Customer Reviews

Universo Ao Meu Redor (Arg)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Marisa Monte's voice and phrasing are as warm and beautiful here as you'd expect from her previous CDs. What makes this release cold and unsatisfying is its lack of any feeling of rapport between MM and anyone else on the album. It's not uncommon in the music industry for instruments to be recorded long after the vocal tracks, but this album really *sounds* that way.

Sadly, the arrangements are also way too self-conscious and arch. David Byrne didn't produce the album, but appears on its weakest track ("Statue of Liberty"), and seems to have inspired the producers to approach the material with inappropriate irony. Electronica sound effects and campy retro electronic keyboards clutter up too many of these simple and soaring melodies. The sensational "Perdoa meu amor" from the 1940s might have sounded great with a harp in one channel, but instead two competing harp tracks goop up the song with too much of a good thing. MM herself is credited as a producer, and must share the blame.

"Infinito particular", which MM released simultaneously with this album, is a marginally more musical choice, though it lacks any track where the musicians let loose and have fun -- a big contrast from her earlier CDs. Don't pay full price for either of these new releases. If you're new to her music, her album from 2000, "Memories, Chronicles and Declarations of Love", is a five-star alternative you won't regret.

This CD is not similar to any of MM's previous albums because it consists solely of samba carioca. There are no emotionally charged or heart-wrenching MPB songs. But this is samba carioca and one shouldn't expect such an atmosphere. As is, it is a very well recorded and innovative samba album and is well-suited for dancing samba. This album has less commercial appeal than her concurrently released Infinito Particular. Overall it's a subtle and pleasant listen although becomes monotonous by the end of the album.
Also, please note that MM has sung plenty of samba carioca throughout her career to good effect. For example, see Para Ver As Meninas from her album Memorias, Cronicas, e Declaracoes de Amor, a lovely samba that would fit in very well on this album.
Recommended for those who enjoy samba carioca or are huge Marisa Monte fans.

The editorial and the opinion of the Glasgow reviewer describe sufficiently this blissfully mellow yet varied CD, but as there is yet only one public review, I wish to concur that it would be a worthy purchase for anyone interested in contemporary Brazilian music firmly rooted in core samba. Bryne's thankfully brief and single incursion sticks out as a bump in the road, and contributes nothing but a distraction. Monte's voice is absolutely perfect for the gentle samba, and the arrangements, for added interest, are unusually complex in instrumentation, such as tuba, marimba, bell, ukulele, harp, theremin, and basson, while dispensing with the traditional heavy drum percussion. The inventiveness and sweetness endures through repeated listening (8 times already!). Great dinner and evening music. Buy it! 4 and 1/2 stars, actually, because of that Byrne blip.

Marisa keeps fascinating her listeners with her unimitable and authentic timing, cadences choice of repertoire, and her highle capable voice that has finesse and souplesse, the purity of which goes right under the skin. This album shows MM more and ever in a contemplating fashion, addressing basic human experiencies regarding life and love. Abundancy and extroversy would be highly out of context. Instead, the lyrics and intrepretation show MM vulnerable and authentic. To listeners that understand Portuguese, that is.

With all the contemporary interpretations of Brasilian music, it's refreshing to hear Marisa return to it's roots! Enjoy!!!!

Marisa Monte has an amazingly beautiful voice, one that's perfect to listen to while you're lounging w/ a glass of wine, with a nice, warm breeze in the air. You can listen straight through this album, and for those bossa nova fans out there, you'll probably like this...it's a must-buy.

A musica Brasileira e demais!!!!! I love it!!!! It has lots of songs that i love. it was a great choice.

Marisa Monte is the biggest star of Brazilian music on the international scene. With Gilberto Gil elevated to cultural minister of the country (gov. ministers don't really release groundbreaking music anymore) and Milton Nascimento mushing out over the recent years, she gets the crown.

And she deserves it. This is a gorgeous CD. Beautifully sung, beautifully arranged, this is mesmerizing music created by musicians who want to break out of the musical categories of MPB today.

But if this is a CD to resurrect the old samba style --and I am assuming that it is from its promotion -- then it falls on the sword of its pretensions. And dies. But before, it does gasp out some good music.

That is why it gets 4 stars. Marisa Monte is so good that even when she does deliver the goods, she gets 4 stars.

If you know Marisa, I would say buy this! But if you don't have any CDs by Marisa Monte, buy some earlier ones. This CD is not an introduction.

The first track is a newly composed work by Marisa and Carlinhos Brown. They open with an old radio off-air transmission and then Marisa sings so beautifully and seductively.

but the second track sounds a lot like the first, and easly treads the same melodic trough. And so on and on. Barely one-third of the tracks are really old songs. The rest is recomposed. It sounds like Marisa, Carlinhos Brown and crew are coasting on the backs of the great old samba guys.

But wait. There are some real gems. The third track, Meu Canario, by Jayme Silva from 1950, is a minor masterpiece and my favorite. It's beautiful and a perfect example of the sad samba sounding upbeat -- it just speaks the soul of Brazilian samba. And Brazilian music and the Brazilian soul. (Perdoa, meu amor, perdoa, is the oldest piece of music on the CD (1945) and these two tracks would easily make this a CD to own.)

I wished Marisa had performed this song with Jayme Silva. Where is he? This CD is supposed to be about lost music. He might be dead now. That makes sense. OK, but where are the liner notes about these great old, lost composers of samba? Nada. It's just sort of thrown out there.

But at least this booklet has English translations of all the Brazilian lyics. A good sign.

Paulinho da Viola has composed and performed a track here. Interesting and another reason to own this CD. Da Viola was the first musician to go back into the old samba schools and save this music. Marisa Monte followed his example with an album in 1999. Marisa sang with the old guard (velha guarda da Portela) to fantastic effect. Unfortunately this album was never released in the USA.

I was hoping that this CD would be her expansion on that work for a wider audience. But it is not. It has beautiful spots. Overall, though, this sounds like a vanity project.

I don't speak a lick of Portuguese, but I know good music when i hear it. This CD is gorgeous. Her voice goes down easy like chocolate milk. i didn't have any trouble putting this cd on my iPod. Ms. Monte was given the voice of an angel, and this is a lovely, gracious offering.

Quem não gosta de samba, bom sujeito não é, é ruim da cabeça ou doente do pé...essa letra desse samba serve para definir melhor o cd da marisa monte. Quem não gostar dele, é doente da cabeça, do ouvido, do corpo, etc. É um trabalho dedicado, na medida certa para esta cantora, verdadeira diva da mpb. Recomendo a todos.