Customer Reviews

Rive Gauche Rio

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The second Celso Fonseca album comes as a nice surprise to me. The first didn't impress me that much, but this contains high quality songs (well unless you are tired of the bossa nova stereotype) and a great voice, really a bit too much similar to Caetano Veloso but this is not a fault but a pleasure to me.
Two of the songs are really wonderful,"Rio para tras" and "Um mondo estranho". Not that peculiar the cover of Damien Rice and the instrumental "Atlantico". Very nice the duet with Jorge Drexler and the cover of Henri Salvador. Probably a bit too much all in the same mood but very classy. The production is minimal but when the songs are good they don't need much more than a voice and an acoustic guitar.

Celso Fonseca is one of best Brazilian singer/composer who has came around last years in Brazilian music scene. He sings very well, his music has a sophisticated approach. Although he is considered a newcomer in Brazilian music industry I consider him one of those guys who has been much influenced by Bossa Nova style, which is in my opinion the best kind of music which has ever appeared in Brazil in many years. In Rive Gauche Rio he keeps offering us all of his best. So, I can only give a 5 star rate.

Luiz Carlos M. Magalhães

Celso Fonseca is a major find, a first rank musician in every respect. He is a superb singer, composer, song writer, recording producer and guitarist, and if you love the music of Jobim, you're sure to love Celso Fonseca. I have seven of his albums, and rank Juventude (Slow Motion Bossa Nova) and Paradiso as his best, although I wouldn't part with any of them. Rive Gauche Rio is a first rate addition. I discovered his CDs in Rio at a little record store in Ipanema a block and 1/2 from Jobim's old hangout. Rive Gauche Rio and Natural are available in the US, but Amazon is the only source I have found that regularly offers Celso's Brazilian CDs in the United States. If you like elegant, sensual, seductive, beautifully melodic music, Celso is your man. I caught his solo performance in New York at the Blue Note, which was a sold out success, and he's a terrific performer. To paraphrase an early enthusiast (and it's only slightly hyperbolic), "Celso is guaranteed to have you and your lover horizontal before the album ends." In short, he's a major event, the real thing, and Brazilian music at it's best.

Truth be told, if pressed, we couldn't really tell, say, a samba from a bossa nova from a cha cha from any other mid-tempo, Latin dance style, for that matter. We do know, however, that we are magnetically drawn to the sultry beats of nearly all Brazilian music. Celso Fonseca, a superb singer/musician, is our latest Brazilian discovery. Fonseca's self-produced cd, `Rive Gauche Rio', is an enthralling piece of work. Grounded by the gentle strum of his guitar, Fonseca's alluring ballads are buoyed by the tasteful presence of horns, multi-tracked vocals, gentle percussion and modern studio devices and techniques. Fonseca's melodies and performances exude warmth and sensuality. Unfortunately, we may have to learn Portuguese in order to properly assess his way with words (although two songs are sung in English, including an intriguing rendition of Irish folk-singer, Damien Rice's `Delicate'). But really, with music this sumptuous, words hardly matter.

Brazil has never sounded better. Even though Celso Fonseca's second album RIVE GAUCHE RIO starts on the minor key and quietly icy electronics of "O Rio Para Trás," summer quickly sets in by "Por Acaso, Pela Tarde." As always, Fonseca's vocals are solid and never forced. The instrumentation, especially the steady guitarwork, sound impeccable. The deep strings of the bass on "Un Mundo Estranho" give that track a dark beauty, while the vocal duet on "Don de Fluir" makes it as light as chiffon. Even the heartbreak of "My Broken Heart" is put into a bright and airy room by Fonseca's clear vocals and gentle guitar plucking. Simple without ever being simplistic, this album shows that Brazil is still the place to be.

Celso Fonseca is one of the great, but unfortunately too often overlooked and underrated, bossa nova masters of the last decade. With a voice as expressive as Caetano Veloso at his best, and a generally laid-back Latin jazz style, Fonseca always delivers. Rive Gauche Rio is no exception.

WOW, ever since buying this at Borders two days ago, I can't get enough of this CD; I just cannot help but play it over and over again. Both Celso Fonseca's delicate guitar playing is really smack-dab on par with his crooning vocals. They're both SO SUBTLE AS WELL AS SERENE, they ought to be plucking away at your heartstrings (just like it did to mine!)

Anyway, who knows? Over 40 years ago Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, and Vinicius de Moraes created an international buzz with their "bossa nova" (Portuguese for "new wave" or "new attitude") movement in the area of music ever to break out of Brazil. Even if it's not as phenomenal today (at least I beg to differ), big deal, so what? Since we're already in the 21st century, the timing of Fonseca's two albums (this being his second) couldn't be better. :)

i was on iTunes (as i am most of the time) and stumbled upon this album due 2 a "referral" and i have 2 tell u, it's completely worth every penny i spent! i've been a huge fan of bossa nova 4 a few years now and this guy's sound is very close 2 the original stuff (or the closest i've heard thus far). his voice seems 2 melt over the music like butter (ok that was corny). my favorite song on this album is "Pousada". so, check this out if u're up 2 hearing what the new sound of brazil has 2 offer!

This would be Caetano's best album since "Livro" if it were really him. Nothing ground breaking here, but as usual with Brazilian music, it's the subtleties that make this a pleasant listen. That is, if you can get past Mr. Fonseca's voice sounding exactly like Caetano Veloso's. On his previous albums, it was nowhere near this pronounced. I liked Jon Faddis a lot better once Diz passed.