O BIDU – SILÊNCIO NO BROOKLIN
1967 on United Artists (LP 70.006)
This pressing, Atoll Music, France
1 Amor de carnaval
2 Nascimento de um príncipe africano
3 Jovem samba
4 Rosa mais que nada
5 Canção de uma fã
6 Menina gata Augusta (Jorge Ben, Erasmo Carlos)
7 Toda colorida
8 Frases
9 Quanto mais te vejo (Jorge Ben, Yara Rossi)
10 Vou andando
11 Sou da pesada
12 Si manda
All songs by Jorge Ben unless otherwise noted.
This post is dedicated to the guy in Madison, Wisconsin, who requested but then found it elsewhere before I got around to making this post. He’s a cool guy and regular visitor to Flabbergasted Vibes, so he deserves a shout-out, especially because he doesn’t live in New York. You see, hoje em dia, there is a large population of hipsters living in Brooklyn, raising rents (if not quite raising hell) by running around in their skinny jeans and messenger bags and generally thinking they are the center of the universe. Well unfortunately this record is one more feather in their ironic caps. I would like to take pleasure from telling these people that this Jorge Ben album is NOT named after their new occupied territory. But the truth is actually somewhat worse – it is named after an entire neighborhood in São Paulo that was named after their hip occupied territory. The neighborhood was christened thus by the Canadian-owned São Paulo Tramway, Light and Power Company, which also – in an interesting reflection on Canada’s bizarre tendency towards self-effacement – named handfuls of streets after famous cities in the United States.
The only record Jorge Ben ever made for United Artists, this was left out of the recent Salve, Jorge! box set. Like many rarities by major artists, its reputation probably exceeds its actual quality. It’s not a bad album, but it’s also not a great one. Some of the tracks are trying a bit too hard for jovem guarda caché for my tastes. This isn’t a slag against jovem guarda, it’s just that I think Jorge Ben was in a transitional phase trying to figure out where he wanted to go next, and this record just kind of proves that he hadn’t found it yet. Or, possibly, that it was recorded in a hurry while trying to renegotiate his expired contract with Philips.
It most certainly has some gems on it – the first two tracks open up the record with plenty of energy, and I’m particularly fond of the celeste (although it could be a vibraphone, I prefer to believe its a celeste) on the “Nascimento de um principe africano”. The track “Toda colorida” belongs among the ranks of any of Ben’s best stuff from this period, as does “Frases”, which was reworked by Caetano Veloso and renamed “Olha o menino” on his 1977 ‘Bicho’ album. But aside from these tracks, there isn’t too much that stands out. “Rosa mais que nada” is, unsurprisingly, a rehash of ‘Mais que nada’, and while the final track ‘Si Manda’ may be an upbeat number to close out the album, it is also just a rehash of the first track “Amor de carnaval.” Still, any Jorge Ben from this period is essential, at least to us Jorge Ben fans, and others may of course feel differently about this record than I do.
in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO: MIRROR 1 // MIRROR 2
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A classic not to miss. Thanks a lot for your great work! – Greetz from Germany!
If only the hipsters were as cool as the Muppet's when they came to Mannhattann.
This is one of the few blogs where I end up liking nearly 100% of what is posted. Thank you for sharing all of this amazing music. I hope I don't sound too much like a stooge— I'm serious; thank you.
Nothing stooge-like in the least about that comment. In fact I quite appreciate it. Thanks!
muito bom! já tinha me surpreendido com a caixa "salve jorge", não estava esperando ver disponível o "bidu". faz tempo que não encontro um blog que me interesse tanto. abraço do Recife!
To me it's reputation equals it's quality – i love it. Just found all issues i've heard so far to have a rather murky sound.
Looking forward to compare the sound of this issue.
Many thanks!
Well porco rosso, I *did* say other folks would no doubt differ from my opinion. I know a lot of people LOVE this album.. It just doesn`t do it for me as a whole, for whatever reason.
The sound on this pressing isn`t so great either, I lament to inform you.
cheers, F.
Hey, congrats for your work. The blog has great stuff, I will keep following you from now on. Greetings from Brazil.
Appreciated unironically down in Philly too.
