"Hable Con Ella" OST

Original released on CD Milan 050466.3085.2.8  

(EU 2002, April 8)

Divas Cantam Caetano

"Navegar é preciso... Viver não é preciso..."

Edição Original em LP Philips R 765.086 L 
(Brasil, Agosto de 1969)

A trully masterpiece. His "white album"- after the colourful & psychedelic cover of the last album, a simple blank cover, with only his signature on the front. Beautiful, fluid arrangements on many tunes, including the exquisite flute-strings-guitar interplay on the lead track, "Irene," and the Portuguese fado stylings of "Os Argonautas." This is the high point of Veloso's most incandescent early years - the sheer beauty of "Irene" marks Veloso's master status as a revolutionizer of Brasilian acoustic music, while the whispering-then-howling electric guitar on "Empty Boats" places him in the top ranks of '60s space rock. An essential album.

CAETANO VELOSO: "Tropicália"

Edição Original em LP PHILIPS R 765.026 L 

(Brasil, Março 1968)

Try to explain Caetano Veloso to an Anglo-American audience and you end up constructing some fabulous hybrid of Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Syd Barrett, John Lennon, and Bob Marley. The English-speaking pop world does not really have a Caetano Veloso, which is probably why the likes of Beck, Kurt Cobain, and David Byrne have worshipped him. Androgynous, profoundly intellectual, yet gloriously irreverent, he performs to packed soccer stadiums while playing unashamedly highbrow music. This self-titled solo debut (after an album called “Domingo” that he had recorded the year before with Gal Costa) was a key text in the formation of Tropicalia, a slyly seditious pop art movement of late 1960s Brazil. Veloso unwittingly unified a mix of leftish poets, painters, dramatists, and film-makers with his defiantly Brazilian response to the “neo-rock” of The Beatles. It is bossa nova played by psychedelic rockers and orchestrated by classical composers, complicated by horn arrangements and baroque vocal harmonies. The music is stunning – the wobbly psychedelic rock of “Clarice”, the haunting, complex chord changes of “Clara”, the jaunty Che Guevara tribute “Soy Loco Por Ti, América” – but even those who do not speak a word of Portuguese may be intrigued by Veloso’s concrete poetry lyrics. Brzil’s teenagers loved it; the military dictatorship of the time did not. Within two years Veloso was forced out of Brazil into exile in London, something that only confirmed his legendary status and propagated a remarkable career. (John Lewis in “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”)

O 1º Disco de GAL e CAETANO

Edição original em LP Philips P765.007P

(BRASIL, Julho de 1967)

O disco de estreia de Caetano e Gal, em detrimento ao tropicalismo por vezes expansivo dos trabalhos seguintes de ambos, soa intimista, flertando com a bossa nova, bem como com a famigerada estética de "música de festival". Caetano já se apresenta maduro em termos composicionais e, assim como Gal, revela-se um intérprete preparado. Os arranjos são pautados basicamente pelo violão, com uma ou outra pontuação camerística, sem exageros. Todas as canções são no mínimo boas e, se o todo peca de alguma forma, é por sua linearidade. Ouço este trabalho como uma espécie de ode à solidão. Acho que o único defeito desse álbum é ser curto demais.

Despite the fact that this album was definitely directly influenced by "Chega de Saudade" by João Gilberto (and I think that album is pretty much perfect as well, five stars), if someone asked me what my favorite Bossa Nova recording was, nine times out of ten I would probably answer "Domingo". This is such an important album to me, because it is the start of the careers of two of my favorite artists of all time, Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa. Caetano and Gal's voices are basically the vocal equivalents of a perfect summer breeze, soft, relaxing and beautiful. The songs are short and simple, the arrangements usually feature a classic Bossa Nova style played guitar accompanied by woodwinds or strings. This is a strictly bossa nova affair, meaning that people expecting some of the psychedelic sounds that these artists would later embrace are bound to be disappointed. At 31 minutes, it's an album that is easy to come back to and appreciate in its totality, which is probably why many of these tracks have ended up being some of my most played tracks ever. This is a great place to start for people wondering exactly what Bossa Nova is all about.  

