Customer Reviews

A Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado

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While Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil spearheaded the so-called Brazilian Tropicalista movement of the late 1960's with their unique blends of traditional Brazilian musics, the most extreme example of this movement were Os Mutantes, whos's fusion of musics made them sound like Burt Bacharach on acid grooving on an endless bossa nova with the Beatles. There's no good way to describe the brilliance of this band, so that's the best I can muster.

By late 1969, the brothers Baptista (Sergio-guitar,vocals; Arnaldo-keyboards,vocals,Rita's boyfriend) and vocalist Rita Lee had seen a quick collapse of the core of the movement they shared in, as founders Gil and Veloso were arrested and deported from Brazil. They were also on the government's hit list due to their obvious support of the movement, and by 1969, they had gone into hiding, living by themselves. The living was similar to that of Love in 1967-8 LA- decidedly weird and heavily drug laden.

From this period came "A Divinia Comedia...", their 3rd album, and by far, my favorite Mutantes lp. A glorious blend of schmaltzy bossa nova mixed with British invasion-esque sensibilities in 1 song, pure fuzzed/freaked out psychedelia the next, surrealist painting the following, the lp does not suffer from predictability, to be sure. Nor does it suffer from sub-par musicianship. Sergio shines on this lp, showing off his increasingly virtuoso guitar playing, whether on ballads like "Desculpe, Baby" or on out n out freak outs like the lp's finale, "Oh! Mulher Infiel," a sonic blitzkreig of scary proportions. Arnaldo's organ riffs throughout the lp range from sinister to perfectly tasty- all perfect within the context of the tracks.

From start to finish, "A Divinia Comedia.." is a topsy-turvy, pot-laden hallucination that comes across as sincere. An odd choice of words, I know, but this is an odd album. Rare are so obviously drug-influenced lps so well crafted and so well executed, but this is one of them.

My favorite of all Os Mutantes lps, (and I own all of them) "A Divinia Comedia" is a glorious product of its time and circumstance that holds more than its own versus the music of today.

This record marks the transition of the band from their psychedelic Sgt.Pepper's-like sound of their early years into the sound of the 70's, heavier and more complex. The band would end up doing prog-rock in the late 70's and the first signs of it can be seen in a couple of songs. Let me correct the translation of the title: "Ando meio Desligado" means "I've been a little disconected", but the band's English version for the title song, present in the album Technicolor, is "I've been a little spaced out", showing what the original title really meant. The highest moment of this record is the hilarious mockery of Janis Joplin "O meu refrigerador nao funciona" ("My refrigerator doesn't work"). Check it out!

This record is really something else. I'm not going to repeat every word written in the early reviews, they're all right in my opinion, but as a brazilian and born ten minute far from their neighborhood, I feel the duty to tell you, just for the most curious, that there were no drugs in this specific moment (1970). Ya, this extremely psychedelic and transcendent album was written and played with no external influence!!! Genious stuff!!!

The main song ("Ando meio desligado") was the success in which the group became transcendental to a whole Brazilian youth generation, and is still reminded down here. Its melody was inspired partially on the bass accords of the song "Time of the Season", played by The Zombies, an English band. But this album marked their maturity age as musicians. Songs as "Desculpe, babe" (sang by younger brother Sergio, known then and further as one of the most brilliant jazz and rock guitar man ever born in Brazil), "Haleluia" (inspired by the play "Hair"), the instrumental "Oh! Mulher infiel", the bluesy "Meu refrigerador nao funciona" (in what Rita Lee sings inspired on Janis's Monterey Festival "Ball and Chain" performance), "Hey boy", "Quem tem medo de brincar de amor" and the good "Jogo de Calcada". This album also marked the first of three albuns with the classic formation: Arnolpho "Liminha" Lima Filho (bass) and Ronaldo "Dinho" Leme (drums) have joined the brothers Baptista and Rita Lee Jones to start definitively a new age of the Brazilian Rock Music. And, yes, it was just in the end of the sixties, can you believe?

This is a GREAT album! One of my all time favorites! Whenever I want to show off my music collection, I grab this one and blast it. The Mutantes shift gears at lighting speed, everywhere from krazy rock 'n roll fiasco to creepy carnival music with nutty sound effects. This is one of the most MANIC albums that I've ever hoid'. They are extraordinarily creative on so many levels: song-writing, performance, recording, post-production, etc... My fav Mutantes album and one of my over all favs of all time. Twelve thumbs up!!!

This is my favorite Os Mutantes album, but I'll be damned if you can wrestle "Mutantes" from me. Sure, you could compare them to the beatles or the who, big influences for them, but os mutantes are younger, more playful, better musicians, and generally just a lot more fun. These guys (and gal) are the best psychedelic rock band of all time, hands down (much as I love syd barrett-floyd, they had a few duds - pow r toc h springs to mind.. plus, some of the best songs he ever turned out, scream thy last scream, vegetable man, apples and oranges, can't legally be found on CD). buy this album, buy "mutantes," if you don't like them, email me and we can arrange for you to come to my house and beat me to death, for i will have lost my faith in mankind. oh, bartelby. oh, the humanity.

This CD from Brazil's Mutantes is one of the most unique releases ever! The hybrid of campy bossa nova, vaudeville and mind melting psychedelia is sure to please fans of everything from easy listening to all out psych freakout. The cover art is great as well! Cheers to Omplatten for this series of reissues involving Os Mutantes!

Mike Reed's elitist attitude towards psychedelic rock is easily drained out by the enthusiasm of Os Mutantes fans. This Brazilian psychedelic rock band is the latin equivalent of The Beatles. They were ground-breaking and progressive at their time and pushed forth new barriers for the world of music. Os Mutantes has beautifully flowing music and A Divina Com?dia Ou Ando Meio Desligado is no exception. Possibly their best progressive works that are actually danceable! Unheard of in psychedelic rock for the most part. Heavy dance influence bleeds from Brazilian culture like the sweat on a Hippopotamus's back. Os Mutantes threads this influence through their music and when they're finished you have a brand new outfit. An outfit you'll want to wear everyday and show off to your friends.

I just wanted to make sure there were more reviews. It's very very good, and entertaining too.

Originally released in 1970, 'A Divina...' was their third effort. Only thing I can honestly about Os Mutantes (aka The Mutants) is that they were a halfway decent Brazilian obscure psych band. Nothing all that great here, you understand. But okay. Their first three CD reissues are supposed to be their best. Line-up: Rita Lee - vocals, Sergio Baptista - guitar and Arnaldo Baptista - drums.Might possibly appeal to some fans of early Beatles, Spectrum, Love and MPB-4. Take a chance here. You might get more out of it than I did.