Customer Reviews

Yauarete

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While I agree that some of the songs on this disc are over-produced, I must instead focus on the beauty of at least five songs. Specifically, the first four songs on the disc are great! "Blue Planet" was a staple on running tapes back in the days of cassettes, though my brother sometimes preferred the title tune. Paul Simon's voice is an excellent foil for Milton in "Dream Merchant," though Simon's Portugese is iffy. "Enchanted City" is a perfect blend of voice and musical setting. (It was also performed magically when I heard Milton in Toronto in 1994.) My favorite song on the disc has to be "Mountain" with its mythic lyrics and the dream team of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. While this is not my favorite work by Milton Nascimento, ( that would be "A Barca Dos Amantes" with the transcendent "Amor Indio,") I hope those who love Milton's voice and work would listen to it once more.

By anyone else's standards, this would be a decent album but it pales next to Nascimento classics such as the wonderful "Miltons" (1988) and "Club de Esquina 1 and 2" (1971 and 1978). "Yauarete" (Jaguar) seems to be an attempt to capture a wider global audience for Milton. But the overproduction works against him in places and certain songs would work far better without the excessive orchestration that undercuts the heartfelt emotion, sincerity and soulful rawness of Nascimento's unbelievable voice. Not his worst album, not even a bad one - but nowhere near his best either.