Toni Tornado – B.R. 3 (1971)

Toni Tornado
B.R.3
Released 1971 on Odeon
2002 reissue, Odeon Cem Anos

Another great album from Toni Tornado, the “James Brown of Brazil.” But first off — here is the deal with this CD pressing: There is a really annoying defect on the first track, Juizo Final (*not* the Nelson Cavaquinho song, by the way), where it skips obnoxiously within the first ten seconds. This is not a problem with the individual disc or the rip. How do I know this?? I bought two of them… Same exact skip in the same exact place on both of them.

 

On the whole the album is less funky than his 1972 album that would follow this but it is no less soulful for it. The repetoire seems him giving soulful treatments to two Roberto Carlos / Erasmo Carlos compositions (Não lhe quero mais, and Papai, não foi esse o mundo que você valou); a song by Hyldon (O repórter informou) and of course the title track that was a big hit (penned by Antônio Adolfo and Tibério Gaspar). This song would gain awards at the annual Festival of Song, in 1970, after which his career took off. The title, B.R.3, besides referring to the highway that connects Rio to Belo Horizonte, is also street slang for an intravenous injection… Giving the refraine “A gente corre, a gente morre, na B.R.3” a different shade of meaning.

The heavy influence of American black music was truly revolutionary, but also very “foreign” for Brazil, leading to some amusing parodies on TV that Toni himself participated in, on the show Os Trapalhões. These clips give you the idea, no portuguese necessary

And this one, of horrible VHS quality but even more silly, performing B.R.3. Filmed around the time of this record, this one pokes fun at the Toni’s rather idiosyncratic way of dancing while singing the tune at this point in history, sort of an odd power-walk/march. Note all the wigs of cabelo “Black Power”….

Short bio of Tony Tornado from allbrazilianmusic. com , a site from UOL that I actually forgot existed!! I could have been saving myself time on translations lately!

Born in São Paulo, Antônio Viana Gomes moved to Rio at age 11, after his father died. He worked as a shoeshine boy and sold candy until turning 18 and joining the Army (as a parachutist). He initiated his career as a rock’n’roll singer, using the stage name Tony Checker. Then, he joined the music & dance group Brasiliana and toured the world for the next ten years. He lived in New York for 3 years, and there he met Tim Maia. He was arrested in Brazil, once, accused of reproducing the Black Panthers compliment. Back in Brazil, he continued as a crooner, being eventually discovered by songwriter Tibério Gaspar. Tibério and Antônio Adolfo chose Tornado to interpret their songs, “BR-3” at a very important music festival in 1970, and the success was overwhelming. Another huge hit was “Podes Crer, Amizade”. He also developed his acting career, mainly in the 80s and 90s.

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Nelson Cavaquinho – Nelson Cavaquinho (1973)

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1973
Odeon
SMOFB 3809

1 Juizo final

(Élcio Soares – Nelson Cavaquinho)

2 Folhas secas

(Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)

3 Caminhando

(Nourival Bahia – Nelson Cavaquinho)

4 Minha festa

(Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)

5 Mulher sem alma

(Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)

6 Vou partir

(Jair Costa – Nelson Cavaquinho)

7 Rei vadio

(Joaquim – Nelson Cavaquinho)

8 A flor e o espinho

(Alcides Caminha – Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)
• Se eu sorrir (Nelson Cavaquinho-Guilherme de Brito)
• Quando eu me chamar saudade (Nelson Cavaquinho-Guilherme de Brito)
• Pranto de poeta (Nelson Cavaquinho-Guilherme de Brito)

9 É tão triste cair

(Nelson Cavaquinho)

10 Pode sorrir

(Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)

11 Rugas

(Garcêz – Ary Monteiro – Nelson Silva)

12 O bem e o mal

(Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)

13 Visita triste

(Anatalicio – Guilherme de Brito – Nelson Cavaquinho)

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Nelson Antônio da Silva, aka Nelson Cavaquinho. October 28, 1911 – February 17, 1986

“My voice, you know, is really raspy. But…. what is the name of that guy over there in North America? Ah, Armstrong is also raspy. There are people who like my voice more than many other singers. I don’t know why, but I think its because I feel it. There are singers that have killed my music. I have feeling when I sing.”

-from an interview with Sergio Cabral on the album’s back cover

Nelson Cavaquinho’s amazing gift for memorable melody meant that there was never any shortage of famous artists wanting to record his sambas. Just a glance at the jacket of this one and you see a quick handful, tunes that are better-known if not immortalized in the sweet tones of Clara Nunes, Elis Regina, Elza Soares, Elizeth Cardoso… Surely Nelson was not talking about THEM when he referred to people “killing” his songs. Pelo amor de deus, he couldn’t have been!

