Customer Reviews

Caetano Veloso: 1967

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent album. Caetano's records of 1967 and 1969, when released were like nothing else played in Brazil at the time.

Caetano's lyrics are always excellent, and, in my opinion, he as yet to outdo himslef after his first two records. He and Chico Buarque de Holand are the premier lyricists in Brazilian music.

A testament to that is my memory, as I recently found out I could recall by heart all the lyrics for all the songs in these albums, more than 30 years after learning them at three years old.

Never mind that I have lived in foreign country, speaking in a foreign language for many years.

i was delighted to see the CD's at amazon, and just had to purchase them.

After a pretty-sounding, but rather tame debut album as a bossa nova songwriter ("Domingo"), Caetano finally finds his mad-cap, eclectic, "musicofagiac" groove on this 1968 2nd album; this recording, along with the original "Tropicalia" record, Gal's first solo effort "Gal Costa" and few other discs are the classic "texts" of Tropicalia. This record laid the tracks for the next 15 years of pop music in Brazil. By 1968 Brazilian pop had become so staid, conventional, contrived, and conforming to a standard paradigm of bossa nova, that this record and the recordings of Caetano's contemporaries literally shook the nation out of its slumber. These records truly were - and still are - wildly revolutionary.... and superbacana.

If I had to pick a "scene" in rock history that seems to transcend every pop staple, it would be those illuminary Brazillians from the late 60's. There are so many super-talented and visionary artists from that movement, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the passion and exhuberance of these albums. Caetano Veloso is one of those artists. I sometimes feel like the romantic drama and devil-may-care virtuosity of this album could drive anyone to tears, or at least to youtube, trying to find any way to vicariously experience whatever socio-political hell was responsible for an artist like Veloso to grab everything meaningful in life, shoot it out of an existential cannon; watch it float through outerspace and land in the Amazon. It sounds so futuristic, so contemporary, so pre-historic. I still listen to this album, scratching my head, wondering: "How the hell did he do that? How can anyone evoke everything through sound with seeming effortlessness?" and then I realize it is the entire experience that he is channeling: the military overthrow, the intense repression of individualistic efforts, the racial conflict and an economic overhaul felt through the impoverished ranks of a sickeningly rapid transition to modernity. All of that and just drop you to your knees beautiful songs that the most hardened death-row inmate would fall in love to. Be careful who you are listening to this with; it's sensual allure is basically immutable. This album is absolutely fantastic, and there are several from this movement. Tracks 2 and 5 will absolutely break your heart, while track 12 will leave you sweating with abstract pop largesse. Keeping in mind, that this album starts off with a genre, and perhaps even nation-defining track: Tropicalia. Good God, just buy this album.
I have never felt more comfortable recommending an album so unconditionally.

This album is simply divine from start to finish. During the 60s a lot of American blues and soul music was going psychedelic. The same thing was happening in Brazil with bossa nova and samba. Firstly, you can't top Caetano's tenor. I think Caetano could make an acappella record this good. He could suffice with only a woodblock. His is a sauce with a lot of cream. He is able to create and hold melody with his voice. A lot of BN singers dance around like butterflies, which is great too. But Veloso isn't afraid to emphasize in a style that is ostensibly finesse but actually power. The second track "Clarice" is BN so stoned and slowed down it's just one of the most soulful things I've heard. Contrasted by "Clara" whose xylophone backed whimsical gameshow sound is tropicalia at its best, flying below some of the cheesier tendencies of the genre. The violins are fantastic, which is a suprise because orchestration ruined so many Brazilan records (Phillips & EMI). The percussion is on point throughout--a wood block never sounded so wooden. One of the best qualities of great music is its ability to wind, spiral, and layer. These songs sound new every single time. I still save it for sunny Sundays. This is the Pet Sounds of Brazil. I'll take this one to the island though even though/because I don't speak Portuguese.

Amazon has botched this one. The record that is known as "A Little More Blue" is a mostly English language record released in 1971 featuring a picture of a bearded, long haired Caetano Veloso on the cover and features songs like "London London". If you are looking for the 1968 self-titled debut solo full length album of Caetano Veloso, which featured a psychadelic illustration of nude woman holding a photograph of Caetano in her arms, it is not clear that this is what Amazon is selling here. The song list and the album name are clearly the 1971 release, but the product description and the album photo are the 1968 album. Hopefully my comment will trigger some correction by amazon and will soon be obsolete, but until then, caveat emptor.

In the late 1960s, many south american nations were under brutal dictatorship, Brazil included. Say the wrong thing--disappear.

But in glorious 1960s style, there was a musical underbelly that included Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Traffic Sound, Blops, and the master of them all, Mr. Cantano Veloso. These people knew about the Beatles and Dylan, the thriving couter-culture in the states, and took the spirit of the times to heart, at great risk to themselves.

Forty years on, we have the music, and no better place to start than Veloso's self titled album from 1968. This is latin music, but sure is not your father's bossa. Veloso, like his co-conspiritors, used folk and rock dynamics and beautiful orchestrations, tinged with the attitude of psychadelia if not the sound. On top they put their politcal lyrics.

All this creates a dynamic coctail, especially when you consider the position these couragous artists were in. You hear this edge in the music. Yet this work is increadibley melodic, and at times sublime if not docile.

Veloso went to jail for his art in 1969. Fortunately, he got out, and has been making beautiful music ever since. In the 1990s, he made much more advanced and esoteric material, much of which featured New York session musicians and jazz giants. He is now revered, devervedly, as an international hero.

You gotta love happy endings.

Get it all, but if inclined, begin here.

Hats off, Mr. Veloso.

3 1/2

While it is easy to appreciate Veloso's unique effect upon his country's music, often I am just not rubbed the right way with his recordings. Remastering could help a lot, since it sounds like a combination of elements conspire to keep these impressively written numbers datedly at bay.

This is the first Caetano Veloso CD I have bought and this is a really good one. Some of the songs are really typical brazilian music but please, listen to "Clarice", the best one.

Oh. What? This album could be the hottest. All tropicilia albums are something to check out, but this one rides into the sunset. Out of all those fools...this one is in the top three. Definetly his best album. If you like anyhting. You'll find something to like on this. Essential.

This record is an interesting historical document of a Brazilian artist digesting many of the influences of pop music in the late 1960s and applying it to his art. In other words, it is both derivative and original at the same time.

It is melodic, the arrangements are nice. The styles represented are rather ecclectic.

I can't make any judgments on the lyrical content since it is sung in Portugese and there is no translation of the extensive lyrics on the enclosed lyric sheet. The music alone is not enough to hold my interest on repeated listening, and with no lyrics, the album is of limited value to me.

By the way, the album is monophonic, and it sounds like many pop music efforts of its time -- attempting to squeeze vocals and multimiked orchestral arrangements and guitars/drums all into one center channel. The sound is dated: compressed, and a little tinny.

I'm sure that at the time this sounded groundbreaking to some people. Listening in a modern setting, apart from the fact that it is melodic, whereas other pop music at the time of its releast was getting increasingly agressive, it is good music but not great.