The Great Arrival

Sergio Mendes | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Label: Rhino Atlantic
• Copyright: 2006 Elektra Entertainment Group Manufactured & Marketed by Rhino Entertainment Co.
• Total Length: 32:05
• Genres: Pop/Easy Listening
• ASIN: B00122KZZU
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,547 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unfamiliar bedfellows, May 1, 2001

By 

gw (Lansing, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Arrival / Bully (Audio CD)

This CD holds two albums that are related only by the fact that the leader is a pianist and they were both put out by Atlantic in the mid '60s.I own both LPs, and they have totally different sounds. If you like heavily produced, band- or orchestra-backed piano, you might like Sergio Mendes on this. The arrangement for each song depends on which of the three producers did the track. Some are reasonably gutsy, others mushy, in the style of the day. Mendes's playing is as solid as ever, although a lot is the one-finger-melody style. "Great Arrival" is nothing like "Swinger from Rio" or "Beat of Brazil" which are both (IMHO) far superior. It also has no relation to Brasil 66. Quartette Tres Bien is a piano trio plus a bongo and conga player. The extra rhythm gives the quartet some extra snap and Jeter Thompson (the pianist) has a lot going. Be aware that unlike Mendes, QTB is not playing samba-style music. More of a bop-with-rhythm sound. So, an odd combination on the CD, but you might like it if you have diverse tastes or if you're a big piano fan.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Sergio Mendes greatest albums..., November 25, 2010

By 

Kamran Farahi (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Arrival (MP3 Download)

This is one of Sergio Mendes greatest albums, and the name is definatly fitting for this timeless music.

Over the years Sergio Mendes has changes his music with the trends of the popular music & this album was done in a period when popular music had substance.

This album and it's great collection of songs, is a must for any fan of Sergio Mendes or Brazilian music.

3.0 out of 5 stars fair and a half, July 14, 2010

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Great Arrival (Audio CD)

Before the Great Arrival, let's cut weeds. If you walk into any used record shop today, even a Salvation Army, you can probably can get most if not all of Sergio Mendes' A&M albums for ten bucks or under--a buck each. If you still have a turntable, that is your homework, as in 2-day. No turntable. Throw in an extra fifteen at the Salvation Army and problem solved.

The low price is due to Mendes and '66 being so underrated, so misunderstood. These albums will be found lumped in, perhaps even sticking to, Englebert Humperdink, Gary Pucket, any AM shlock of the period that most listeners to top forty radio bought in the 1960s. But take Herb Alpert Presents, Look Around, any of it, really, and you'll find a jazzy, energized, passionate sound that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

Mendes was SO good, he was able to take one of the worst easy listening pieces of the era, the Letterman's "Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," an turn it from puppy love Ms. Puritan Texas 1968 garbage to a sublime and melodic jazz piece even Coltrane fans like me can dig on.

Hearing such apexes are what make The Great Arrival such a let down for me. Atlantic really did not know what to do with a talent brilliant as Mendes. Most of the tracks here are not bad, but this album is Latin flavored cocktail fare. Menedes here has great playing, and some of the tracks are well written, but with heavy srings, soft edges and little vocals, this is not the Mendes you know and love. There is no '66 here. There is not even an '11.

Which actually surprises me. The guys at Atlantic were some pretty hip cats. They had Aretha Franklin, Mingus, The Rascals. Simply some of the most important jazz and R&B artists of our time. It is confounding that with someone as amazing as Sergio Mendes, this is all the good folks at Atlantic could do.