Album Review

Mike DeGagne [allmusic.com]

Aptly titled, Out in the Sun picks up where 1976's The Story of I left off, carrying on with rhythms drenched in Latin and Brazilian styles. Recorded both in Brazil and Patrick Moraz's home country of Switzerland in 1977, Out in the Sun brings up the liveliness another notch, this time with a more spacious approach to the South American sound. As Moraz dishes out a vast array of playful keyboard melanges, it is such instruments as Indian finger cymbals and Chinese gongs that add variance to every track. Distant voices and bird sounds are put in as a backdrop by way of Moraz's synthesizers in ''Time for a Change.'' Moraz employs numerous Moog keyboards and Hammond organs throughout the course of the eight tracks, but none take away any of the natural tones and primal auras that surround each one. ''Rana Batucada'' and ''Kabala'' are both beautiful instrumentals glazed with Brazilian percussion, while ''Out in the Sun'' blends congo drums and synthesizer together to form a highly entertaining instrumental mixture. All the keyboard work on Out in the Sun comes off as warm and unrestrained, helping to lay the groundwork for its pure tropical sound.