Carlos Paredes - Guitarra Portuguesa/Movimento Perpétuo (Drag City)

Carlos Paredes isn’t a name known to most Americans, unless you’re knowledgeable about the masters of Portuguese guitar. Paredes was an innovator of the guitar, and thanks to the fine folks at increasingly historical preservation-minded Drag City, the man is getting a revisit, with a reissue of his first two albums. Carlos, whom is declared by some to be one of the instruments world-renowned performers, is actually the son of Artur Paredes, who is also considered to have been one of the odd-looking twelve-stringed instrument’s innovators.

Semantics about the instrument’s history aside, the two Paredes records reissued, 1967’s debut, Guitarra Portuguesa, and its follow up, 1970’s Movimento Perpétuo, are two breathtakingly astounding records filled with songs that delight and impress. There’s gentle ringing, as heard on “Porto Santo” and “Divertimento,” and then there’s the utterly insane “Movimento Perpétuo,” that is so frantic and fast, you’d think you were listening to a Jimmy Page or a Steve Vai or some other guitar god on some interesting “world music” instrument trip. Think I’m being silly with those comparisons? Well, you can decide for yourself right now:

Virtuosity doesn’t substitute for melody, and it’s when Paredes is playing slow that the instrument really, truly becomes otherworldly. As heard on “Romance No. 1 & 2” and “Mudar De Vida: Tema,” the instrument can produce some sounds that can best be described as, well…sensual, especially when joined by wind instruments—the sort of thing that could easily soundtrack a candle-lit restaurant or a velvet-lined love grotto. Then there’s the trippy natural high of “Canção” and “Cançäo Verdes Anos,” songs that probably sealed the deal with a psych-rock minded label such as Drag City.

Okay, Paredes isn’t a household name, but these two records are beautiful, interesting documents of a masterful musician of a unique and rare continental instrument, and Drag City has done right by him in reintroducing these records to the younger generation.