Customer Reviews

Hoje E O Primeiro Dia

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
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A pretty solid album, and really, for all intents and purposes, an Os Mutantes album, since Sergio and Arnaldo both perform on here, as does fill-in member Arnolpho Lima (aka Liminha). Brazilian fans of Lee's later pop-rock material probably won't like this disc much, but if you're into the freaky psychedelic stuff, this is one of her very best records. The approach is very Mutantes-ish, though in reality this is way better than most of the band's official albums. Sure, it's just as goofy and clunky, but the ideas and mood are more sustained from track to track, and as an album it hangs together much better. Prescient parodies of lounge music and lumpen boogie rock seek a detente with some seriously artsy/psychedelic efforts, including music concrete and cute tape loop effects... very similar in tone to Caetano Veloso's album, "Araca Azul," from the same year. I dunno if this is something you'd put on when you had company visiting, but if you've come this far with the whole Tropicalia thing, then you should certainly check this one out. (Originally reviewed January, 2002)

Following the Mutantes style, it was cdredited to Rita Lee Jones as a solo labum, but it wasn't: It is just another genuine Mutantes album, although the last with Rita as a member of the crew. And I love this album, because the whole band shows an fantastic developing as musicians. Arnaldo Baptista is the producer, once more, and many of the compositions were written by him and Lee Jones. This album was made in a late psychedelic style (well, remember that the rest of the world uses to be some years behind U.S.A. and Western Europe in terms of international cultural trends), but full of talent. Lee Jones and Baptista talents. They were really great together. Listen carefully to "Vamos Tratar da Saude", "Hoje e o Primeiro Dia do Resto da Sua Vida", "De Novo Aqui Meu Bom Jose", "Frique Comigo" and "Tapupukitipa" (the last, written to be a kind of answer to 70's Brazilian Military Government censorship - in cifrated language, the title means something similar to "F... you").

By '72 Os Mutantes were on the verge of becoming a prog-rock band and Rita Lee stood on the brink of success as a Brazilian rock diva; both paths would borrow heavily from Yankee pop/rock trends. However, the entire group cut one last great album (with Lee inaptly given top billing) in that year - "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

This album can be seen as an immediate successor to Tropicalia and contains elements of what's being called the "post-Tropicalia sound": the continued ironic juxtapositions of Brazilian elements with Pan-Latin and prevailing American/European stylings, but tinged by a slightly-subdued, darker, less-youthful energy that bespeaks the oppression of the Brazilian dictatorship (Veloso and Gil were still in exile when the album was recorded) as well as the drug fallout and loss of optimism shared with their Northern counterparts.

That's not to say the humor is gone - "Tapupukitipa" sets a righteous strident chant of an Indian word over a distinct early-70s clavinet-driven funk-rock groove that dissolves into group spoken-word, and the opening track coaxes an image of Dee-Lite's Lady Kier cutting a musical "toast to health" in Electric Ladyland Studios in 1969, given spine by the great bassist Liminha. In typical Mutantes fashion, Latin styles such as tango and bossa nova are skewered lovingly. But Arnaldo Baptista sounds like a man in decline, and the general feel is of a group of tired carnival entertainers putting on an heroic final show to a litter-strewn venue.

Though originally a Mutantes album, conflicts with the label saw Rita Lee getting sole billing in order for this to be released. Os Mutantes had been drifting away from their typical psychedelic tendencies, instead favoring a much more progressive sound similar to the one that dominates the majority of the songs on "Hoje..". Though this album is far from being a favorite of mine, I would be lying if I were to say it didn't fascinate me. Stylistically, the songs range from the typical comedy rock you'd expect to hear from these guys, to a more experimental prog rock sound that they'd yet to touch on. However one of the most interesting things about this particular album is Rita Lee's vocals. Never before had she sounded so confident as a vocalist, and that alone makes this worthy of a listen.

Listen to: "De novo aqui meu bom José", "Superfície do Planeta".

This, for me, is one of the best albuns by the Mutantes. It is not really a truly solo album by Rita, as it is cleary a creation of the groups' Brazilian "antropophagic" psychodelia; particularly because the album was produced by Arnaldo Baptista. It does sound a bit like progressive music (but I like it...) given that the group was all listening to Yes and ELP for days and days on their acid trips, and because Liminha was revealing his influences too (a pick on a Rickenbaker bass, Chris Squire...). It was hilarious to read from a fans' comment at Amazon that the song "Tapupukitipa sets a righteous strident chant of an Indian word..." Whoever wrote this had no idea what to say (and didn't really understand the Mutantes' spirit) since the true story is that the group just invented this word as an onomatopoeia of the unpublisheable Brazilian expression "vai pra.... pariu" (some MUCH worse than "go to hell") as a playful joke with the censors. This and more is revealed in Carlos Calado's book "Os Mutantes: The True Psychedelic Adventures of a Band from Brazil", availabe in English. All interested in this incredible group should read the book and buy all the albums (CDs) of course :)

Technically Rita Lee's second solo album, this is really Os Mutantes' fourth and final album. Both Baptista brothers are playing and singing all over it, and one of them produced it. The Mutantes always had a practical joke-y side to their stuff, but on their first three albums, the shenanigans were an undercurrent, with the strength or their songwriting, the experimental nature of their playing, and Lee's mesmerizing voice, being the central forces of their sound. But this is the album where the hijynx overtake the quality of the material and render them a novelty act. There are war whoops, a song where one of the guys in the band does a kind of Elvis impression, studio banter between songs . . . everything but good material. Still, this IS Rita Lee and the Baptistas, so all is not lost; there are two somewhat worthwhile tracks, the opener and track 9, and even on songs that fall flat, Lee's voice is a pleasure to listen to. Diehard Mutants fans will want to hear this, but nobody else needs it.