Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Lyrics, November 27, 2003
By A Customer
This is an excellent album. Caetano's records of 1967 and 1969, when released were like nothing else played in Brazil at the time.Caetano's lyrics are always excellent, and, in my opinion, he as yet to outdo himslef after his first two records. He and Chico Buarque de Holand are the premier lyricists in Brazilian music. A testament to that is my memory, as I recently found out I could recall by heart all the lyrics for all the songs in these albums, more than 30 years after learning them at three years old. Never mind that I have lived in foreign country, speaking in a foreign language for many years. i was delighted to see the CD's at amazon, and just had to purchase them.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The real Caetano finally stands up", July 16, 2002
After a pretty-sounding, but rather tame debut album as a bossa nova songwriter ("Domingo"), Caetano finally finds his mad-cap, eclectic, "musicofagiac" groove on this 1968 2nd album; this recording, along with the original "Tropicalia" record, Gal's first solo effort "Gal Costa" and few other discs are the classic "texts" of Tropicalia. This record laid the tracks for the next 15 years of pop music in Brazil. By 1968 Brazilian pop had become so staid, conventional, contrived, and conforming to a standard paradigm of bossa nova, that this record and the recordings of Caetano's contemporaries literally shook the nation out of its slumber. These records truly were - and still are - wildly revolutionary.... and superbacana.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid all the way through, with variety too., June 1, 2007
If I had to pick a "scene" in rock history that seems to transcend every pop staple, it would be those illuminary Brazillians from the late 60's. There are so many super-talented and visionary artists from that movement, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the passion and exhuberance of these albums. Caetano Veloso is one of those artists. I sometimes feel like the romantic drama and devil-may-care virtuosity of this album could drive anyone to tears, or at least to youtube, trying to find any way to vicariously experience whatever socio-political hell was responsible for an artist like Veloso to grab everything meaningful in life, shoot it out of an existential cannon; watch it float through outerspace and land in the Amazon. It sounds so futuristic, so contemporary, so pre-historic. I still listen to this album, scratching my head, wondering: "How the hell did he do that? How can anyone evoke everything through sound with seeming effortlessness?" and then I realize it is the entire experience that he is channeling: the military overthrow, the intense repression of individualistic efforts, the racial conflict and an economic overhaul felt through the impoverished ranks of a sickeningly rapid transition to modernity. All of that and just drop you to your knees beautiful songs that the most hardened death-row inmate would fall in love to. Be careful who you are listening to this with; it's sensual allure is basically immutable. This album is absolutely fantastic, and there are several from this movement. Tracks 2 and 5 will absolutely break your heart, while track 12 will leave you sweating with abstract pop largesse. Keeping in mind, that this album starts off with a genre, and perhaps even nation-defining track: Tropicalia. Good God, just buy this album.
I have never felt more comfortable recommending an album so unconditionally.
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by Caetano Veloso 
