João Bosco – João Bosco (1973)


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

Tamba Trio – Tamba Trio (1975)

Tamba Trio
(self-titled)
RCA 888430906624
Original release 1975
Reissue 2014 (EU)

1 – 3 Horas Da Manhã  (Ivan Lins, Waldemar Correia) 2:42
2 Visgo De Jaca (Sergio Cabral, Rildo Hora) 2:35
3 Ou Bola Ou Bulica (Aldir Blanc, Joao Bosco) 2:12
4 Beira-Mar (Ivan Lins) 2:19
5 Olha Maria (Amparo) (A.C. Jobim) 4:45
6 Chorinho No. 1 (Durval Ferreira) 1:44
7 Jogo Da Vida (Sidney Miller, Danilo Caymmi) 3:15
8 Sanguessuga (Fernando Brant, Toninho Horta) 3:47
9 Janelas (Ivan Lins, Ronaldo Monteiro) 1:38
10 Contra O Vento (Ana Borba, Danilo Caymmi) 2:45
11 Beijo Partido (Toninho Horta) 2:28
12 Chamada (Helio Delmiro, Paulo Cesar Pinheiro) 2:10

Arrangements, piano, Fender Rhodes, Arp Synthesizer, Vocals – Luiz Eça
Bass, Percussion, Flute [In C And G], Vocals  – Bebeto
Percussion, Drums, Vocals – Hélcio Milito

With Hélio Delmiro (guitar)

Also featuring João Bosco (guitar and vocal on Track 3); Toninho Horta (guitar on tracks 8 & 11); Danilo Caymmi (guitar, tracks 7 & 10); and Rildo Hora (harmonica, track 2).

Recorded and mixed by Nestor Vitiritti, RCA Studios, Rio de Janeiro

Artwork By – Ney Tavora
Artwork and Photographic Effects– Sérgio De Garcia
Coordinator, Directed By – Raymundo Bittencourt
Design – Carlos Guarany
Photography – Ivan Klingen

 

This is a very solid record, and Tamba Trio was doing a fine job of updating their sound to stay contemporary with developments in MPB. So instead of Jobim & Vincius compositions, we have Aldir Blanc and Joao Bosco (who also guests on the record), Fernando Brandt and Toninho Horta (another guest), Danilo Caymmi, Ivan Lins (yet another guest), Paulo Cesar Pinheiro — only top shelf stuff here, it’s like reaching for the blue Johnny Walker bottle instead of the black or the red.  Another nice touch is the neo-chorinho composition by Durval Ferreira here.

But this is obviously no longer a trio configuration of the group, and the album doesn’t have the exuberance or urgency of their early records.  It does have the mature confidence of guys who have been playing together for over a decade and invited a bunch of their talented famous friends over to create new textures on their new album.  Bassist and flautist Bebeto sings on this record, and his voice is what I imagine Chico Buarque might sound like if he were suffering from dengue fever, with that microtonally desafinado (out of tune) quality so characteristic of bossa nova which – if you aren’t quite in the mood for it – can make a person feel a little seasick.

Mirror 1 || Mirror 2

 

16-bit 44.1 khz

Mirror 1 ||  Mirror 2

Marcos Valle – Vontade de Rever Você (1981) (2017 RSD – ViNiLiSSSiMO)

Marcos Valle
Vontade De Rever Você
Reissue April 22, 2017 ViNiLiSSSiMO MR-SSS 546
Special release for Record Store Day
Original Release 1981 Som Livre 403.6224

 

01 – A Paraíba Não É Chicago     4:35
(Laudir de Oliveira, Ware, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle, Cetera)

02 – Bicho No Cio     4:35

(Leon Ware, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle)

03 Velhos Surfistas Querendo Voar     4:35

(Leon Ware, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle)

04 – Campina Grande    3:22

(Marcos Valle)

05 – Sei Lá     4:35

(Laudir de Oliveira, Ware, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle, Cetera)

06 – Pecados De Amor     3:40

(Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle)

07 – Garimpando     3:55

(Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle)

08 – Nao Pode Ser Qualquer Mulher     4:12

(Leon Ware, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle)

 

