimenting with synthesizers, being a pioneer in Spain. The result of this experimentation lead the band to their magnum-opus: "Ciclos" a cult classic of the symphonic rock genre.
Released in 1974, Ciclos is a concept album with an interesting story line that goes from the creation of the Earth to the Apocalypse in 2700 A.C. The album is divided in four acts "Paraiso Remoto" (Remote Paradise), "Abismo Prуximo" (Next Abyss), "Ciudad Futura" (Future City) and "El Eslabуn Recobrado" (The Recovered Link) telling the life of the son of Matrix, who represents the nature, created by Arquitecto Supremo (Supreme Architect), during this period of transformations with different names in each act (Embryo, Febos, Metantropo and Anacros respectively). Each act is based musically in one of the Seasons of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It features vocals in English, Spanish and Latin. The instrumentation is very rich, and the presence of synths is vital. The arrangements of the classical work are very precise. The musicians involved in this magnificent work are:

Eduardo "Teddy" Bautista: Arrangements, keyboards and vocals.
Alain Richard: Drums and Percussion.
Antonio Garcнa de Diego: guitars, vibraphone, cello and vocals.
Mathias Sanvellian: keyboards and violin.
Christian Mellies: bass guitar and keyboards.
Alfredo Carrion: Arrangements.
Rudmini Sukmawati: Soprano voice.


Because of bad distribution, the recording is very hard to find. It was a double LP when it was first released. It has been edited in CD with a 16 page booklet, but still the CD is hard to find. If you're a hardcore fan of progressive rock or just curious or starting to explore the genre, this is some material you should check.

Teddy Bautista is still in the music business, composing scores for TV, producing (He produced the spanish version of Jesus Christ Superstar) and is in organizations defending copyrights. -- Juan M. Sjobohm