‘Echoes from the Past’ is a project by composer and music producer Stteffen Kraus (SK) for lovers of classic rock and blues, bringing back poetic language in form of music, and orchestra arrangements. These songs were composed for those who appreciate the oldies but goodies melodies and can´t find any similar material today. The work is intended for movie tracks, broadcast on radio, TV and electronic distribution - streaming, ringtones, games, among others. It is an album of author´s songs featuring great artists from southern Brazil.
Produced by SK, the album was recorded in Porto Alegre, RS, at Grita! Music studio, by technician and bassist Marcelo Granja, who recorded bass in 10 tracks, recorded the voices and instruments, mixed and mastered the album. The basis of the record also featured the drummer Julio Sasquatt, who performs his instrument in 9 tracks.
The album begins with a beautiful fifties-style ballad called ‘Dry Leaves’. In it stands out a Hawaiian slide guitar that outlines the melody in a perfect interpretation of Gabriel Guedes, guitarist of the band Pata de Elefante, bringing back the spirit of the era of instrumental rock of the golden years. Rodrigo Chaise, from the Chaise Brothers, performs the acoustic guitar in this song. This is a true pearl of innocence inspired by the legendaries Santo & Johnny, Ritchie Valens, and Everly Brothers.
The contrast soon follows with ‘Freedom’, which is a cry of freedom in a 60's rock, with a quote by Jules Renard, and influence of the Who, the Animals, and the Young Rascals, as well as other garage bands and psychedelic rock from that time. Performed by Fernando Noronha, on vocals, and on guitar, the song gets vibrant energy with Gaspo's harmonica and the Hammond performed by Thiago Heinrich.
The Beatlesque ‘When love beckons to you’ features the vocals and the rhythm, solo, and slide guitars of Rodrigo Chaise. The cello played by Rodrigo Alquati (from the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra - OSPA), shows a certain influence of the Bee Gees in their early days. The lyrics of this love song are inspired by enriching excerpts by Gibran, Cristina of Sweden, Guimarães Rosa, Nietzche, and Anaïs Nin.
The acoustic folk ‘We want a happier world’ express the hope for a better world based on the 15 top concerns of generation Y, according to a recent survey. The melody, in the voice of William Dalton (from the Daltons), has influences ranging from Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers to Donovan. Alcemir Paim (Daltons) guitars and the Alquati cellos build an angelic atmosphere, a true anthem of an almost utopian dream, as a refuge from the frenetic disgrace of the modern world.
The acoustic sound continues in form of blues, with ‘Everything or Nothing’, with Solon Fishbone on vocals and bass, lead and slide guitars, as well as Gaspo on the harmonica. The lyrics are a breath of fresh air to all those who undertake and have to face the battle of real life, being inspired by quotes of Orison Marden, Thomas Edison, and Anthony Robbins.
The bluesman Fernando Noronha also performs a western-blues song entitled ‘Light dispels the darkness’. In addition to the blues solos of the guitarist, and the Gaspo´s harmonica, elements of jazz are brought by Eliezer Moreira's trumpet and Julio Sasquatt's drums in a mysterious horse ride rhythm. The lyrics make Voltaire talk to Machiavelli to Persian and Chinese proverbs, to say how important it is to find a solution to problems, rather than letting oneself be dominated by anger and evil, which brings years of regrets.
The psychedelic dream has its top in ‘Beyond the horizon Bends’. The voice of Mauricio Chaise, of the Chaise Brothers, sends us back to the Lennon´s like universe, in an atmosphere surrounded by cellos (Alquati), violins (Marcella Santiago), Hammonds and pianos (Thiago Heinrich). Musically, there is influence from the late '60s and early '70s, from bands like Marmalade, Consortium, Beatles and Bee Gees. The lyrics reflect the thinking of Goethe, Edmond and Jules Goncourt, Aesop, and Chinese proverbs.
The album´s side 2 begins with ‘Smart like a snake’ which turns quotations of Shakespeare and Rui Barbosa into a powerful cry of protest against corruption. The beautiful interpretation of Paulo Zgraia (formerly Só Creedence) brings something of Led to this track, which is a vintage hard rock, Deep Purple style. In it, Guedes performs a competent work on guitars, alongside Heinrich, on Hammond.
In contrast, Heinrich's piano and Dalton's voice softly appear in ‘With all our love’ a heart-touching ballad in the seventies style – a kind of Elton John´s, Bee Gees´, Clifford T. Ward´s and late Beatles´ sound - in which SK pays homage to his deceased father and writes a message of wisdom to his mother, quoting Nietzsche and Plutarch. In addition to the words sung, the emotion is also felt in the strings (Alquati and Santiago), Gaspo harmonicas, and Paim's apotheotic guitars.
‘Carpe Diem’, as the name suggests, puts together important thinkers and authors who emphasized the importance of living the present time, such as Seneca, Fernando Pessoa, Clarice Lispector, Hector Berlioz, and Molière. While the vocals of Zgraia get together with Dalton's, here in an interpretation that brings back memories of the glorious Roy Orbison, surf music guitars played by Guedes are answered by the Gaspo’s harmonica, with elements that sound like the early Beatles combined with the 80´s Orbison phase.
The rhythm gets faster with the punk rock ‘Order to Chaos’, bringing a historic but current political message, in a dialogue between Chuang Tzu, Talleyrand, Guillaume Apollinaire, Napoleon and Henri Queuille, under a sounding atmosphere inspired by the Clash, Spider Murphy Gang and Bobby Fuller Four. Zgraia on vocals, alongside Heinrich (Hammond) and Gaspo (harmonica), show that punk can also be sophisticated, somewhat psychedelic, and electrifying.
The bonus track ‘Stay Tuned!’ features the bluesman Solon Fishbone singing rock'n'roll. The lyrics talk about the speed of changes in today's world and the need to be attentive to everything that happens, realizing what is behind the news. The guitars of Marcos Santos (formerly Herbert Richars) transform this song designed to be a vignette in a true masterpiece. The result was so good that SK decided to make a continuation of its powerful riff.
So was born ‘(Stay tuned II) The laws of power’, now in the versatile voice of Dalton and the poisoned guitars of Paim. The new song also received Gaspo’s harmonica, Heinrich´s Hammond, and Alquati´s cello, which gave it sounds of a ´70s hard rock song. There is also the special participation of Rainer (Cinema band) on drums. The lyrics, which talk about mighty people, was inspired by quotes of Machiavel, and Robert Greene & Joost Elffers.
For the important musical and literary references, the beautiful melodies, the depth of the lyrics, the quality of the musicians, technicians, and interpreters involved in the project, whose talents and efforts were very well guided to a vintage aesthetic, ‘Echoes from the Past’ shows a work of rich artistic density, which brings, as the name says, echoes from past sounds to our ears as if we had known these sounds for a long time...
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