"Domingo" paru en 1967 sur le label Philips est le seul album où l'on retrouve ces deux sommités de la musique brézilienne mais l'auditeur est nullement laissé sur sa faim alors que l'on trouve ici de superbes moments de Bossa-Nova. Bossa-Nova car nous sommes ici 1 an avant le mouvement tropicaliste, mouvement dans lequel ces deux artistes joueront un rôle essentiel. Gal Costa ici très jeune a une voix douce, sensible, belle et envoûtante. Nous sommes bien loin des délires psychédéliques de ses deux premiers albums solo (bien qu'excellents!) alors qu'ici la musique que l'on retrouve est de la Bossa-Nova pure et simple, mais très bien interprétée. Veloso de son côté à un an de son premier album solo qui mettera le courant Tropicaliste sur la carte ( avec le manifeste du genre la même année "Tropicalia: ou Panis et Circencis" possède une belle voix, simple, qui s'appuie très bien à celle de Costa. On retrouve sur l'album 4 chansons par Veloso, 5 par Costa et 3 en duo. (in RateYourMusic)

CAETANO VELOSO '71

Edição original em LP Philips 6349 007

(BRASIL, Junho 1971)

Ironically enough, Caetano Veloso's almost entirely English language album is one of the most misunderstood of his classic 60s/70s period amongst English-speaking audiences. Recorded while in exile in London, the album marks a dramatic musical departure from his first 2 solo outings that he would continue to explore up through 1977 or thereabouts. I must confess I don't know too many details of Caetano's (or Gilberto Gil's) exile in London. It seems like a bit of a missed opportunity on the part of the British, though there was probably no reason why anyone there should've known who he was. "A Little More Blue" opens with a laidback, meandering acoustic figure that sounds a bit mellow but certainly not conducive to soul-bearing. The lyrics are about events that have made him sad, even though at the present moment «I feel a little more blue than then». Along the way he peppers in references to his own exile (an obvious recurring theme throughout the album) and some truly vivid lyrics («her dead mouth with red lipstick smiled»). An odd, dichotomous opener. "London, London" is for me the clear standout. And, oddly enough, it's the jauntiest track, replete with playful flute like Donovan's 67-era acoustic sides. It's one of the most exquisitely beautiful songs I've ever heard concerning alienation, loneliness, and, above all, homesickness. And while I hold that song to be one of the best songs ever written, period, "London, London" offers the beautifully resigned flipside of that coin. And all this from a song whose refrain is «My eyes go looking for flying saucers in the skies». 

Things start to get a bit darker with the more-produced "Maria Bethânia", a plea to his sister. "If You Hold a Stone" is an expanded, highly repetitve reworking of "Marinheiro Só" from the previous album. It also features that prominent elastic bass that somehow made itself a hallmark of 70s MPB. "Shoot Me Dead" is another flute and bongos workout that's as defeatist as the title implies. "In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day" is the most depressing song on the album, where he finally recounts the events (real or fictionalized) and emotions surrounding the day of his capture. The last song "Asa Branca" is the only Protuguese-language track on the album and as such it's an emotionally powerful return to relatively familiar territory for Caetano. The song, written by Luiz Gonzaga and Humberto Teixeira, is about a native farmer (presumably) of Northeastern Brazil having to leave the land and his wife during one of the droughts that often occur in that part of the country because he is unable to make a living. At the end he promises to return. Amazingly, if you really try to live inside this album, you don't really need to know Portugese to understand what this song is saying. A haunting, ethereal way to end perhaps the most personal album in Veloso's storied career. 

This album is notable for several reason. Firstly, it marks a dramatic change in musical direction for Veloso. I've never heard an album with a greater sense of space. There is a lot of silence on this album and it itself is utilized almost as an additional instrument. His first solo album was lush and sprightly and full of subtle sonic experimentation. His second album made the sonic experimentation much more explicit and combined this with a panoramic feeling that made that album at times feel tense and murky (not a bad thing in this case). This album does a dramatic about-face with its spare, acoustic lines, occasional bass-and-drum backing, and lyric-centric approach. This formula would reach full fruition on "Transa" and continue up until 1977's African-influenced "Bicho". The second notable aspect of this album is how well Veloso's poetry translates into English. Many people like to describe Caetano Veloso as "The Bob Dylan of Brazil". I won't pretend to hide my disdain for Mr. Dylan, but in all fairness Dylan could never relay emotion the way Veloso does for me, nor was he ever nearly as sonically daring and adventurous. I'm also pretty sure Bob Dylan never risked arrest and deportation because of his lyrics, though he may have gotten on Joan Baez's bad side, which may be just as dangerous? Certainly not a place to start for Caetano Veloso, but you should try to find yourself here if you are willing to acquire more than 3 of his albums. (in RateYourMusic)

Transa Com CAETANO

Edição original em LP Philips 6349.026

(BRASIL 1972, Fevereiro 16)

