Customer Reviews

Club Da Esquina 1

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This is both the high point and the beginning of the end of a long friendship (as beautifully told in the book Sonhos nao Envelhecem, available only in portuguese :-( )

The Clube da Esquina was a loosely bound group of friends from Belo Horizonte, a city located in the middle of the Brazilian territory, in the Minas Gerais state, far away from the sea. They got together in the 70s to play music, drink beer and talk about the Beatles, a band they loved.

Milton was the obvious star in the group but all of them were immensely talented and had a lot to contribute as is clear in their solo work (Lo Borges albums are masterpieces if you are able to overlook his vocal flaws and Beto Guedes is pretty good too).

Notice that by then Milton was not the superstar he became after. This album is signed by both him and Lo Borges. This is still a group effort.

The album has a very free style. It sounds lyrical, obviously Beatles influenced, smooth, gentle, the Brazilian rhythms presented there are not the ones you are used to, a lot comes from their native Minas Gerais state. It is the product of a group of friends having a lot of fun playing together.

The group began to dissolve slowly after this album. Milton got famous, started hanging out with a different crowd, you know how it goes, how all friendships end...

The follow-up to this double LP is another double LP (Clube da Esquina 2) that features major stars of the time, lavish production and has a different beauty to it, maybe it is even more musically relevant than this one. But this is the more sincere and is generally considered the best.

My personal opinion is that if you like Brazilian music you should have both :-)

"Clube da Esquina", or "The Corner Gang", may look and sound like another Brazilian/Latin record on the surface, but that's where it all ends. The racially mixed cover portrait of children sitting together should be a slight indication.

Tropicalia was a late 60's movement in Brazil where the limitations of then-traditional/popular music (i.e. brazileiras, bossa nova, batucada, choros, etc.) were charged around by the use of British/American pop-rock influences. Talents like Os Mutantes, Lo Borges, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento and others took the liberties of the above and created a music that, though poking fun & rebellion at already set national musical values, was actually quite complimentary & evolutionary. Though a lot of the older generation did not welcome it with open arms (this was 1966-1969), Tropicalia not only matured Brazilian music & gave it an undeniable social awareness (though some sentiments did not settle well with the then-government and, as a result, some musicians/composers were jailed & questioned about their lyrical content), but was also an important and underwritten chapter in psychedelic music.

Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges' great project "Clube Da Esquina", recorded in 1972, brings the whole Tropicalia movement full circle. Though all of the songs are sung in Portuguese (save for one, a haunting cover of "Dos Cruces", sung in Spanish), there is an urgency and edginess in the music that is undeniable. Electric guitars, basses and organs are inescapable here and used in a fashion that not only brings a truly modern & progressive twist to Brazilian folk forms, but an adventurousness & unpredictability that is not usually associated with Brazilian music (at least, not with the United States).

All 21 tracks present a song cycle that expresses all of the country's music and social climate up to that point. All moods are direct throughout. They can range from the haunting ("Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser" & "Os Povos", the latter with a wonderful vocal performance from Alaide Costa), to psychedelic ("Pelo Amor De Deus", "Trem De Doido"), to absolutely somber ("Cais", "Dos Cruces" & "Ao Que Vai nascer") to even a few poppier & playful oments along the way. Yet, with what may be considered to be schitzophrenic to some, it's very consistent & cohesive all throughout. And to also note that there isn't a bad track on here, also helps the above statement.

Plenty of great playing, singing and writing, too: Nascimento, brothers Lo & Marcio Borges, Ronaldo Bastos, Toninho Horta, Eumir Deodato, Wagner Tiso, Robertinho Silva, Beto Guedes, etc. All strong players and, more importantly, contributors.

And yet, this is an album that ranks right up there in equal status alongside "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", the United States Of America's debut, Love's "Forever Changes", Sly's "There's A Riot Goin' On" and even recent alternative masterpieces like Wire's "Pink Flag", R.E.M.'s "Murmur" and even Radiohead's most progressive material. If you're a ProgRock head, you'll love this. If you're looking for something new and unheard of, this will NOT disappoint. If you want to expand your knowledge about Brazilian music, this is a great addition to your collection.

It's a powerful record. Plenty of talent, great songs and true artistic risk-taking. The only favor asked once you've been initiated to this album's charms is to spread the word to anybody who cares. You want to keep it a trade secret, but the music says otherwise.

A TRUE Latin-Rock MASTERPIECE.

I first heard this incredible masterwork of sonic bliss about 3 years ago. This is the first CD I've ever heard that contains some of the background music that's played in heaven. Don't believe me? Listen to track 11 "Clube da Esquina 2" and the melody might bring you to joyful tears. The lyrics are of someone who is a deep thinker. They explore life, love, loss, longing, angst, they just run the gamut of human emotions in this album. To anyone who has ever listened to Pink Floyd or the Beatles later albums and thought "I get it, I want more" here is the more you asked for. If you don't speak portuguese you will still understand brilliance when it's smacked in your face. It's worth learning a whole new language just to understand this cd in my opinion. The melodies are just haunting. The musicianship and creativity in the effects boggles the mind. Every time I listen to this cd I wonder who has come close to touching this kind of mastery of the art of musical storytelling, well maybe Pink Floyd. But don't let my comparison make you think that Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges ripped anyone off, on the contrary, they were pioneers. BUY THIS CD AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

This is another stunning jewel by Milton (check Minas and Geraes being, to me, the other two). It precedes those two other albums by about a couple of years, yet it does not stay behind in terms of its capacity to move and surprise with its beauty. Unlike Minas and Geraes, this album is more of a collaborative effort, counting on almost every great musician in Brazil to give it its identity (see the excellent review by David Mijares, right before mine, for a thorough and loving chronicle of what this album represented in Brazilian popular music and the people who brought it to be such a tremendous work).
Because it is the work of a community of talented artists, rather than a personal vision alone, it does not have the integrity of the other works mentioned but this is, by far, not a loss. In the contrary, it offers, instead, an edge and diversity that keeps stunned from beginning to end. You have to remember that it was recorded in 1972, to appreciate the revolutionary quality of what it offers, and recognize to what extent its music was out on the proverbial skinny branches of the Tropicalia's tree. And, whereas other albums called "experimental" suffer from a certain uneven output, this one hits the mark tune after tune. If Minas or Geraes could be considered his Sgt. Pepper or White Album (to draw an analogy with Lennon and McCartney whom Milton loves), Clube Da Esquina 1 is his Revolver.
If you can afford it, buy all three of these beauties, your soul will thank you for their unending nourishment.