Accordion – Sivuca
Bass – Jamil Joanes, Luizão, Peter Cetera
Drums – Danny Seraphine, Robertinho Silva
Electric Piano [Rhodes] – José Roberto Bertrami
Guitar – Chris Pinnick, Robertinho De Recife, Robson Jorge, Sergio Dias
Keyboards, Piano – Marcos Valle
Percussion – Airto Moreira, Bezerra da Silva, Chacal, Laudir de Oliveira
Producer – Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle, Ribeiro Francisco
Saxophone – Oberdan, Walter Parazaider
Trombone – James Pankow, Serginho

 

LINEAGE INFO

RSD 2017 ViNiLiSSSiMO MR-SSS 546 vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica AT440-MLa cartridge; Speedbox power supply); Creek Audio OBH-15; AUdioquest King Cobra cables; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; clicks and pops removed with Click Repair on very light settings, manually auditioning the output, and often turned off for large sections of this record; further clicks removed with Adobe Audition 3.0; dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.

This is a very solid record from Marcos Valle in what would these days be called his ‘boogie’ phase.  I suppose it can’t also be called ‘yacht rock’ because, a) there’s not much rock here, and b) on the album jacket, Marcos definitely looks more like the guy selling suntan lotion (and maybe a little something extra for your voyage if you seem hip) down at the pier, moreso than he resembles the owner of a yacht.  This album also answers the unasked question, “What would it sound like if you put Chicago’s Peter Cetera and Brazilian accordion wizard Sivuca on the same song?”  The result was the moderately big hit single “A Paraíba não é Chicago” that opens up this upbeat, breezy album.  Cetera contributes bass guitar to unspecified tracks, as do the great Jamil Joanes (who played with Banda Black Rio, Gal Costa, Tim Maia, and many others) and Luizão Maia (Antônio Adolfo e A Brazuca, Fórmula 7, Elis Regina, João Bosco and many more). Sergio Dias of Os Mutantes plays a guitar or two somewhere here.  The eclectic mix of magic helper elves continues with sessions credits from three other members of Chicago (Danny Seraphine, splitting drums duties with the ubiquitous Robertinho Silva, and horn players James Pankow and Walter Parazaider), and co-writing credit from both Cetera and soul singer Leon Ware on four songs.  Valle worked with both those guys during his second stretch living in the USA, and his melodic flare is in heavy abundance on this Ware track  Rockin’ You Eternally, also from 1981. Robson Jorge and Robertinho do Recife (on guitars) and Airto (on percussion, although you wouldn’t really know it’s him) are in the mix as well.

Marcos Valle sounds natural and in his element here, still youthful and not at all like he was simply keeping up with the times while approaching the milestone of twenty years as a recording artist. Although I will probably always prefer his string of home-run classic albums from the late 60s and early 70s, I’m glad his work from this period is getting more attention lately, as evidenced by this special 2017 Record Store Day repressing by Spanish label ViNiLiSSSiMO.*  Marcos Valle has never needed to be ‘recuperated’ as hip, because he’s like some kind of Brazilian Brian Wilson, without the mental instability and a much longer span of productivity, a guy whose work has stayed afloat above the tides of fashion as effortlessly as the most expert surfer.  There are no bad songs here, although the shimmery slick production may occasionally get in their way, depending on the listener.  The instrumental Campina Grande continues the album’s peculiar fascination with the state of Paraíba (they have great beaches there…), using a Northeastern rhythmic foundation for a piano melody that is evocative of Valle’s bossa nova years.  If he had recorded an English-version of the radio-friendly, mid-tempo “Sei lá”, he might have been a household name in the northern latitudes.  But I doubt Rio’s golden boy loses much sleep over that notion.

*Unfortunately, in terms of mastering and sound quality, I’m fairly confident they just took a CD and slapped it on wax, which ignores that the two media have different properties.  The good news is I am guessing they used the Japanese reissue on Bomba Records, since it doesn’t pin the meters to 0 db in a solid slab of ‘brickwall’ like I suspect the Som Livre 2006 CD, based on all their other CD reissues.  Anyway, I guess it’s nice to have around for analog playback, at a reasonable price.

