Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3.5, really. A too-classy Caetano?, April 27, 2004
Don't get me wrong... I am a HUGE Caetano Veloso fan... I've written about him quite a bit, own all his records and had very high hopes for this album. But, still... this set of English-language standards and whimsically chosen cover tunes may be a bit too restrained and evenly modulated, with Brazilian superstar Caetano Veloso mixing high culture and high camp, while tilting towards the highbrow end of the spectrum -- so much so that it's actually a bit stuffy and twee. The material is timeless -- pop standards from the likes of Cole Porter, et. al. alongside more modern classics from Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain, as well as kitchier bits such as "Feelings," a Morris Alpert hit that remains one of the enduring lounge music classics. Likewise, the album's opener, "The Carioca," was chosen explicitly for its camp value, particularly in light of the album's ironic theme, the notion of "foreign" culture, as seen through the eyes of an "exotic" tropical celebrity from Latin America. The intellectual end of Veloso's enterprise is readily apparent, as is his affection for the songs and the various layers of popular culture they represent, and the level of intimacy he can impart to every line and lyric. What's missing, however, is the transcendant lightness he brings to, say, a live acoustic version of an old Hoagy Carmichael tune, amid the clamor of his thunderous Afro-Brazilian pop shows. The large, lofty arrangements are elegant to a fault, and are largely unvaried in tempo or tone... After a while, it all starts to sound the same -- the same sweet croon, the same charming sparkle, the same knowing smirk, as the same airy string sections underscore the same rarified jokes. Which isn't to say this album doesn't have a richness and warmth deserving of the songs, but it's a bit stilted and the arrangements a bit too lush and overripe... Ultimately, it just feel like that much fun; rather, it felt like he was trying too hard to make a point, and worse still, was travelling on ground he'd already covered before, with a much lighter, more delicate step. It's okay, but I'd hoped it would be much, much better.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Return Of A Master, April 7, 2004
Caetano Veloso has returned to us with an album of American popular music, and what may appear, at least to the cynics among us, as his attempt to cash on the recent fad of reviving old classics -like Rod Stewart or Cindy Lauper, or even Boz Scaggs with more felicitous results- it's another strong statement from one of the world's seminal artists in contemporary music.
For those who may know little about Veloso, think of a composer on par with Stevie Wonder or Jimmy Webb, or of a poet of the stature of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Think of an icon of popular music who happened to have been born in Brazil, rather than Liverpool or New York, and suffered from the massive disinterest that seems to fall on so many great ones who, by and large do not sing in English, in the English-speaking world.
For the ones among us who already worship Caetano, this is the kind of "return to form" which you can easily compare with Dylan's "Love & Theft." Another work from a mature artist hitting the stride of his bottomless talent.
What Caetano has done here is to dedicate a whole album from the canon of popular music, the majority of which are revered American gems like "Love Me Tender" or "Body and Soul," or even Cole Porter's gorgeous "Love For Sale," and chiseled them anew, back to their essences, taking away and revealing new edges until they can be solely themselves and, yet, completely his.
Caetano Veloso may be a romantic, but never a sentimental man, and where others would have settled for the comfort of counting on so many willing listeners who would gladly indulge him and be satisfied with any version that his voice could grace, he has pushed these songs to say all that they can say, stepping into them carefully, audaciously, but never intruding.
Listen to often derided "Feelings" which in the included version is nothing less than redeemed, or "The Man I Love" offering a sensitivity that many would argue a male singer could never attain. Of course, Veloso tribute to great American music cannot be expected to neglect Gershwin, Rogers or Berlin, but for Caetano it must also include Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. It must be mentioned that Dylan's words -"It's Alright Ma' (I'm Only Bleeding)" is Veloso's choice- sound dark and just as relevant here as they did almost thirty years ago and, in Caetano's version, eerily accurate to describe these very times, almost prophetic. Even Kobain's "Come As You Are" is treated with the same deep respect -an understated gem by the Brazilian master.
Veloso's back, amorous and adventurous, faithful to these classics and unafraid of experimenting. As he sings so urgently in Dylan' song, "So don't fear if you hear / A foreign sound to your ear / It's alright, Ma, / I'm only sighing."
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reinterpreting 101, January 9, 2005
Exhausted with old time rock and rollers spelunking `Pop Standards' for the sake of thriving their long-lost careers [see Rod Stewart, Michael McDonald, etc...] Brazilian legend Veloso's sonic, wearing-thin velvet gift `reinterprets' [where Stewart `rehashes' and Michael McDonald's 'Motown' 'trashes'], allowing the inherent loveliness into these American standards, singing rings around his contemporaries. He redeems `Feelings', compliments and complements Kurt Cobain, reinvigorating Dylan & Stevie Wonder and even Cole Porter. And by same-sexing `The Man I Love', the hetero Veloso brings dignity and understanding across musical cultures in one song than any gay minstrel could hope. My grade: A-
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Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Caetano Veloso
~ Caetano Veloso
~ Diana Krall
~ Caetano Veloso
~ Nancy LaMott
See all 22 tracks on this disc
by Caetano Veloso 