Got to say once again I love this Blog. You have great taste and put together fantastic detailed posts. It's clear you love the music and want to spread the love around a bit. Why Jorge Ben isn't better known is mystery to me. What a fantastic run he had in the 60's & 70's. To be that prolific and that good together is almost unheard of.
One thing that's puzzling me and it would be nice to have your opinion is Pais Tropical. I hear it as sort of an ironic/satirical love song to Brasil under the Military Dictatorship but haven't seen anybody else make that connection. At least not openly. What do you think, how do you read it?
Hi Garry… Thanks for the kind words. Regarding "País Tropical," your observation is very salient and I wish I had something more profound to say about it. I think the song was most definitely ironic when played by Os Mutantes, for example, but Jorge Ben's true intentions.. I'm just not sure. The gap between intention and interpretation can be both problematic and productive, and in this case I think a lot of people take away a lot of different things from that particular song. One place to look for specific information in English might be the book "Brutality Garden" by Christopher Dunn. It's been a good while since I read and can't remember whether or not the song is discussed, but it's a good read and worth checking out. cheers, F.
Thanks for the suggestion of 'Brutality Garden'. I've read a little about the military dictatorship but my knowledge of Brasil is lamentably poor. Still as a non-portuguese speaker it's hard to find many primary texts. Still I should work harder. Keep on doing what you've been doing!
Great stuff, thanks for sharing. The music as well as your thoughts.
Regards,
m
THANK YOU
I agree that this is one of the best for me… despite sound quality challenges (and maybe eventually because of them), it's possibly the record that means the most to me. I even had some shirts made up with that truly wicked album cover!
Frases, Nacimento, Toda Colorida are all just tops for me. Strangely never been able to get into Sou de Pesada, but Se Manda is another cut to be reckoned with and greater than the sum of its parts – it was actually cited by Caetano in Brutality Garden as one of the key inspirations for Tropicália. It's amazing to consider this recording, made in secret in São Paulo at the time due to record company intrigue, actually predated that entire movement by at least a few months.
Hey thanks for this and the other JB posts, great work!
Grande disco!!!
you have great musical taste…Jorge is the man!! I seen him everytime he has come to NYC… SALVE JORGE!!
awesome, thanks!
These comments and this blog as so informative, even for somebody like me who thought they knew a lot about this stuff. Just downloaded 2 more Ben discs and wanted to give thanks, once again for the music and opinions. Top notch!
Show de Bola esse post. Aceite nossos parabens e agradecimentos. Tudo muito bom, mas não encontro a senha.
melhor artista e musico brasileiro, esta sempre a frente do tempo e criou um ritmo onde tantos só imitavam, sendo o unico a ter suas musicas tocadas e conhecidas em outros paises e até plagiadas por artistas internacionais
Obrigado!
thank you
I've downloaded this album from here a while ago and today I finally bought it on vinyl. Thank you!
amazing, thank you!!
nao vejo link nas linhas do 320 e do Flac –
desculpe se estiver errado
se os links sumiram agradeceria se puder colocar este CD no top da sua lista de re-up futuros.
Muito agradecido
obrigado , aguardando a versao Flac
oi maracana, o FLAC tá funcionando agora. veja acima
maravilha !!
muito obrigado
eu gosto de Frases (olha menino)
eu tenho problemas de velocidade com filepost (e no fim nao completa o download)
agradeceria se pudesse colocar tambem um link depositfiles (ou outro site da sua conveniencia)
muito obrigado
veja em cima agora 😉
muito obrigado !!!!!
This one is hard to find, thanks!
Ufa! Consegui chegar a tempo de fazer o download desta maravilha de álbum do Jorge Ben (Benjor), só tinha o vinyl ripper mono de 1969 pelo selo da Beverly, upado pelo Vinylmania, que também faz um belo trabalho referente a qualidade. Muito obrigado Flabbergasted por manter este post vivo. Deus abençõe a você e o Vinylmania. Por acaso você não teria em 320kbps de CD, o álbum de 1981, Bem-Vinda Amizade. Thanks.
De nada, Seu Moraes. Bem-Vinda Amizade eu só tenho do vinil mesmo. Quem é esse Vinylmania do que vc fala?
otimo site visitarei mais este..