The Silver Collection: The Astrud Gilberto Album

Astrud Gilberto

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: July 7, 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000046W3
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,833 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #80 in	Music > Jazz > Brazilian Jazz
  #87 in	Music > World Music > Latin Music > Brazil > Bossa Nova

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Astrud Gilberto found fame with her contributions to 1964's classic Getz/Gilberto album, which spawned an instant standard in the hit single "The Girl from Ipanema." From there, she went on to fill many LPs with her winningly hesitant, longing vocal style; this disc collects 25 tracks cut between 1965 and 1970 for Verve. Among them are early versions of a number of Brazilian standards by the likes of Antonio Carlos Jobim ("How Insensitive," "Once I Loved") and Luiz Bonfa ("The Gentle Rain," "Tristeza"). "Fly Me to the Moon" and the Bricusse-Newley "Who Can I Turn To" fit the mood perfectly. Throughout, Gilberto is aided by lush, thoughtful arrangements, including one by Gil Evans on "Berimbou." This entry in the Silver Collection series is an excellent introduction to one of Brazilian pop's most emblematic voices. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Five-Star Album But Desperately In Need of Remastering, May 5, 1999

By	James Bunnelle - See all my reviews

The other reviewers are right on the money. This, along with A CERTAIN SMILE, A CERTAIN SADNESS with the Walt Wanderly Trio, is Astrud's best recording. The first twelve tracks or so are the sessions she cut with Jobim in 1965, of which "Aqua De Beber" is the masterpiece. There are also some interesting song selections that are pretty atypical for Astrud, including a nice version of "Who Can I Turn To?" BUT PLEASE, I BEG YOU, REMASTER THIS DAMN THING!!! Not only is the sound quality and separation totally erratic, but the first several seconds of "Dreamer" have been truncated off! Therefore, I have dropped it from five to four stars. For God's sake, the sticker on the back of mine says PRINTED IN WEST GERMANY!!! WEST!!!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A recommended compilation, April 24, 2000

By A Customer

This Astrud Gilberto collection is a good introduction for the casual listener. Most of her tunes worth listening to are included, but of course some charming gems have been excluded. (For instance, I wish "Oba, Oba" of the A. Gilberto LP Beach Samba were included. The music box sounds of this track make for an excellent embellishment.) As indicated by a previous reviewer, this album is in need of remastering. Perhaps if you listen to the album at a low volume you won't notice this problem too much! Regardless, The Silver Collection is the best Astrud Gilberto compilation available and is suggested for long-time fans (a way to have your most of your favorites in one place) and for new listeners as introductory material.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sunny introduction to a unique vocal style., March 4, 2002

By	darragh o'donoghue (dublin, ireland) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Astrud Gilberto's great claim to immortality is her contribution to the 'Getz/Gilberto' album that for one brief moment made bossa nova, that sad melodic jazz from scorching Brazil, the coolest music in the world. That album was in effect a mariage of four voices - the plangent, supple saxophone of Stan Getz; the song-writing and piano-playing melancholy of Antonio Carlos Jobim; the guitar-strumming and mysterious mumbling of Joao Gilberto; and his wife Astrud. Although, creatively, Astrud has often been under-rated, hers is the face and the distinctive sound of this album - her blank, flat singing, her unflappable cool in Portuguese and slight nervousness in English, were the necessary board on which the three men projected their individual eloquence. Some of her most famous Jobim interpretations are featured here, including the spry sadness of 'Once I Loved'; the lush despair of 'Agua De Beber'; and the bright reverie of 'O Morro (Nao Tom Vez). 'Insensatez' is her apotheosis, the emotion banished from her numb monotone revealed in the anguish of the music - listen for the scuttering flute on 'and now he's gone'.

This collection is instructive in showing how bossa nova quickly disintegrated from its fresh initial impulse into cynical elevator music. Compare the simple intricacy of Jobim's arrangements to the strings-saturated muzak of 'Non Stop To Brazil'. Nevertheless, the CD is full of goodies, oddities and surprises. Many of the songs bear traces of the contemporary European torch songs by the likes of Francoise Hardy and Michel Legrand - 'The Shadow Of Your Smile', 'All That's Left I To Say Goodbye', 'The Gentle Rain' and 'Who Can I Turn To? (When Nobody Loves Me)' are beautiful, aching examples. 'Fly Me To the Moon' is a moving bossa nova defamiliarising of a tired standard; 'Let Go (Canto de Ossanho)' seems to swap Brasil for Blackpool with its jaunty Hammond. There is, especially, one transcendent non-Jobim moment, the stark Luis Bonfa classic 'Manha De Carnaval', less than two munutes stretching out agonising desolation.