1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprising work, October 31, 2001
This review is from: Dia Dorim, Noite Neon (Audio CD)
Standard Wisdom says that Gil peaked in the late '60s and 70's, and made a string of so-so albums in the 80's. While it's true that albums like Refavela and songs like aquele abraco show gil at his best, it's also true that this album is a surprising work.
It's mainly a matter of taste about the production of the albums.
So, in the 70's gil's albums were influenced by the american singer-songwriter trend; his recordings were guitar oriented without clutter, and with touches of 'authentic' folk-music, reggae, and world-music thrown in. In the 80's the production values changed, the albums became keyboards-heavy, more dance-pop oriented, more heavily arranged.
In short, if you enjoy the '80s pop of Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince, you'll have no problem going beyond the surface and into the core of this album.
Songs like Nos barracos da cidade and Logos vs Logo are danceable and intellectual at the same time, and in that way, they resemble David Byrne's post-Talking Heads work. Granted, Gil's songs lose much if you don't know portuguese, but the internet has solved that problem by letting you find the lyrics and the lyrics' translation to every song in this album. The best song is Cliche dos cliches, one of the best songs of Gil's career. It's about pretending to be celebrities, imitating famous people, losing your identity and becoming a cliche. It has a beautiful tune, a quiet sadness and a wisdom rare in pop music.
There are many other great moments in the album, all in all the best album that gil recorded in the '80s. Later, on the '90s he'll go on to record those absolute masterpieces Parabolic and Quanta, but that, little Adam is another story.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
mal......mal......, August 10, 2005
This review is from: Dia Dorim, Noite Neon (Audio CD)
en este, gilberto......la cagó.
no es malo, pero tampoco es bueno.
el tema "nos barracos da cidade" está pegadizo,
pero este no es un disco muy agradable de escuchar.
escuchen esto solo como una curiosidad,
y solo después de haber escuchado todo lo demás, porque este es el peor disco de gilberto gil
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