Customer Reviews

Best of Caetano Veloso

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Caetano's music takes a bit of effort to understand for Americans used to pop or rock. Those who put in a bit of effort will be rewarded with finely crafted art pieces that defy conventional classification. This cd provides a sampling of his latest efforts. Theres a lot of orchestration and refferences to cool jazz, big band Latin music from the 40's and 50's, and bossa nova flavored avant guarde soft poetic stuff. Jaques Morelembaums cello arrangements are sublime. All of it is so beautiful and unique. If you like some of it keep exploring his music. There are more electric works like Estrangeiro, Circulado and Tropicalia 2 with Gilberto Gil. All of it is of timeless quality.

"The painter Paul Gauguin loved the light of Guanabara Bay / The composer Cole Porter loved the lights of her night / Guanabara Bay / The anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss detested Guanabara Bay / It looked to him like a toothless mouth / And I -- if I knew her less would I love her more? / I'm blind from so often seeing her, from so often staring starry / What is a beautiful thing?" -- O Estrangeiro

Any great musician must be some sort of philosopher as well. Otherwise they're just playing so many notes. Art presents us with somebody's perspective of the truth. Some artists are charlatans and try to paint everything with a rosy glow that will please everyone (and satisfy no one) and that can be safely hung in or played in a dentist's office. Some artists suffer, but haven't the intelligence or skill to dignify the awfulness of their art. Some artists only want to talk about themselves, which is okay sometimes.

But a really good artist -- that is someone who present us with the ugly and the beautiful, enthusiasm and lethargy, sorrow and pleasure, all of it. And Caetano Veloso does it with subtlety and tremendous good taste.

"And the epic grandeur of a still unfinished people / Attracts us, dazzles us and excites us / Nothing matters, not the profile of that mansion / Not the TV cameras, not even that Paul Simon record / No one, no one is a citizen / If you go to the party in Pelourinho, and even if you don't go / Think of Haiti, pray for Haiti / Haiti's right here, Haiti's not quite here." -- Haiti

This Best Of Album gives you Veloso in various epochs of his career, so it's a pretty good overview. There are the dissonant noises in "O Estrangeiro" like echoes at a subway station, the gentle strumming and chanted "Manhattan" litany of "Manhata", the cathedral hymn-like "Michelangelo Antonioni", and the classic Brasiliana of "Na Baixa do Sapateiro".

Buy this album and listen to it many times.

"Some may like a soft Brazilian singer / But I've given up all attempts at perfection." -- O Estrangeiro

This CD is actually a compilation of stuff recorded between 1992 and 2001, hardly the "best of" for an artist who has been recording since the 1960s. The liner notes are by David Byrne, but it seems from the credits that David Byrne did not actually choose the songs.

Overall the CD is torn between a bland "World Music" esthetic, and a more pensive bossa-nova sound. There are good songs on this CD, but I'm giving it 2 stars because it so badly disappoints its packaging. There is a song on here that affects "rap music" lyrics, and others that are equally impotent, both style-wise and content-wise. One of the really good songs on here is "Cucurrucucu Paloma", which some may remember as the central song in the movie "Talk to Her" directed by Almodovar.

This isn't the "best of" Caetano, at all!
It's just a miscelaning selection of almost unknown songs of Caetano Veloso.
For a "best of Caetano" with much more accuracy, you can try "Sem Lenço, Sem Documento"

As one of the two-star reviewers noted, this is a compilation of recent popular material from an artist who's been around since the Sixties, and has done a
lot of great work. He's been around long enough to have three generations of fans, with competing claims of ownership. No record claiming to be his "best of" will make them
all, or even a plurality of them happy. This one certainly doesn't and that's too bad, because for what it is, it's perfect.

Me encanto. Musica excelente y cantante genuino. Lo recomiendo 100% a todo el que disfrute de buena musica.

The song selection on this CD had very limited variety. It was a disappointing selection, to say the least. I had expectations that his music would be much more interesting - but it lacked depth and was a poor choice on my part. Dale Brookins

Let me say this: "Cucurrucucu Paloma" was a song I couldn't stand until I heard Caetano Veloso's interpretation of it in the movie "Talk to Her" (great film, by the way). I ended up purchasing the film's soundtrack just to hear it again. Then I found this CD in a store. In my opinion, it's worth its weight in diamonds. What a great way to get acquainted with Caetano Veloso's vast artistic range! Wahtever the music style, or language, this man sings with his soul. Someone called this CD "uneven". I guess it is - if what one expects is one similar song after another... I'd rather say it's a perfect sampler of Veloso's incredible versatility.

A great best of compilation from a music legend!

The only song I feel is missing is the one he recorded for the Frida soundtrack!

Enlightening to me because I actually thought that I had everything good out there. This album put an end to my arrogance and at the same time began my journey in a new world of true musical expression and talent.