Whoever he might have had in mind, his point is well-taken. There is something about his songs, and maybe just samba in general, that particularly suits it to being sung by grissled old men and women. And I say that with love in my heart, of course. Nelson, who carried Cartola’s coffin at his funeral, did not have the sweetened vintage pipes of his close friend. His is more of a croak, but nonetheless endearing for it.

This 1973 record is a classic. It has made the rounds on the ‘blogosphere’ but I like it too much not to share it here, with my own rip of ‘primera qualidade’. The dynamic Odeon duo of Milton Miranda and Maestro Gaya are in the production seats on this one too. Guilherme de Brito, who had taken up his place as Nélson’s main songwriting partner at this point, sings on the medley of songs on Track 8. It’s also worth noting that Nélson plays guitar on the record, and *not* cavaquinho, which he more or less quit playing fairly early on. Nicknames tend to stick, I guess.

A lot of the highlights of this album have been recorded by other artists as well – Juizo Final, Folhas Secas, Vou Partir are especially well-represented songs in the broader samba discography.

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Nelson Cavaquinho and Cartola, 1963, Carnaval in Rio. Photo by Walter Firmo

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Jackson do Pandeiro – O Cabra da Peste (1966)

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Jackson do Pandeiro
“O Cabra da Peste”

Original release: 1966, “Jackson do Pandeiro – O Cabra da Peste”, Continental, PPL 12265)

Censored release: 1969

reissue: 1978, “Jackson do Pandeiro – O Cabra da Peste – Edição Limitada”, Popular/GE/Continental, 146411047)

This pressing, Warner/Continental CD, 2001 (092741523-2)

01. Capoeira mata um (Alvaro Castilho – De Castro) Balanço
02. Tá roendo (Figueirôa – Maruim) Samba
03. A ordem é samba (Jackson do Pandeiro – Severino Ramos) Samba
04. Pinicapau (Codó) Baião
05. Forró quentinho (Almira Castilho) Forró
06. Bodocongó (HUmberto Teixeira – Cicero Nunes) Baião
07. Secretária do diabo (Osvaldo Oliveira – Reinaldo Costa) Forró
08. Vou sambalançar (Antonio Barros – Jackson do Pandeiro) Samba
09. Alegria do vaqueiro (Zé Katraca) Baião
10. Forró do Biá (Luiz Moreno – Jeronimo) Forró
11. Papai vai de trem (Ivo Martins – Jackson do Pandeiro) Baião

DELETED TRACK between tracks 10 and 11 above, Polícia Feminina (Severino Ramos – José Pereira) Forró

What a confusing release history this album has had, which utter lack of any information whatsoever on the CD reissue fails to clear up. This is what I was I have been able to piece together for you: “O Cabra da Peste” was released in 1966 (sometimes listed as 1963, which I originally fell for but was thankfully corrected about), censored and re-released without the song “Polícia Feminina” in 1969, then reissued again in limited edition in 1978, from which I suspect this album cover at the top was taken. I am not sure what is meant by the text under the photo, “rerecording with a new cover,” unless they consider the removal of one track to be a rerecording. Or perhaps by 78 they decided to put “Polícia Feminina” (a fairly innocuous and silly song about having your heart locked up in prison, etc) back on the album…. Whatever the case may be, the CD issue is still missing the track. The recording is in mono, so we can at least be glad they didn’t use a version “electronically rechannelled for stereo”…

Jackson do Pandeiro recorded a ton of hit songs that are very important for Brazilian popular music. None of those are on here. (You might, however, want to visit the previous post of O Rei do Ritmo on this site..). I read one review of this album, in Portuguese, that criticized the song selection as being the weakest of any album from Jackson’s career.. Well, if that’s true, I am still pretty impressed by this record and it only shows just how much of a genius this guy to give these tunes so much life. It’s a solid set of forró, samba, and samba de coco. And although there might not be anything that immediately has you singing along like many of his better-known releases, there are some real stand-out cuts here. “Capoeira mata um” totally kicks off right. “A ordém é samba” written by Jackson and and Severino Ramos, and “Bodocongó″ by Humberto Teixeira e Cícero Nunes are catchy tunes and hot performances, showing just how easily Jackson could interpret a variety of styles and have it still come out like, well, Jackson do Pandeiro. One difference between material from this era and his earlier 1950s successes can be found in the suingue (or, swing) of the rhythm section — the influence of bossa nova is felt in the way the drummer lays down some jazzed-out chops on even the forró numbers. While this might not be the place to start for people new to Jackson do Pandeiro, this a fine album on its own. It makes me happy.

