Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits
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Free Music Notes for Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits
Free Music Review: Classic from an era that can't be repeated
Hit: 5 Stars
A fantastic sollection of Sergio Mendes' bossa nova covers under the famous group name of "Brasil 66". The much played Beatles and Bacharach & David numbers are all here, lending themselves surprisingly well to the gentle bossa nova sway that makes Brasil 66 tracks the most highly prized of all lounge music by retro heads today. There's no sense of embarrassment in hearing songs like "Fool on the Hill" or "Going Out of My Head" converted into sunny lounge music, because Sergio Mendes treats the material with respect and skilfully re-works them with his own musical style. Actually, the Brasil 66 version of "The Look of Love" is probably one of the best versions of that song, period. Not all the songs are covers though, and the original compositions like "Look Around" and "So Many Stars" are equally as good as those previously mentioned.
The smooth female vocals are by Lani Hall, and her performance plays a large part in the charm of the music. Lani has an easy, effortless singling style with no histrionics or heavy stylized interpretions of the lyrics, so the vocals simply lay down the words and let the music get on with the job. And along with the authentic latin percussion of the group, every arrangement is spot on perfect.
With this many good songs you are really spoiled for choice. I can't think of any that need skipping, and there's no doubt that the sparkling "Mas Que Nada" has gone down in history as the quintessetial Mendes anthem, and rightly so. My only gripe (I always have one!) is that this CD seems to be a near re-issue of an old CD collection called "The Very Best of Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66" with the same tracklisting but with four tracks missing - and my personal favourite, called "Watch What Happens" has not been featured, which annoyed me somewhat, as it is a gorgeous little number. But despite that omission, what you do get is a fantastic feast, heavily loaded up with musical delicacies to pick and choose from. Before the lounge movement became ripe for rediscovery (and parodied by groups like Mike Flowers Pops, and so on), this was the real deal, and it has stood the test of time, sounding as fresh today as it did in it's time of origin. I can see why.
Free Music Review: One of the best albums ever...
Hit: 5 Stars
It's hard to believe this music is over 40 years old. It there were a rating for six stars, this would surely get it. And the lesser known songs are probably the best cuts on the album. What I like best about this album and music from this era is that you get to hear actual and real musicians playing... no synthesizers, no big echo effects covering up bad singing... real drummers, real string players, real everything. The string arrangement on Like A Lover is wonderful. Highly, highly recommended. You won't find better at less than $8.
Free Music Review: Try it with new ears
Hit: 5 Stars
Mais Que Nada came on the radio in my local coffee shop today, and I had to dredge my memory for "flyover AM radio pop songs from 40 years ago" to come up with the name Brasil 66. What a surprise to hear this song again -- what a rare delight. It hasn't just aged well, it shines brighter in 2006 than when it was released. Lead singer Lani Hall may not be Astrud Gilberto, but the similarity in their voices is remarkable. She is superb. Mendes's piano is damn near perfect, sliding from background to foreground with fluidity and precision, always on the edge of some breakaway improvisation, barely restraining himself. Talk about a clean arrangement! What a fun song. Too bad I barely noticed it the first time around.Free Music Review: just like the first time
Hit: 5 Stars
The first time I bought this album, it was on 8 track, I was in college, and it was quite a departure from the usual 60s music. The CD sounds much better, but, then again, my stereo system is much better than the speakers in my old Mustang. The songs seem a little old now, makes me feel like I'm listening to an oldies station, but the vocals and instrumentals are still great to hear.Free Music Review: Brazil '66 Deserves Better Than This Inferior Collection
Hit: 3 Stars
This 1983 reissue of the best selling 1970 "Sergio Mendes & Brasil'66-Greatest Hits", while being a perfectly a enjoyable compilation of Mendes and Brazil'66 is a marginal collection. It's not even an adequate snapshot of Brazil'66 music for a casual or novice fan.
A thorny issue with Mendes fans is a great deal of his music from his native Brazil is conspicuously absent from this album. "Greatest Hits" contains the sublime "Mais Que Nada" but excludes the rest of their tropicale repetoire that covered Brazilian composers like Jorge Ben, Joao Gilberto and Antonio Jobim. Since Sergio Mendes was largely responsible for making Americans aware of Brazilian songwriters, the omisson is bewildering.
The primary complaint is the 12 song, the less than 30 minute runtime of "Greatest Hits." It's an embarrasingly thin compilation of any artist, particularly since Mendes was prolific at the height of his career.
Apparently A&M producer and owner, Herb Alpert's miserly "chop shop" approach to packaging "selected hits" is a highly successful retail strategy. This "Greatest Hits" title is far and away the best selling title in the entire back catalog of Brazil'66 music. A&M continues to milk the licensing rights and have leased the music Brazil'66 to third parties for an additional 23 inferior Sergio Mendes collections. This marketing strategy maximizes profits but erodes the artistic value of an artist by flooding the market with less than flattering productions of his collected works. A&M has treated Brazil'66 legacy as a cash cow to be butchered into prime cuts and sold to the highest bidder. Mendes and Brazil'66 deserve better treatment.
Two other A&M Brazil'66 collections, "Four Sider" and "Classics Vol. 18" have more songs, and a better sampling of their Brazil tropicale music. "Four Sider" retails at the same price as "Greatest Hits" and has nearly twice as much music. Unfortunely, even these meatier collections of Brazil'66 fall short of being definitive. Surely Herb Alpert can afford to spring for 70 minute full content compact disc collection of Brazil'66. 30 minutes, by today's digital runtime standards,is less than a half an album.
The critical re-assesment of Mendes' significance as worldbeat innovator is long been overdue. His music is no longer marginalized by critics as frothy easy-listening lightweight fare. Sergio Mendes visionary fusion of popular music, Brazilian music and jazz, had anticipated the rise of worldbeat music by almost 20 years. Frist rate jazz musicians like guitarist John Pisano were in Brazil '66. It's gratifying to see that Mendes is finally becoming accepted on his own terms as a musical pioneer who played a pivotal role in bringing the joys of Brazilian music to the attention of people all over the world.