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Joyce – Feminina (1980) (EMI Japan 2016)

folderJoyce
Feminina

Recorded     January 1980
Original release on Odeon
This reissue: EMI JAPAN / UICY-76389

1.     “Feminina”       (Joyce)     3:48
2.     “Mistérios”       (Joyce, Maestro)     4:32
3.     “Clareana”       (Joyce )    2:50
4.     “Banana”       (Joyce)     4:16
5.     “Revendo Amigos”      ( Joyce)     3:20
6.     “Essa Mulher”       (Joyce, Terra)     3:32
7.     “Coração de Criança”       (Joyce, Leporace)     3:13
8.     “Da Cor Brasileira”       (Joyce, Terra)     2:12
9.     “Aldeia de Ogum”       (Joyce)     4:34
10.     “Compor”       (Joyce )    2:19

Joyce – Vocals, guitar, arrangements
Fernando Leporace – Bass, vocals
Tutti Moreno – Drums, percussion
Mauro Senise – Flute, saxophones
Lize Bravo – Vocals
Claudio Guimaraes – Guitar
Gilson Peranzzetta – Arrangements
Helio Delmiro – Guitar
Paulo Guimaraes, Jorginho, Danilo Caymmi – Flute
Helvius Vilela – Piano

Producer     Jose Milton
Arrangements –  Maurício Maestro


The somewhat ufanista groover “Banana” which can also double as a shopping list.  This song (and Clareana as well) dates back to earlier sessions she had done with Maurício Maestro that also featured Naná Vasconcelos

It is Easter Monday and that is as good a reason as any for F.Vibes to revive a little.  I suppose if you were to compare Joyce (né Joyce Moreno) to anyone in the Anglo-American musical universe, it might be Joni Mitchell.  Both are phenomenal songwriters and instrumentalists in a male-dominated field where women are often confined to the roles of vocalist and/or window dressing.  Both of them are also quite beautiful women who declined to use their sensuality to sell records.  How that may or may not relate to their career paths, which often perched between cult status and superstar, is something I will leave others to ponder.  While there is no doubt that Joyce has done quite well for herself, she probably has more name recognition outside her home country, particularly in Europe and Japan where she is something of an ambassador for Brazilian musical sophistication and the style called “hard bossa” that she plays.  In Brazil she may be best known for the big hit off this album, Clareana.  It was written for her children and ebullient with the nearly manic joys of motherhood, a song that impresses by its loveliness at first but may become a sticking point on later listens.  By which I mean your audio player of choice may seem like it’s been dunked in sticky honey or molasses for that 2 minutes and 50 seconds while you wait for the album to move on to more nutritious fare.  The album also features a song that would become one of Elis Regina’s last hits in her truncated life, “Essa Mulher”, which (it almost goes without saying ) is performed here by Joyce with less of the wild-eyed intensity that Elis gave to it. Feminina is a milestone in Joyce’s career and has top-notch performances from everyone involved (especially her future husband, Tutti Moreno), and exquisite arrangements from Maurício Maestro.  But it also stays in pretty safe territory, exhibiting little of the experimentalism of some of her earlier work.  I suppose this is what some critics would then call a more “mature sound,” whatever that means.  It is certainly top-shelf MPB in an era when many of the big names of that genre were in a bit of a slump, and has gobs of the excitement and energy of youth that had been bled from some of her contemporaries

I’ve been slacking with posting here on this blog lately, and since this album has been on the “to do list” for years, I’m not quite satisfied with my little summary above.  Not that I ever consider these posts to be the final word about anything, but I figure I will feature this interesting take on Feminina found on another blog, which I am including here with full attribution, and without correcting their typos or errors in the Portuguese.  Here it goes:


From Tinymixtapes.com
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/joyce-feminina

In 1980, Brazil still held some semblance of a military government. Public life was, in some ways free, although one could be sure that the eyes and ears of Big Brother were always near. Strong notions of machismo prevented women from assuming positions of societal power or influence. And the carioca singer, Joyce Silveira Palhano de Jesus released Feminina. The album’s creation was no act of innocence. Joyce’s music had been censored amid Brazil’s tense political situation through out the 1970’s; forcing her to record offshore in Italy and New York. Feminina initially met a similar reception, through its confrontation with political and social authoritarianism, even though the album stabbed at the eye of repression in Brazil without uttering a syllable of contempt. In fact there’s no rancor to be found in her words at all. Rather, Joyce used a far more cunning confrontational device: celebration.