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Novos Baianos – Vamos Pro Mundo (1974)

baianos

1 Vamos pro mundo (Galvão – Pepeu Gomes)

2 Guria (Galvão – Moraes Moreira)

3 Na cadência do samba (Paulo Gesta – Ataulfo Alves)

4 Tangolete (Galvão – Moraes Moreira)

5 América tropical (Pepeu Gomes – Moraes Moreira)

6 Chuvisco (Pepeu Gomes – Moraes Moreira)

7 Escorrega sebosa (Paulinho Boca de Cantor – Galvão – Moraes Moreira)

8 Ô menina (Galvão – Pepeu Gomes – Moraes Moreira)

9 Um dentro do outro (Jorginho – Pepeu Gomes)

10 Um bilhete pra Didi (Jorginho)

11 Preta pretinha no carnaval (Galvão – Moraes Moreira)

One look at the album cover, and you know that all is not well here…..

As somebody who was previously only familiar with their first few albums, one of them being the “most important Brazilian album” according to Brazilian Rolling Stone, I have to say that this album leaves me frustrated, if not quite cold.

It is sad to admit this but it took almost a whole listen to realize what is sorely missing from this record — Moraes Moreira! Although he has writing credit on it, he is not playing or singing on the album.

To give you the succinct low-down: This feels like HALF a great album to me, which is what makes the non-great half so frustrating. Literally half the record is instrumental, and while they are undoubtedly all talented players, this material seems largely inspired to me, as if they had run out of songs and just needed to fill up the other half o the record. But if you like jamming-for-the-sake-of-it type stuff, this album could make your day, who know?

The first four songs are all excellent, particularly the second track Guria which is simply gorgeous. Baby Consuelo is in fine form on these and her energy only increases my desire to make out with her in 1974. The fourth track Tangolete sees the Baianos taking up their rockier side, with Paulo Boca de Cantor singing. From this point on, things get more and more uneven. The instrumental ‘America Tropical’ sounds the band doing their best Santana impression, followed IMMEDIATELY by another instrumental (whose sequencing idea was *that*?), the acoustic choro-flavored “Chuvisco.” The next two tracks are delicious — the jazzy post-bossa acoustic laid backness of Escorrega Sebosa winds up with a little coda of samba de roda (hey i made a rhyme!), and thes stylized samba canção of ‘Ô Menina’ once again makes me pine for nutty Baby Consuelo. Then, if you are like me, you will find yourself turning the album off after this track as the last 12 or 13 minutes takes a serious nosedive into mediocrity. Two more BACK TO BACK instrumentals (really now, what were they thinking?), complete with dueling guitars and a gratuitous drum solo …. Zzzzzzzz. Um Dentro do Outro is the more interesting of the two, slightly funky, slighly progged-out ensemble playing; but the second, Um Bilhete para Didi, is just irritating to me, although it does have what appears to be a bowed bass solo in the middle of it. I remember hearing this track as an Mp3 years ago and thinking it was pretty cool, but at this point I… just don’t. And then the clincher — an abominable version of Preta Pretinha played in hyperdrive trio electrico style, here called “Preta Pretinha no Carnaval”.

I wish I knew the story about why Moraes Moreira has writing credits on half the songs (even the lackluster instrumentals) but then left the band for a while. In any event, it does confirm his place at the center of what made the magic happen. For even when this album is good — and I do think the highlights I’ve mentioned here ARE quite good – they still lack a certain energy, cohesiveness, and inspiration that they had going earlier. Of course by 1974 the hippie lifestyle was wearing down a lot of bands, so the Baianos aren’t exactly an exception.

This album, on the whole, confirms my belief that when (non-jazz) bands start putting drum solos on their studio albums, they are basically running out of ideas…

Still this is a worthy addition to any Brazilian music collection and especially anyone who likes Novos Baianos.

Novos Baianos – Vamos Pro Mundo (1974) in FLAC LOSSLESS

Novos Baianos – Vamos Pro Mundo (1974) in 320kbs mp3

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VA – Getting Off: The Seductive Sounds of 70's Adult Cinema (2007)

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I am away from the command center at the Den of Iniquity but the blog cannot stay quiet, so I bring you a post from our contributor KUNG. Rip, scan, and description are all his.

