Customer Reviews

A Foreign Sound

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Don't get me wrong... I am a HUGE Caetano Veloso fan... I've written about him quite a bit, own all his records and had very high hopes for this album. But, still... this set of English-language standards and whimsically chosen cover tunes may be a bit too restrained and evenly modulated, with Brazilian superstar Caetano Veloso mixing high culture and high camp, while tilting towards the highbrow end of the spectrum -- so much so that it's actually a bit stuffy and twee. The material is timeless -- pop standards from the likes of Cole Porter, et. al. alongside more modern classics from Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain, as well as kitchier bits such as "Feelings," a Morris Alpert hit that remains one of the enduring lounge music classics. Likewise, the album's opener, "The Carioca," was chosen explicitly for its camp value, particularly in light of the album's ironic theme, the notion of "foreign" culture, as seen through the eyes of an "exotic" tropical celebrity from Latin America. The intellectual end of Veloso's enterprise is readily apparent, as is his affection for the songs and the various layers of popular culture they represent, and the level of intimacy he can impart to every line and lyric. What's missing, however, is the transcendant lightness he brings to, say, a live acoustic version of an old Hoagy Carmichael tune, amid the clamor of his thunderous Afro-Brazilian pop shows. The large, lofty arrangements are elegant to a fault, and are largely unvaried in tempo or tone... After a while, it all starts to sound the same -- the same sweet croon, the same charming sparkle, the same knowing smirk, as the same airy string sections underscore the same rarified jokes. Which isn't to say this album doesn't have a richness and warmth deserving of the songs, but it's a bit stilted and the arrangements a bit too lush and overripe... Ultimately, it just feel like that much fun; rather, it felt like he was trying too hard to make a point, and worse still, was travelling on ground he'd already covered before, with a much lighter, more delicate step. It's okay, but I'd hoped it would be much, much better.

Exhausted with old time rock and rollers spelunking `Pop Standards' for the sake of thriving their long-lost careers [see Rod Stewart, Michael McDonald, etc...] Brazilian legend Veloso's sonic, wearing-thin velvet gift `reinterprets' [where Stewart `rehashes' and Michael McDonald's 'Motown' 'trashes'], allowing the inherent loveliness into these American standards, singing rings around his contemporaries. He redeems `Feelings', compliments and complements Kurt Cobain, reinvigorating Dylan & Stevie Wonder and even Cole Porter. And by same-sexing `The Man I Love', the hetero Veloso brings dignity and understanding across musical cultures in one song than any gay minstrel could hope. My grade: A-

I've loved Caetano Veloso's work for years, so when I heard about A Foreign Sound, I couldn't resist buying it. My advice: resist unless you feel a need to own everything he records. It's just plain strange. Only his natural artistry saves it. I found myself skipping from one cut to the next, trying to find something I could stand to listen to all the way through. Now, I think Caetano comes across nicely in English, and I'd love to see him do another album, but next time, I hope it makes more sense.

These songs odd choices -- "Feelings" and "The Carioca" are not high on my playlist these days -- and nothing seems to flow together. Better to stick with his classic recordings until he gives this another try.

Caetano Veloso has returned to us with an album of American popular music, and what may appear, at least to the cynics among us, as his attempt to cash on the recent fad of reviving old classics -like Rod Stewart or Cindy Lauper, or even Boz Scaggs with more felicitous results- it's another strong statement from one of the world's seminal artists in contemporary music.
For those who may know little about Veloso, think of a composer on par with Stevie Wonder or Jimmy Webb, or of a poet of the stature of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Think of an icon of popular music who happened to have been born in Brazil, rather than Liverpool or New York, and suffered from the massive disinterest that seems to fall on so many great ones who, by and large do not sing in English, in the English-speaking world.
For the ones among us who already worship Caetano, this is the kind of "return to form" which you can easily compare with Dylan's "Love & Theft." Another work from a mature artist hitting the stride of his bottomless talent.
What Caetano has done here is to dedicate a whole album from the canon of popular music, the majority of which are revered American gems like "Love Me Tender" or "Body and Soul," or even Cole Porter's gorgeous "Love For Sale," and chiseled them anew, back to their essences, taking away and revealing new edges until they can be solely themselves and, yet, completely his.
Caetano Veloso may be a romantic, but never a sentimental man, and where others would have settled for the comfort of counting on so many willing listeners who would gladly indulge him and be satisfied with any version that his voice could grace, he has pushed these songs to say all that they can say, stepping into them carefully, audaciously, but never intruding.
Listen to often derided "Feelings" which in the included version is nothing less than redeemed, or "The Man I Love" offering a sensitivity that many would argue a male singer could never attain. Of course, Veloso tribute to great American music cannot be expected to neglect Gershwin, Rogers or Berlin, but for Caetano it must also include Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. It must be mentioned that Dylan's words -"It's Alright Ma' (I'm Only Bleeding)" is Veloso's choice- sound dark and just as relevant here as they did almost thirty years ago and, in Caetano's version, eerily accurate to describe these very times, almost prophetic. Even Kobain's "Come As You Are" is treated with the same deep respect -an understated gem by the Brazilian master.
Veloso's back, amorous and adventurous, faithful to these classics and unafraid of experimenting. As he sings so urgently in Dylan' song, "So don't fear if you hear / A foreign sound to your ear / It's alright, Ma, / I'm only sighing."

