Customer Reviews

Vento De Maio

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

 

 

If you expect easy-listening run of the mill bossa nova, you most likely will not appreciate this excellent album. Different, raw, dreamy, in a way seventy-ish but always honest. It is an album which, like the best albums in history, will grow on you. Those who know Portuguese will understand that this is not just 'I love you so, please love me too'. There is enough boring bossa out there, this is for the true affecionadas of Brazilian music.

Five GREAT Stars!! This is the late Elis Regina at her very best, singing, scatting, purring, and soaring her way through her only EMI studio session as only she can. Near the end of her life, Elis was pouring it on in this studio session. This session stretches from using huge orchestras and choruses to smaller intimate groups with friends. We can tell this is probably one of her last studio sessions because several songs are the exact songs and arrangements that appear on the live home-recorded "Trem Azul" (The Blue Train) CD, which was the last recording of her work. ("Trem Azul" was remastered from an 8-track recording to a wonderful CD.) The difference between the two CDs is in her vocal delivery and in the inclusion in this CD of other remarkable songs and bonus tracks. That makes both CDs worthy of purchase for inclusion in any comprehensive Elis Regina collection. All singing is in beautiful romantic Portuguese.

Let's get to the "Pieces D'Resistance". The big performance for me is "What Was Really Done" a fiery performance by Elis with Milton Nascimento that ranks among her very best; even her scatting in the background is exciting as Milton whips up his own brand of flames over the rolling beat. In "Get Off It" and "New Season" her voice is a combination of sassiness and poignancy that is matchless, not even by daughter Maria Rita. "Hit The Bullseye" is the type of joyous song that made all of Brazil fall in love with Elis. The single stop hesitations in the song and the sound effect are a real hoot! The title song, "Winds of May" is another huge extravaganza with Elis singing on the upper arc of her voice, as only she can, her voice holding firm. "The Blue Train"is always a bittersweet moment because we know that it was the last recorded song she sang in public before the tragic accident. She purrs her way through "God Only Knows"with a lot of saudade in solo and with the backgound group. In all, a great performance worthy of Five GREAT Stars.

Elis Regina was the Judy Garland of Brazil. She didn't sing...she cooed, she evoked, she cajoled, she summoned, she tickled, she harped...all in one breathe.

This CD compiles some of her best recordings...highlights are "Aprendendo A Jogar", "Vento de Maio", "O Trem Azul", "Se Eu Quiser Falar Com Deus" and "Tiro Ao Alvaro".

You don't need to understand portuguese to understand why Elis was a star.

A must for any fan of music.

Of all the Brazilian CDs that I own, this is one that I bring out the most often, along with other E. Regina albums, those of Gal Costa, and several others. One of the great things this album proves is her innate ability to sing the more pop-flavored material, rather than the samba/bossa repertoire she is usually associated with. It would be impossible for me to list all the fantastic performances in Vento de Maio, but all I can say is that this recording shows what she was capable of, with the fantastic vocal and stylistic range, the growling and cooing, and all the unbelievable musical highs. A fine companion to the great Elis & Tom session.

Elis Regina could use her voice to swing, sting, serenade, or just rasp. Her genuis isn't so much in her vocal quality, but in the inimitable way she approached the music. The first song on this album expresses her genuis perfectly, the rest of the album ranges in quality, many of the last songs are sappy and uninteresting. But if you believe that an album can be bought for one great song the title song makes this one worth it.

I have not listened to this album until recently. As expected, this is another great album by Elis Regina. Not her best but definitely worth listening to it. A great addition to my collection.

Anyone warming a well-appointed chamber in their heart for 'Elis and Tom', Antonio Carlos Jobim's desafinitive collaboration with the singer (what an inadequate word) Elis Regina may find the latter's 'Vento De Maio' album very disappointing. It's not that the songs are bad - some of them are very beautiful, echoing with strange, often folk-dark, Brazilian melodies, Elis' bird-restless voice dodging the mysterious mood- and tempo-changes. But the whole thing is an early example of rycooderfication - all native eccentricities are ironed out by superslick production and anonymously proficient session-playing. A few of songs survive the process - 'Tiro Ao Alvaro' (Hit the Bull's Eye) equals anyting on the Jobim album, a joyous, rasping busk; 'So Deus E Quem Sabe' (God Only Knows) and 'O Que Foi Feito Devero' (What Was Really Done) lurk enigmatic vocal alleys; 'Outro Cais' (Another Pier) is a haunting miniature.

I'm stunned that this album comes so favorably reviewed. Everything that initially attracts you to Elis Regina is absent on it. The compositions are all unmemorable and emanate pretentiousness (though, of course, I don't understand Portuguese), while the 70's jazz-rock band is noisy and dated in a way more embarrassing than quaint. Regina's voice is lost here. To put it plainly, there is nothing catchy, swinging or pretty on this album. I above all recommend above all "Aquarela do Brasil" and "Elis and Tom", then, after that, "The Art of Elis Regina."