Feminina, with its infusion of samba and jazz into a palate of jubilant traditional folk, celebrates being a woman; as well as being Brazilian. It’s an ode to the souls and the intellect hidden away by failed governments and their over zealous censorship. The quick, merry acoustic guitar of the opening title song warms us to Joyce’s cause. There is the sweetest plea in her voice as she asks “O mao/Me explica/Me ensina/Me diz/O que e feminine (Oh mother/Explain to me/Teach me/Tell me/What is a woman).” All the while flutes and a Latin rhythm section climb and fall like gulls above the ocean. “Banana” and “Aldeia de ogum” continue in this vain with thrilling cascades of Joyce’s vocals and frenetic strum patterns. The album’s centerpiece, however, is the thoroughly enchanting, “Clareana.” Written as a lullaby for her two daughters, (Clara and Ana) the song wisps and soars with Joyce’s idiosyncratic gentleness. It’s easy to imagine Joyce sitting at the side of her daughter’s bed, lightly stroking her hairs telling her, “No sol de manha/Novelo de la/No ventre de mae/Bate o coracao de Clara, Ana (The morning sun/A ball of yarn/In the mother’s womb/It beats like the heart of Clara, Ana).”

Upon the release of Feminina, Joyce was already an accomplished musician, playing in bands since the mid 1970’s and having performed with such stars as Gal Costa and Vinicius de Moaes. To say that she adopted elements of jazz, bossa, samba, and blues into her bare acoustic melodies would be a gross miscue. Instead, she bore these styles into something new. For this reason Feminina, as well as many of her other albums retain a fresh identity; undergoing a perpetual evolution and never aspiring to record anything static and crystalline. In 1985, the moribund military government of Brazil was voted out of power. Democracy returned and Brazilian’s could be left again to collectively determine the course of their country. As a rich culture heritage re-emerged to the world so did the carioca singer, Joyce.


Okay then.  Have a listen and see what you think for yourself.


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Beth Carvalho – Pra Seu Governo & Canto Por Um Novo Dia (2003 2-em-1)

folder

Beth Carvalho
2 X 1: PRA SEU GOVERNO (1974) / CANTO POR UM NOVO DIA (1973)
2003 EMI Music 583745 2

PRA SEU GOVERNO (1974) Tapecar LPX.22

1. Miragem (Nelson Cavaquinho / Guilherme de Brito)
2 1800 Colinas (Gracia do Salgueiro)
3 Tesoura Cega (Walter Queiroz / César Costa Filho)
4 Maior É Deus (Eduardo Gudin / Paulo César Pinheiro)
5 Fim de Sofrimento (Monarco)
6 A Pedida É Essa (Norival Reis / Vicente Matos)
7 Pra Ninguém Chorar (Paulo César Pinheiro / Edmundo Souto)
8 Me Ganhou (Gisa Nogueira)
9 Falência (Nelson Cavaquinho / Guilherme de Brito)
10 Vovó Chica (Jurandir da Mangueira)
11 Agora É Portela 74 (Paulo César Pinheiro / Maurício Tapajós)
12 Pra Seu Governo (Haroldo Lobo / Milton de Oliveira)

CANTO POR UM NOVO DIA (1973) Tapecar LPX.19

13 Hora de Chorar (Mano Décio da Viola / Jorginho Pessanha)
14 Canto Por Um Novo Dia (Garoto da Portela)
15 Se É Pecado Sambar (Manoel Santana)
16 Homenagem a Nelson Cavaquinho (Carlos Elias)
17 Evocação (Nelson Ferreira)
18 Velhice da Porta-bandeira (Eduardo Gudin / Paulo César Pinheiro)
19 Folhas Secas (Nelson Cavaquinho / Guilherme de Brito)
20 Salve a Preguiça Meu Pai (Mário Lago)
21 Mariana da Gente (João Nogueira)
22 Fim de Reinado (Martinho da Vila)
23 Clementina de Jesus (Gisa Nogueira)
24 Memória de Um Compositor (Darcy da Mangueira / Betinho)
25 Flor da Laranjeira (Humberto de Carvalho / Zé Pretinho / Bernardino Silva)
26 Sereia (Tradicional)
27 São Jorge Meu Protetor


If I had to invent a singer, she would (naturally) need to have a very beautiful voice.  After this, I would train her enough to sing well, learning the secrets of phrasing, division, breathing, projection, naturalness, these things that you learn in school.