As you can see on the other reviews people either love or hate this album. I think it's because it's very hard to listen at first. It sounds really weird specially if you are used to the popular versions of these songs, but after you've listened to it a couple times you end up understanding the beautiful different way Caetano sings them. At least you'll recognize "Cry me a river", "The man I love", "Smoke get's in your Eyes", "Feelings" and "Love for sale", all of them beautifully sung. My personal favorite is "Something good", from "The sound of music".
So my advice is keep on listening, you'll love it.

Rod Stewart was a decadent rock and roll star who had been making news on the celeb side of his life -- how many wives? -- than his music, until he hit the jackpot recording the "Great American Songbook." Good for him.
Caetano Veloso is more than a singer. He is an icon of Brazilian culture, his art standing against tradicional samba at a certain point in his career, a creative poet, carrying wih his ouvre the burden of an everchanging artistic persona. Caetano's press interviews, statements, shows, songs are always expected dazzle among those who consider themselves part of the Brazilian cultural elite.
Sadly, Caetano Veloso's latest projecct seems to me to have two purposes: first, to cash in on very well-known songs and to give them a suave treatment, which is categorized here as Brazilian music; the second purpose is a little trickier to define and call me a cynic --it is Caetano Veloso's attempt to put his print on music he feels Brazilians know or should know. Here is mano Caetano telling yoy these songs are great, especially if HE is singing them. Kurt Cobain's ashes aren't rolling in the wind because he wouldn't care anymore, but I do. "Come As You Are" was stripped of its punch and is out of any tune. Cole Porter's "So In Love" becomes a sappy bossa-nova and Caetano's voice cannot reach some lower notes. Why can't Caetano Veloso stick to what he knows best, the culture and music of his own country, my beloved Brazil ? Weren't David Byrne's disastrous recordiings of Brazilian music a "hello?" If he thinks this album will be a block buster like Rod Stewart's, he is in for a rude awakening.
I have all of Caetano's albums but I will skip this one.

I read with interest the polemic that developed among a couple of reviewers as a result of co-composer Jacques Morelenbaum's comments in the liner notes that "Aviation didn't begin in America; it began in Brazil".

Look it up. It's indisputable that Brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont flew a contraption heavier than air prior to the Wright Brothers. The point is debatable, and it hinges on the definition of the contraption. What's more important, though, is that Morelenbaum made the comment in the context of THIS record. It's an analogy, get it, folks?

As with first flight, whether modern American music or American standards, both of which Veloso interprets here, were invented in America or in Brazil first is debatable. One thing is certain: Veloso and his cohorts can fairly be credited for inventing the Tropicalia movement back in the 60s. What was Tropicalia? Plain and simple, it was a fusion of American or western music with black music.

Let's not forget Brazil's geographic and historical location. As a major stopping point in the slave trade, African culture and music took root there, and mixed with "western" music centuries ago. As the African diaspora spread northward to the south of the US, for example, African American musicians took it to the next step, and are widely credited for inventing rock 'n roll in the 50s.

It's telling that Veloso and Morelenbaum titled this album "A Foreign Sound", because on the one hand, it's "foreign" in that it consists of American music. On the other hand, it's not "foreign" at all to Veloso, for the reasons described above.

If you're already familiar with Veloso, you'll know that nothing he's done in his beautiful career is accidental. He's an incredible composer, and the songs he chose to interpret on this album were carefully selected, and he more often than not imbues the songs with a new interpretation that even the original songwriter sometimes prefers over his original version.

On the latter note, David Byrne often introduces his song "Nothing but Flowers" before playing it in a concert by saying "I'm going to play it the way Caetano Veloso plays it".

Can there be a bigger compliment from one composer to another? I don't think so. Could any non American have paid a bigger compliment to American music, while simultaneously commenting that "Americans didn't invent American music" than Caetano has on done on this album? I don't think so.

As a responde to Geoffrey's comment below...


The liner notes in the CD were referring to Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont, who really built the first successful airplane in 1906. The Wright Brothers used a weight-driven catapult system to get off the ground.


Oh, and this CD is really good for those that enjoy Caetano.

ITs possible to both love and hate it, depending on your mucial origins. Myself, while I thought the jazz standard covers were somewhat shmaltzy, I found the pop covers (Nirvana, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan) completely enthralling. And very weird. These alone make this album a classic. The rest is pleasnt filler!

I simply loved this CD. Caetano's voice adjusts so well to some soft and smooth american songs, and at the same time adds an interesting brazilian rythm. The first song, Carioca, is possibly the best, with a mix of brazilian drums in the back enhancing the rumba rythm. The CD is long with more than 20 songs. Caetano is more charming than ever before. A great pick!