01. L. Hurdle & F. Ricotti – Move On
02. Anton Scott – J.P. Walk (Boogie Nights)
03. Alan Tew – Gentle In The Night
04. Ray Davies – Power Play
05. Unknown – Nude interlude #1 (Kinky Ladies of Bourbon Street)
06. Alan Hawkshaw – Hawkind and fire
07. Brian Bennett – Disco Fever
08. Roger Webb & Keith Grant – The Bends
09. Alan Tew – The Heist
10. Unknown – Nude interlude #2 (Downstairs, Upstairs)
11. Unknown – Carl’s cabana (Inside Seka)
12. Unknown – Fernando’s blues (Come Under My Spell)
13. Unknown – Nude interlude #3 (Do You Wanna Be Loved?)
14. Unknown – Bang ’em hard (Inside Seka)

***
Moviegrooves.com wrote: The Seductive Sounds of 70s Adult Cinema is another porno music compilation – but with a difference; the emphasis is definitely on creating an atmosphere by using the music, with almost no dialogue/moaning/groaning as is the usual deal with porno music comps.

On closer inspection, Getting Off: The Seductive Sounds of 70s Adult Cinema is actually a compilation of genuine (licensed) 70s library music mixed with some music (lifted from DVD) from actual 70s and early 80s porno movies (hey – we did our research, so you don’t have to!), with the library music here having every chance of actually being used in adult movies back in the day.

Whatever – with Getting Off: The Seductive Sounds of 70s Adult Cinema, the guys at Lucky Monkey Records have put together a great little compilation that definitely evokes that sexy 70s porno movie sound! Now where did we put that double-ended dildo?

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Library music is a term that refers to music that is done by commercial studio musicians and then sold to be used in commercials, b-movies, tv-series etc.

DESCRIPTION BY KUNG:

So today I will share one album from my Porn Groove collection. So, you wonder – why would anybody collect Porn music. Well a couple of years ago dear wifey opened by “accident” my forbidden cupboard and discovered my collection of XXX films. Again and again I tried explaining to her that I enjoy these films only because of the fabulous music in them. So why dont you buy the f@#$%^ CDs instead, she cried. My honest reply was: Its impossible! You must understand they dont release this music on CDs. You gotta get the DVDs. Oh well, I was wrong… And now I have to keep buying these CDs only to prove my love for the music. I will never admit anything else! My whole life is a lie…

VA – GETTING OFF in 320 kbs

VA – GETTING OFF in FLAC Lossless

Nara Leão – O Canto Livre de Nara (1965)

nara leao
nara leao

NARA LEÃO
O Canto Livre de Nara
1965, Philips #632.748
CD reissue, 2002 Japan release (courtesy of Kung)

Nara Leão was a very busy woman in the 1960s. After all it is not easy being The Muse of Bossa Nova. By 1965, however, she was broadening the scope of her work to incorporate “musica engajada,” a type of protest folk music that was gaining momentum in the wake of the 1964 military coup and the dictatorship that followed and would endure for twenty years. The first song, Corisco, is from the film Deus e Diabo na Terra do Sol released the previous year, a film directed by Glauber Rocha, who co-wrote the song.. Probably the pinnacle of the Cinema Novo movement, and certainly its best-known offering, this song would have been an immediate cultural reference point to the students, artists, and intellectuals that were following Cinema Novo. The song was the main theme for the character of the same name, a lieutenant of the bandit Lampião. Lampião has honorary status as Brazil’s equivalent of Robin Hood, a bit of a hyperbolic comparison since Lampião wasn’t quite as discriminating in, um, dispensation of vigilante justice. In fact he was as feared by the rural poor as he was by the wealthy landowners of the northeast Brazilian backlands, and it was only during and after the Brazilian military pursued and hunted his gang that he became an icon of peasant resistance. Brazil had just changed from being a monarchy to a Republican government. For a variety of complicated reasons – including the fact that the monarchy ended slavery in Brazil (the last place in the Western Hemisphere to do so) as one of its last official acts – the fall of the monarchy was not quite the occasion to celebrate that one might imagine. In fact there was a growing sense among the rural poor that they were getting a raw deal, and the early years of the Republic saw an efflorescence of various kinds of protest, unrest, revolts, millenarian movements… Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol deals with all of this, including a direct reference to the “colony” of Canudos led by messianic itinerant preacher Antônio Conselheiro, a place which promised redemption to thousands of rural poor seeking a release from the stranglehold of sharecropping and other types of tenant arrangements left in the wake of slavery. Canudos grew to somewhere in the area of 35,000 people, and concerned the new government enough for them to send the military to put a stop to it — which, eventually and after several attempts where the army was embarrassingly beaten back — they eventually did. With a bloody and brutal massacre which became an emblem of the “order and progress” that was, no matter how you want to analyze it, built upon the blood, sweat, and brutality of a slavocratic system.

