I Make a New World in the Smog!------Marcos Valle----Garra!

I guess the Light in the Attic label has done it again. Another nice reissue series, this one being of Marcos Valle,  a legendary Brazilian artist from Rio de Janeiro. Of the 4 albums from the 70's that  the label has reissued I dipped my toes into the water with Garra (meaning "Claw") from 1971, and it is truly great, from start to finish. Some people have said that this is the greatest Brazilian pop album ever made. I'm not qualified to make such an overarching argument (and it is all a bit of conjecture), but having listened to the recording, I can't discount that opinion either. I'm fairly surprised that this album has not been released here sooner.



Que bom, você voltou....

Outwardly the album is a fairly mellow sunny upbeat orchestrated pop album. But, like a lot of the music at the time, there were hidden messages. Being too obvious on albums could have bad consequences for you with the military dictatorship that was ruling Brazil at the time. And you did not have the freedom to say anything you wanted, as songs had to be approved in advance by the censorship bureau. Though, as stated in the useful liner notes, there apparently was some give and take there. Submitting unacceptable lyrics to the bureau was not necessarily a prison sentence if they found content that they did not approve of. As Valle notes of the first song on the album Jesus Mei Rei (Jesus My King), the original intent was to title it Pobre do Rei (My Poor King) to be about the President. But the censors would not accept this. Of course some lyrics passed muster but actually were criticisms of the regime. Garra also has a second meaning "Tenacity", so the title of the album itself had a political implication!



Fortunately for Valle the freedom that he lacked in society was contrasted by the freedom he had in the studio. Valle was free to try things, experiment, make changes to the songs he was recording. And additionally he had the benefit of an orchestra. According to Valle that's what the recording labels had in those years; a studio orchestra on standby! Valle seemingly took full advantage of this on Garra. The album sounds loose, like everybody involved was into trying things, experimenting, expressing ideas.





Com Mais de 30 (Over Thirty) is social criticism of blind consumerism, about being manipulated by people in charge, people who were no doubt over 30. The title track attacks untrammelled greed for advancement. According to Valle, the censors interpreted the song as having a positive theme. Black is Beautiful is a song that today doesn't seem so controversial, but according to the notes it was inspired by time he and his brother spent in Los Angeles, when African Americans were fighting for Civil Rights, and were outwardly and proudly embracing their heritage in the face of centuries of the ugliest negative stereotyping and institutionalized racism. It seems like many of the important issues that Americans were struggling with in that era also resonated in Brazil.

But the mood of the music is very uplifting, happy. Extremely entertaining. Just another instance where I bought an album that I hoped would be good, but in reality, the quality of the music far exceeded any expectations that I could have had. I like when that happens. Garra is simply an exceptional album. Light in the Attic has also reissued Marcos Valle, Vento Sul, and Previsão Do Tempo--I won't be surprised if I pick up a few more of these in the near future.

Sheena was a Punk........Ramones Legendary Punk Girl Abides

Everybody knows the legendary song "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" by The Ramones, the hyper energetic punk anthem! A punk rock homage to the Beach Boys you might easily say. Everybody loves the Ramones, even a lot of people who profess a hatred for the Punk Rock. These guys were Teflon...

But what of our brave Sheena?

 

That iconic young woman who broke with conventions and rebranded herself as a Punk. She didn't care what anyone thought. With that sort of Ramones exposure, she became sort of a global phenomenon. Celebrated by fans of the new sound, she became the toast of the world like a New Wave Josephine Baker, first  traveling from  Forest Hills Queens.....

To Deutschland:



And on to Brazil:




Even reaching the shores of Japan!




But like Icarus, who flew to close to the sun and plummeted back to Earth, there is always the inevitable critical backlash.....



And new fashions and movements appear to replace the old.........



And eventually, most of us have to grow up and move on with our lives, leaving our ideals behind....self actualization through commerce maybe.......



But there is always hope for new adulation from a new generation. There used to be 15 minutes of fame, but in these days of juiced globalization and technological innovation it's probably closer to 5.

But just keep your eyes and ears peeled--you never know where Sheena may just turn up again......?

Flowers Dance Through My Thoughts--Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical

Beleza Tropical was my gateway record into the fabulous world of Brazilian music. All I knew about Brazilian music prior to this was The Girl From Ipanema. But I heard some hype about this record and I imagined that if David Byrne thought highly enough of this music to put out compilations on his own Luaka Bop label, there must be something significant to it. I bought the record and was pretty unimpressed at first. I was a fan of the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Husker Du. This album seemed a little mellow for my tastes, sounding a little loungy to my overamplified eardrums. And I'm American and the music is in another language. Ultimately, I came back to this record more than once and then developed a deep appreciation of the subtle charms expressed here. Sometimes my favorite records don't make an immediately positive impression, but in general those are the one that wind up broadening my outlook. There are other compilations in Byrne's Brazil Classics, but this one, the first has a sentimental spot in my heart.