Later, I would say to her that all of this was not enough.  A singer is not a musical instrument.  She is a person, a human being, and it is fundamental that this is made clear when she sings.  The emotions, sadness, joy, depression, anguish – all this that popular music suggests has to be transmitted when it’s time to sing.  So much depends on her so that the music is not shorn of its sensations when it’s communicated.

Finally, I would tell her to sing things that come from the people.  The songs made by the geniuses of the people, full of talent and unspoilt by commercial ambitions and the neurosis of novelty so common to composers of the middle class.  I would suggest that she serve as a point of entry between popular culture and consumerism, not allowing the goal to jeopardize the origin.  She would have to be, therefore, a singer of great talent.

Beth Carvalho saved me the trouble of this work.  She already exists.

– Sérgio Cabral


This is a bit of a ‘stop gap’ post because the world should filled with music but I don’t have a lot of time to help with this Divine Mission today.  Along with Clara Nunes, Beth was one of the people whose albums first got me into samba when I was just visiting there as a tourist.  I think the first album I heard, at a friends house was Nos Botequins da Vida, one of her first efforts for RCA.  Shortly after, I was lucky enough to find that album and one of these – Canto Por Um Novo Dia, I think – in my regular stop-and-frisk of the street vendor’s carts in every city I passed through.   They are pretty common albums, nothing “rare groove” about ’em, but it’s your loss if you overlook them on that count.  I still feel like Beth gets taken for granted by many Brazilian music fans, maybe because her management did not have the strategic foresight to arrange for her to die young.  She is still around performing, making the occasional record, but has thus far shown zero interest in surrounding herself with young hipsters in the studio to ‘update’ or reinvent what she does, so has yet to become subjected to any awkward revivals.

On top of their strong repertoire drawing from the best of the many composers available to her, these early albums also have the presence of her mentor Nelson Cavaquinho playing guitar on many tracks.  You can hear his distinctive plucking of the strings from behind the sounding board, as well as some occasional backup singing, alongside Dino 7 Cordas.  There is also Abel Ferreira on clarinet, Copinha on flute, Wilson das Neves on drums, Paulo Mauro on a couple of arrangements.  This last handful is all on on Pra Seu Governo, which is inverted chronologically on this 2-on-1 CD.  I’m not sure why they did this, but it probably is the stronger of the two albums in terms of immediately just grabbing hold of you.  It has also the best samba marimba ever, on Monarco’s O Fim do Sofrimento…  The earlier album Canto Por Um Novo Dia is equally excellent, and features arrangements by César Carmargo Mariano, at the time in the middle of a string of classics for Elis Regina.  It opens with the heart-wrenching Hora de chorar, which is a bit less upbeat of an ‘opening number’ than Miragem, perhaps. Beth delivers a great mix of tunes on both albums from composers old and new, and maintains the laid back, roda de samba vibe that I think is one of the things that endeared her so much to Nelson Cavaquinho.

So now, the sound … It is a big step up from the horrific Discobertas boxset (I’ll keep laying into that point until people stop buying them – I’ve never seen a label so worthy of going out of business).  But this EMI reissue has still got “issues.” The EQ is relatively neutral, but the source for both albums appears to be vinyl copies.  I suspect Tapecar didn’t keep their masters or else preserved them so poorly that they are useless now. So, surely EMI has access to fancier A/D conversion units than I have at my disposal, but unfortunately they also slapped some heavy CEDAR noise reduction on it that sucks all the transient frequencies out.  There is audible compression too that you can really hear kicking in at some places, but it’s used judiciously for the most part, adjusted to sound pretty natural and doesn’t distract too much.  However, listen to the whole disc with a pair of headphones and I all but guarantee you will have listening fatigue and a headache before you are a couple songs into Canto Por Um Novo Dia.   Although my vinyl copies of these are probably less than pristine, they might still warrant a needledrop here sometime for the handful of us who still care about these things.

 


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