Why is this important to a Nara Leão album in 1965? Because the story of Canudos is known by all Brazilians. It is part of the curriculum of the school system. Euclides da Cunha immortalized it in his book Os Sertões, an instant classic that went into numerous reprintings almost immediately and was translated into English by the 1940s. The story of Lampião, his lover Maria Bonita, and their band of merry madmen is equally party of the cultural fabric. When Glauber Rocha made these two scenarios a central part of a film released in 1964, he was doing so for a reason. I am no film scholar, but his lens captures visually and narrates both the optimism for change and the anguish of seeing it thwarted. Repeatedly. Cyclically. In Rocha’s narrative, the cattle rustler Manuel is done wrong and taken advantage one time too many by a wealthy ‘coronel’ or rural boss, and he murders him during a fight over his pay. He flees with his wife to the “Holy Mountain”, the analog of Canudos mentioned above. That, well.. that doesn’t work out so well either, and he ends up seeking refuge once more, this time with what is left of Lampião’s band, now led by his lieutenant, the rather ill-tempered and erratic Corisco (also an actual historic figure). The song that follows Corisco’s character throughout the film is an unfolding variation on one musical theme, really. Also titled elsewhere, “Perseguição” (Persecution), the lyrics alternate between a coronel’s command to “deliver Corisco” to answer for his crimes and a peasant’s refusal to do so. The song contains the memorable lines of prophecy, repeated elsewhere in all manner of songs, films, books — “O sertão vai vira o mar, e o mar vai vira sertão” — The desert will turn into the sea, and the sea will turn to desert.

Nara Leão was not randomly choosing this song to open up her album. She had thrown in her lot with the “música engajada” crowd, best typified in the work of Geraldo Vandré, Zé Keti and João do Vale. She had participated in a show with Keti and João do Vale that was also released on record in 196, and their material dominates this record. This new protest music was drawing on the musical traditions of forró, xote, and baião. Deeply northeastern in melodic and rhythmic structure, and alongside the rather long ‘Fisherman’s Suite’ of Dorival Caymmi, the inclusion of this material in Nara Leão’s repertoire makes it pretty clear that we are no longer solely dealing with the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon here. The final song is an anonymously authored tune in the public domain, a song sung by holy men and women in the northeast who would make their livelihood from praying day and night , which Nara mixes with a stanza from the modernist-yet-archetypically-Northeastern poet João Cabral de Melo Netto.

Don’t believe me? The liner notes from Ferreira Gullar write of Nara consciously pursuing and deepening the road she had set out on with her ‘Opinão’ album, of augmenting her role as a singer with that of interpreting “the problems and aspirations of her people.” He writes of Nara wanting to use her voice to “bring… to the largest possible number of people, a contemporary undrestanding of the Brazilian reality, that she feels and identifies in the compositions of Caymmi, of João do Vola, of Zé Keti, of Edu Lobo, of Vinicius and of many others.” According to Gullar, Nara was interested in communicating through song a form of discussion, of dialog with a public. In 1965, the dreams of the post-Kubitschek Brazilian left for a more just society had not yet faded. Both the ideas of “dialog” and even of “a public” to have it with still seemed plausible.

“To sing of love and of life, the love that belongs to all as life does. To sing of solidarity, of peace, and of liberty. Nara discovered that it is possible and it is necessary to make into a reality the idea that all men are equal and that, as a singer, she can contribute to this. And Nara contributes to this as much when she sings of the suffering of the landless peasant, as when she interprets an old samba love-song. Because, to bring together these themes seemingly so different, she teaches us, in the knowledge of her youth, that love, peace, labor, and liberty are synonymous with life.”

Oh, and the music? Yes, well, that is pretty damn good too. The populist vanguardisms are tempered by lean ensemble work, laying out a jazz groove for Nara to carry on her work of conscientização. The band is led by the ubiquitous Luiz Eça, best known for being at the heart of the Tamba Trio. Also helping out with musical coordination is Dori Caymmi. The lineup looks like this:

Luiz Eça – piano
Bass – Bebeto
Drums – Ohana
Flute – Bebeto
Guitar – Dor
i Caymmi
Backing vocals – Peter and his voice orchestra…

Nara Leão – O Canto Livre de Nara (1965)
in 320 kbs
in FLAC LOSSLESS