"Transa", Caetano's fourth album, was released upon his return to Brasil in 1972. A leading member in the "Tropicalia" movement, named after a Helio Oiticia art installation, Caetano, as well as other musicians, writers, and artists were jailed and kicked out of Brasil for their establishment challenging ethos. There, along with Jards Macale, Caetano was able to soak in the English rock scene, thus fermenting a fusion of sounds that erupts forth in this album. Unlike the works of many other Brasilian artists of the early 70's, it doesn't sound like undercooked psych rock. The mixture of rock instrumentation with classic Brasilian poetry and musical styling make it sound as if Chuck Berry was a Bahia native. The English lyrics only reveal to western listeners what a great lyricist Caetano was in his prime, second only to Buarque. The way his voice bends and soars adds another layer of beauty to these songs. Dylan and Leonard Cohen wish they had made an album as buoyant, joyous, and fresh as this. This is the sound of a man in transition, a man who sees that the rock and roll lifestyle isn't all it's cracked up to be, a man at his peak as a band leader and singer/songwriter. All credit can't go merely to Veloso, as the 2008 180-gram reissue (which sounds immaculate), doesn't refer to the contributions of Jards Macale (guitar), Tutti Moreno (percussion), and Gal Costa (voice in "You Don't Know Me", "Neolithic Man" and "Nostalgia"). A true masterpiece of Brasilian rock. Must listen. (in RateYourMusic)

CAETANO e CHICO Juntos e Ao Vivo

Edição original em LP Philips 6349 059

(BRASIL, Dezembro 1972)

This album is absolutely essential. To star with, this is not a fake live, the concert took place at Teatro Castro Alves, Salvador da Bahia (Brasil), on the November 10th and 11th of 1972. Some of the crowd noise were inserted in the tracks because of the censorship on some passages as if they were boos. Even there were parts of "Bárbara" that could not be pronounced. The lyrics of Ana de Amsterdam also did not enter Chico's next album "Calabar" because of the censorship. The repertoire includes the best of what both songwriters had produced so far. Caetano's peculiar rage in the rendition of "Partido Alto" and "Tropicália" makes it unique. (in RateYourMusic)

GAL COSTA: "Cinema Olympia"

Edição original em LP Philips R 765.098 L

(BRASIL, Dezembro 1969)

Worlds away from her more chanteuse-like debut, Gal Costa even blows away a lot of the Tropicália competition in terms of craziness - I put it down to Gal's staggering vocal range and personality, which is self-evident on this album from the very get-go. The syncopated beat and fuzz guitar opening of "Cinema Olympia" drops out almost immediately as Gal's seductive voice creates more of a lounge atmosphere, which soon disappears as well when the beat picks back up - by the time the chorus happens, Gal's hollering about matinee films at the Cinema Olympia over pounding snares and furious clean guitar riffing - heavy reverb and delay gradually accumulate on Gal's vocals as her wordless shouts and moans multiply before abruptly disappearing in a haze of strings... and then it's on to something completely different! The detuned nylon string acoustic guitar and snake charmer reeds of "Tuareg" veer immediately left, and yet Costa seems to have no trouble keeping up when the bass grove kicks in and the chorus lifts the dark Eastern atmosphere back into pop territory.

It's easy to be impressed with both the stylistic breadth and quality of the songwriting on this album, and a glance at the credits confirms this gut reaction - there's three Gilberto Gil songs and two each from the pens of Caetano Veloso and Jorge Ben. One of my favorite things about the late-60's Brazilian music scene is how communal and supportive it seems to be - all of these artists not only manage to co-exist, they also push each other into new directions and also manage to create a collective genre that's more than the sum of the bands that make it up. The sky is the limit for the rest of the songs on this album - Gal ranges from ethnic Brazil flavor on Ben's "País Tropical," unexpectedly into sweeping string-arranged vocal pop (and a host of Tropicália artist name-dropping) on "Meu Nome é Gal" all the way to batshit crazy on the sound collage cut-up-cum-big band showcase for Costa's rapid delivery and upper-register bends on "Objeto Sim, Objeto Não."  Though I've got a feeling a lot of this can come across as too jumpy and frantic for a lot of listeners, the radical and immediate mood and texture shifts in this album are probably my favorite part - a song like "Com Medo, Com Pedro" snaps between quiet, jazzy strings and Jimi Hendrix-like hard rock, and Costa even trades between sexy and psychotic in the same lines!

The fact that these frenetic songs somehow hold together and make sense grouped on the same album has to be credited to both the songwriters and the backing band, who manage to not only keep up with the stylistic swings, but also to masterfully manage a chaotic atmosphere with deft control.  Listening to music like this, it almost feels like psychedelic music was created for the explicit purpose of being given to the already-able musicians of Brazil and mutated into something the British and Americans weren't even capable of imagining. The eclectic mood, awesome power of Gal's voice, and simultaneous pop/avant garde atmosphere of this album make it probably my favorite Tropicália album, and it's also probably the most cohesively "listenable" (aside from the eccentricity) as well, since there's no obligatory six-minute tape manipulation freakout (though "Objeto Sim, Objeto Não" comes close).   If you check this out and enjoy it, good news - there's a whole lot more great music where this came from! (in RateYourMusic)

CAETANO VELOSO - Estranha Forma De Vida (2007)