Customer Reviews

Brasil

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a collection of very beautiful and accessible songs. It's really a mixture of Latin melodies with pop-oriented lyrics.

I agree with another reviewer who said "Capim" alone was worth the price of the CD. I don't speak Portuguese, but I've listened to it so much that I can sing along.

The title of this album is 'Brazil'. I'm not trying to insult your intelegence but I want to highlight the fact that this album is designed to bring the wonderful music of Brazil to the masses. This it does to a certain extent, however I do feel that it should be mentioned that you will not hear Brazillian music in the traditional sense.
The Manhattan Transfer have, once again, provided us with a gem of an album which introduces us to a fusion of jazz and world music. This is combined with a unique strain of 'listenability' to which we have become acustomed to from their music. We have the elements of South American music combined with modern jazz harmony and rhythm. The music of the great brazilian composer Djawan I find is perhaps the most successful on the album - especially the first track 'Soul Food To Go'. This album is well worth a buy - try it, you might like it!

It has TONS of great stuff on it...

but I'd buy it again just to hear "Capim".

Just a GREAT CD, period.

Here it is. The summum, the perfection, the best achievement in vocalese music.
Recipe? Two drops of the best voices (Manhattan Transfer), and a few grams of the best brazilian songwriter (Djawan). Result: amazing, hard to believe. Just listen to it.

Agree whole-heartedly that this is definitely one of MT's best. It has a certain pizzazz & unique stamp to it. Latin is always both Cool & Hot. Yep, "Capim" is also my favourite but I also love "So you say". Forrest conservationists must definitely approve of this album. It's just got everything going for it hasn't it ? Just inspiring ... it recharges me everytime!

I first tuned into MT's Brasil while touring as a dancer throughout France when the album was initially released in the late 80s. It happened to be a very wet tour; but wetness served as an appropriate background for the wonderful blend of sounds found in this music. I'm finally getting it on CD. Yes, Soul Food to Go!!

Rich, very evocative collection of exciting music from Brazil: in the group's hands the music becomes a vehicle for issues like ecology; the South African struggle for freedom; the beauty and wonder of the earth's resources, like water; and the dilemma of who the earth should serve: future generations, as the earth-savers would remind us, or the hungry mouths of the present, as the cattle-raisers and the clearers of the land would have it. An important time capsule of present-day concerns. On the artistic side, the consistent excellence of the quartet is graced by the vocals of Jhabvan and the work of Brazil's finest new composers like Ivan Lins and others.

I have yet to hear a Manhattan Transfer CD that I haven't liked. So far, "Swing" is my favorite, but "Brasil" is right up there as well. It's a gorgeous fusion of vocalese jazz and Latin music that just pours out smooth as rain on the forest.

This is also a very socially conscious CD. "Aqua" talks about the circle of life of water and for those who understand the lifecycle of the jungle, this is a critical element.

"Metropolis" which is probably my favorite of the collection is a stark picture of Brazillian urbanization.

"Hear the Voices" following is about the spiritus faith of Brazil. It doesn't precisely take me to the ceremony, but it's a decent intro.

"Notes from the Underground" is the final cut and ends the CD on a hopeful note. There's still a chance to save the beauty of the world and ourselves as long as we all live.

Every time I hear this CD, I hear more delicately woven elements of Brazillian cultures. In it's own right, "Brasil" creates its own delicate eco-system and a beautiful picture.

I purchased this CD when it was first released and, so many years later, I'm writing this review; still loving the album. Every song is ear candy. Every member gets their turn at singing lead and the harmonies, as always, are spectacular! Soul Food To Go is on what I like to call my "deserted island" list of must-have songs to have along. A friend gave me a mix tape of the majority of songs on this album as they were done by Brazilian artists just as a companion piece for my listening pleasure. That made my appreciation for this album increase even more. This group does a spectacular job on interpretation and I even venture to say that this is one of my favorite albums in my entire collection, and I have a few (many hundreds).

Well here we are;it's 1987 and the Manhattan Transfer have just enjoyed a great deal of acclaim with their 1985 album Vocalese and it was time for the next album. The three years between the albums had seen huge changes in the way people approched music. This era was beginning a transitional point between the late 80's and early 90's so things were getting a little leaner and funkier overall. Also there was a rebirth of different types of world music entering into the equation and,as trendy and meaningless as that would become in the years to come during this era it was really an novel musical concept at this point. This is an album that does live up to it's title by incorperating a lot of Brazillian styled musical elements such as plenty of percussive rhythms courtesy of Paulinho Da Costa as well as guerro's abound. Also it should note that is is the Man Tran's most consistantly contemporary sounding record during the decade. There are no detours into retro big band and boogie woogie styles that you'd find...say at the conclusion of other more pop styled releases they'd made such as Bodies & Souls. True that devotion to musical diversity was part of what made them famous and successful and here they somehow managed to bring all of the different musical elements they enjoyed embracing into what is essentially a late 80's update of that same "contempo" sound. The music is very direct and funk oriented with arrangements handled by Jeff Lorber. What it winds up being on songs such as "Metropolis" and "Hear The Voices" especially is an update of the Brazillian jazz-funk sound of about a decade before this album was released. The album wisely also begins with two of the strongest songs,both more consistantly R&B oriented in the dop-wop styled "Soul Food To Go" and the witty,satirical funk groove of "The Zoo Blues". "Capim" is actually not sung in English at all but Tim,Janis,Cheryl and Alan's trademark close vocalese harmonies make it worth the while there are no translations to those who don't speak Porteguese. "So You Say" is a cooley jazzy midtempo jam featuring a typically sweeping and vibrant vocal performance from Cheryl Bentyne. "Aqua" is of course the most obviously latin flavored song on the album and a real highlite as it allows the groups close harmonizes to work around the rhythms. During this time Sting was showing a similar Brazillian inflected jazz-pop sensability on his Nothing Like the Sun album so the final two songs "The Jungle Pioneer" and "Notes From The Underground" not only are influenced by Sting's musical style of the time but also his darkly poetic social observations-in the case of these two songs the (even now) mildly tabu subjects of poaching and radical political activism take forefront. The Mahattan Transfer have always had a social agenda but really not chosen to stick it up in anyone's face but usually find a way to integrate it into their lyrics. All in all this album comes close to being one of their finest releases of the decade since not only was it a departure for them but also it was musically one of their more stylistically coherant efforts.