Tag: Brazil

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Gal Costa – Gal (1969) (Mono mix)

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Gal Costa – Gal
1969 Philips R 765.098 L

The great Gal Costa released two classic Tropicália records in 1969, and this one is widely known as the mind-bendingly psychedelic monster of the two.  The version presented here is the original mono mix and not the stereo mix that appeared on the Gal Total boxset and later in a Polysom reissue.  Gal has always surrounded herself with musical heavyweights but she was keeping particularly heady company at this time: this record has substantial involvement from Gil, Caetano and Jards Macalé (who would serve as her musical director not long after this).  No less than two compositions from Jorge Ben are featured here, including the rather deep cut “Tuareg” in a particularly funky arrangement. Continue reading

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Tim Maia – Disco Club (1978) (2018 Mr. Bongo reissue)

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Tim Maia – Disco Club
2018 Mr. Bongo MRBLP156/ Original release 1978 Atlantic (Brazil)

I am making this blog post on May 31 so that it cannot be said that the first six months of 2020 did not have any Brazilian content whatsoever from Flabbergasted Vibes.  I guess I have been kind of ‘down’ on Brazil lately – fascism has run / been running amok there and the Covid situation is just heartbreaking.  Something’s got to change.  But today is a holiday in the U.S. and the unofficial start of summer, so in case your BBQ needs a soundtrack, here’s a fun Tim Maia album.  If you are totally new to Tim Maia, I personally wouldn’t pick Disco Club as an introduction. Not because I have a problem with the disco sound of a few tunes (and there are lots of soul tunes and a couple of funk slammers too, in case you have an irrational aversion to disco). Actually the first two tunes are an unapologetic-ally commercial take on disco without any of the underground currents or ripples which make that genre interesting, though ‘Ascendo O Farol’ scored a big hit for Tim.  But putting that aside, mostly I just don’t get as excited about this album as I do about most of his other records made both before and after this one. Lots of people love the record though, so YMMV. Contributions from Hyldon and Cassiano (who died this year from Covid-19)  help keep things lively.   Worth having just for ‘Sossego’ alone, but there are lots of great songs here. Continue reading

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João Bosco – João Bosco (1973)

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João Bosco – João Bosco
Original release 1973
2003 reissue RCA / BMG France 74321 965032

 

In 1972, João Bosco only had a split 7-inch single under his name as a recording artist, but the fact that the other side of that 7″ was from Tom Jobim should tell you the high regard he was held in even at this stage. That same year, Elis Regina would record her first Bosco/Blanc-authored song, Bala Por Pala, and songs from the prolific writing duo would feature prominently on her records for the rest of the decade.  That song also appears here, on João Bosco’s debut album, in a version that is more exciting and, well, smoothly frenetic in a way that is distinctly Bosco’s. Continue reading

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Dora Lopes – Enciclopédia da Gíria (1957 Mocambo)

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Dora Lopes – Enciclopédia da Gíria
Mocambo / Rozenblit 1957

Is this a Pride Month post?  Sort of, because Dora Lopes was possibly the first “out” singer in Brazilian popular music.   But this record was  before anyone outside Rio scenesters knew or cared about her sexuality, and even before she was the proprietor of O Caixotinho, one of Rio’s first lesbian nightclubs that served the Copacabana area beginning in the second half of the 60s.  This 1957 album is notable for other reasons, like being released on the small Recife imprint Mocambo, and for the fact that Dora gets composer credits on all but a couple songs here in a era when women songwriters were not the norm.  The songs and arrangements fit more in the jazz-samba world than the nascent bossa nova scene. Continue reading

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Jards Macalé – Jards Macalé (1972) (Polysom reissue)

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Jards Macalé – Jards Macalé
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 96 khz | Art at  300 dpi
24 bit 96 khz – 927 MB | 16-bit 44.1 khz 235 MB
Polysom 33124-1| Released 2012 (Orig.1972)  | Brazilian / Post-Tropicália / Samba / Soul – Funk

This record seems to fit the mood right now.   It is, somehow, a demonstration of how to remain calm while everything falls apart around you.  Brazil is very close to electing an right-wing extremist so repugnant that I don’t even want to name him here, and the US senate is poised to send the definitive reaffirmation, backed by a few thousand years of patriarchy, that women are still the property of men and do not deserve to be heard in the public sphere.  There might not be anything specifically political about this record, but it captures a kind of quiet perseverance, wrapped in melancholy, that are in so many of the best records from this period – the worst, most repressive years of Brazil’s military dictatorship. Continue reading

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Almir Guinéto – Almir Guinéto (1986) (RGE 308.6118)

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Almir Guinéto
Almir Guinéto
1986 RGE 308.6118

A1 Caxambu (Bidubi/Jorge Neguinho/Zé Lobo/Élcio do Pagode)
A2 Mel Na Boca (David Correa)
A3 Superman (Almir Guinéto/Adalto Magalha)
A4 Cenário (Almir Guinéto/Adalto Magalha/Capri)
A5 Quem Me Guia (Beto Sem Braço/Serginho Meriti)
A6 Lama Nas Ruas (Almir Guinéto/Zeca Pagodinho)
B1 Conselho (Adilson Bispo/Zé Roberto)
B2 Santo Errado (Almir Guinéto/Adalto Magalha/Capri)
B3 Pra Que Tanta Marra? (Arlindo Cruz/Sombinha/Acyr Marques)
B4 Flecha Do Cupido (Almir Guinéto/Beto Sem Braço/Guará da Empresa)
B5 Feito Aguardente (Almir Guinéto/Adalto Magalha)
B6 Hoje (Almir Guinéto/Luverci Ernesto) Continue reading