É uma emoção muito grande enviar uma mensagem para um site internacional. O que posso falar desse maravilhoso álbum Clube da Esquina, do grande cantor e compositor Milton Nascimento (meu ídolo maior) é que, no mínimo, esse álbum é um dos maiores, senão o maior álbum lançado por Milton em sua vitoriosa e gloriosa carreira musical. No mais só posso falar isso, pois todas as palavras e poesias acabam sendo poucas para definirem exatamente o que é Milton Nascimento. Para mim ele é tudo. É perfeito, um mestre. Parabéns Milton Nascimento, meu eterno mestre, meu ídolo maior e ÍMORTAL!!!

As a Belo Horizonte's citizen I have seen Milton Nascimento sometimes at the cafes, walking in the streets or at the "Palacio das Artes" (yes, Palace of Arts), a very famous local theatre.

Milton, here, in Minas Gerais (state) is known as an icon of Brazilian Music and he is very simple and sympathetic man.

Clube da Esquina (Corner's Club) is a real place. It was a point of reunion of that musicians.

One single comment about Belo Horizonte city. Recent reviwer says B.H. is far away from brazilian coast. It's ok. But there is a much more important detail: Belo Horizonte is one of the brazilian highlands. We have mountains around us and Milton music reflects this state of mind. Sounds like a message from a brazilian highlander introspective heart to the people. IMHO Milton music will sound more clear through these glasses.

I would like to reinforce the comments made by the previous reviewers about the magnificence and importance of this album. Brazilophiles like me will of course love it, but so will rock fans of the Beatles (one of Milton's major influences apparently), Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin etc...(basically the "canon" of rock). Clube da Esquina is quite like the "White Album" from the Beatles in that a variety of musical styles are featured, yet the whole package comes together so smoothly, with a great ensemble of different artists supporting the two principles, Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges. Actually, I would like to emphazise that the album is credited to both Milton and Lo who trade off songwriting and vocal credits (not at all unlike Lennon & McCartney). Although it almost seems sacreligious to say such a thing, on this album Lo Borges songs are at least as good as the ones from Milton Nascimento. "O Trem Azul" may just be the best Brazilian rock song of all time, and "Paisagem da Janela" and "Trem de Doido" are also personal favorites of mine. Not to be outdone, however, Milton's "Cais," "San Vicente," and "Cravo e Canela" are also outstanding. However, this album is not a competition between two great artists, but a synthesis of both, also including songwriting and musicianship from several friends such as Wagner Tiso, Nelson Angelo, and I think Toninho Horta if I'm not mistaken. The whole album has an acid-rock, psychedelic kind of feel to it, something that is particularly strong on the Lo Borges songs. I could almost guarantee that NO ONE will regret purchasing Clube da Esquina.

As a young jazz musician I grew up hearing Milton on Wayne Shorter's fine album. I loved Milton's tunes and his voice, listening to them over and over, and they became etched in my memory.

But little did I know about these early albums!!! I happened to find out about them because I've been revisiting Brazilian music lately, having made some Brazilian friends. I was delighted to hear songs that I already knew, but in their earlier forms, such as Cravo E Canela, O Trem Azul, Nada Sera Como Antes, etc. I'm afraid I'm going to pile on like everybody else and extol the the gold mine of delights of this album. I can't help it, as I feel like I've discovered buried treasure. The "Beatlesque" things are cool, too. Back when I was buying Milton vinyl there just wasn't that good a selection in the U.S., and then I just moved onto other things, blissfully ignorant of all these other albums.

I've already added Cravo to my guitar set, and will probably do 2 or 3 more. I'm even going to try to learn Portuguese so I can sing a couple of these. I want to thank everybody for writing these helpful reviews!

While praising Milton, I should also mention that Lo Borges also has a very prominent role on this album, and contributes some really good songs.

Muito obrigado, Milton!!!!

Milton Nascimento is another reason why I'm constantly amazed by Brazilian music. Brazil's musical gifts to the world goes beyond samba and bossa nova. It's hard to catagorize Nascimento's music. I hear pop, rock, jazz, classical, african music, Italian ballands, and latin influences, in his music. This album, from beginning to end, attest to his immense talent, inventiveness, and soulfulness. Like pausing to appreciate a beautiful sunset, listening to this album will give you many of those moments. Don't waste anytime. Begin with this album and your outlook on Brazilian music will be changed forever.

This magnificent piece of art is as good as ANY record, by ANYBODY, made ANYWHERE, in ANY era. Vocals, songwriting, arrangements, playing, vision...this album can make you CRY! Seriously, this kills a lot of supposed "classic rock" albums of greater notoriety. Milton is one of the true masters of modern music, whatever the genre. This album and others by him like "Minas" (1975) and "Milton" (1970) caused me to travel to his home state of Minas Gerais simply to try to understand how he came up with this awesome, heartbreaking music. Milton is stunning, like a one-man Beatles...so act like you know!