Fool on the Hill (Dig) [Original recording remastered]

Sergio Mendes, Sergio Mendes & Brasil'66 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 28, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B0002LGWSQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,584 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #31 in Music > World Music > Latin Music > Samba
  • #53 in Music > Pop > Easy Listening > Lounge
  • #53 in Music > World Music > Latin Music > Brazilian > Bossa Nova

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mendes rode the Brazilian craze of the mid-1960s and became one of Herb Albert's signature artists, even as the hits dried up and the records started going psychedelic. Before he became a slick popster, he was a pretty fair bossa pianist, but his real talent lay in contemporizing (ethnicizing) Up with People-type vocalists and laying commercial Brazilian tracks behind the Beatles' title track and "Scarborough Fair", as well as some of Brazil's own. In the early 70s he started to get into his roots, recording in the lounge/art-rock mixture that Hermeto Pascoal and Cateno Veloso were exploring. He lost his audience until the '80s, when he went uselessly synth. But Brazil 66 is so evocative of a time long passed that by the nineties, its music has become ubiquitous in every "lounge" in the country. --D. Strauss

Product Description

Exclusive Japanese CD pressing of this 1968 album comes house in a miniature LP sleeve. A&M. 2006. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best selling Sergio Mendes album and for good reason, November 17, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fool on the Hill (Dig) (Audio CD)

The Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 formula on "Fool on the Hill" was quite simple. Take pop hits like the title track by the Beatles and "Scarborough Fair" by Simon & Garfunkle, add a bossa nova rhythm and some lavish string accompaniment by Dave Grusin to Mendes on the piano and the vocals by Lani Hall (Mrs. Herb Alpert) and Karen Philipp, and you have some easy listening hits. "Fool on the Hill" followed "Look Around," giving Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 two solid albums in 1968 (please, do not revive the debate over why it was not Brasil '68), although I have a slight preference for this collection, which made was the group's highest charting album at #3 on the Billboard Pop Album chart (but #1 in Jazz and #10 for Black Albums).

The reason is that while this album hooks you with the covers, both of which charted in the Top 20 ("Fool on the Hill" was #6 and "Scarborough Fair" made it to #16), it is the original compositions that you end up loving. The two best on this album are "Casa Forte" and "Upa, Neguinho," both of which were written (or co-written) by Edu Lobo, which are as fine as any of the group's original songs as they ever recorded. The best vocals are actually by Gracinha Leporace, who would be part of Brasil '77, on "Lapinha." You have to appreciate this type of bait and switch, where unsuspecting music lovers pick up an album for the hits and are introduced to the seductive sounds of Brazilian jazz.

In the Sixties this was the sound of international music and the opening of the door for pretty much all of the Latin American recording artists who came afterwards. "Fool on the Hill" was the best selling album by Sergio Mendes, although a large measure of the credit might be due not to the music but rather the cover, which folded out to show the group at a gorgeous sunset...sitting on top of a nude woman. Ah, to be in Rio at Carnival time...

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sergio Mendes is a genius, September 4, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Fool on the Hill (Dig) (Audio CD)

It's nice for Sergio Mendes to have all this attention again because of the revamped Mas Que Nada, but I think there will be little room for discussion when you compare it to the brilliant original, which isn't polluted by obnoxious rapping. His whole Brazil '66-discography is amazing: this is timeless, sweet, slightly exotic music that's upbeat with a hint of melancholy. So the same goes for this great record, which leans on two very good covers, but the originals are what's special here. The perfect blend between 60's pop and bossanova, sweet but not sappy, cheerful but not annoying, and always this sweet, glowing, after-summer vibe. He's the man.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smooth as Silk, May 15, 2006

By 

David Zeigler (Lumberton, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fool on the Hill (Dig) (Audio CD)

I recently decided I have been buying too much new music on CDs, and not listening to my large collection of great music on LPs. One of the first LPs on my platter (for the first time in years) was this great outting by Brazil 66. I couldn't believe how exciting, timeless, and classy (and even sexy) this music is. The singing and the instrumentation blend perfectly. Some of the rhythms get complex, yet they come off as smooth as silk in the hands of these great musicians. If you still don't know this music, this would be a great starting place. It is definitely one of their best. Also, though tame by today's standards, the cover of the LP once unfolded (and I presume the CD) is interesting--to say the least. I might also add that the range of sound in the music of Brazil 66 really shows off a good stereo system.