Customer Reviews

Unplugged

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

 

 

I have had this CD for years, and am surprised that nobody has reviewed it yet, so here goes.
My first Gilberto Gil music was a 'pirate' cassette tape I purchased in Kenya, which is long gone, but the frivolous melodies and improvised Brazilian scats haunt me to this day. He has that worldly, jazzy, playful style that at the same time appears to have a poetic profundity to a listener without a knowledge of what his lyrics are about.
The Unplugged CD has that same feeling: intimate and transparent, with melodic flings that span the wide space between Africa, the Samba and American popular song. Gil's rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Secret Life of Plants", rendered in an interesting accent, is testimony to the man's latitude and depth in taste. His own songs bristle with acoustic synergy, with room for expressive solos between the tight-loose guitar riffs.
I'd recommend this CD to anybody who has an interest in the Brazilian popular sound that was founded by Gil and others and labelled 'Tropicalismo'....a melding of socially conscious lyrics and musical virtuosity.

If you've ever heard Gilberto Gil and you liked him, this is for you. I can't stop listening.