In some ways it seems kind of silly to tout this record---it's like trying to explain to people why they should listen to The Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. The artist represented on this compilation are superstars, political activists, and national icons in Brazil. This is definitely no Brazilian Nuggets collection. But from my historical perspective, before this record came out I would have been clueless as to where to start hearing Brazilian music. Aside from Reggae music, the concept of "World Music" was in its infancy, and the musical taste makers of America decided that this sort of music was not saleable, even in small numbers. So as a readily available sampler that was getting at least a little bit of hype, this was really my best option at the time. And for me this album was an opportunity to dip my toe in the balmy waters of Tropicalia. Turns out, Brazil has an amazing musical tradition, replete with songwriters of the highest calibre of which this collection merely scratches the rim of the Caipirinha. But if you are unfamiliar with theTropicalia musical movement, this would be a pretty good place to start. I played this for my niece back when she was about four, and I remember that even she liked it.

The Tropicalia movement began in the 60's in Brazil, and it seems to parallel in some ways many of the student-based movements going on in the world in that era. This cultural movement was part of a reaction to the military coup d'etat of 1964 and the subsequent military dictatorship. The artists of the movement sought freedom of expression, incorporating music from areas throughout Brazil with jazz, rock and roll, or whatever found their fancy. This movement was perceived by the government as a political threat, and artists such as Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were briefly jailed and ultimately forced into exile. Other more unfortunate artists were subjected to torture or incarceration in psychiatric institutions. Despite the hardship, this era produced an amazing creative cornucopia that sets a shining example for new generations of aspiring musicians, and not just Brazilians.

Beleza Tropical starts out with the great Jorge Ben, and soccer tune Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma), the funkiest song on this collection. Most of the songs here are pop ballads done with subtle nuanced vocals and understated rhythmic complexity. Anyone hearing this music will find a healthy respect and appreciation for the Portuguese--it is such a beautifully poetic and sexy language, you don't have to know what these artists are saying to be thrilled. Passionate yet languidly sophisticated, smooth, yet rootsy sounding, it is music that transcends any language barriers.

I probably came back to Beleza Tropical after I saw Portastatic (Mac from Superchunk/Merge Records' side project) at the Mercury Lounge. Right now I can't recall who he opened for, but I remember that he performed Baby by Gal Costa (not on this album), and related that he actually was so smitten by Brazilian music that he had recently put out an Ep of Brazilian covers. Seeing him perform Baby on stage, while not in any way comparable to Gal Costa, opened my eyes and ears a bit. Maybe it took seeing live performance for me to get it, but I did! Shortly after I grabbed a cheap compilation of Gal's music and off I went. Gal performs on this album Sonho Meu with Maria Bethania. I've already reviewed in this blog the terrific album by Arto Lindsay and Peter Scherer's group Ambitious Lovers called Greed. An amazing hybrid of Punk, Funk, Brazil, Skronk, and Pop. Probably my very first intro to Brazilian music, not counting The Girl from Ipanema. Arto wrote the liner notes here, and for all you hesitators, be advised that the lyrics are also printed, in Brazilian and translated into English.

On this compilation you get to hear the great Lo Borges singing the piano pounding Equatorial. Caetano Veloso shines brightly on the sweet whimsical acoustic O Leaozinho "Little Lion". Chico Buarque is represented here by the sad acoustic ballad Calice, and the bouncy Cacada. Gilberto Gil sings the sweet So Quero Um Xodo on here, another favorite of mine with lots of accordion present. Milton Nascimento performs Anima here, a simply beautiful song. The thing about Beleza Tropical is the artists make it sound all so easy, but the reality is that this music has a lot going on within requiring top notch musical chops. The songs breathe, they have a lightness to them that I think would be hard to master.



One name I had not heard before I got this collection was Nazare Pereira and he comports himself well on Maculele, an instant party classic. You hear another side of Jorge Ben on the gritty acoustic folk of Fio Maravilha. Great stuff. Another great tune here is Um Canto de Afoxe Para O Blaco do Ile (Ile Aye) by Caetano Veloso. The album ends with on a sublime note with Caetano's Terra with great lyrics.



David Byrne is an artist who keeps his ears open, and he felt so strongly about this music that he wanted people to hear this great music that so many of us in the US were blissfully ignorant. And of course he is smart; he knew, like any dealer with his salt, that if people got a little taste, they would be back for more, itching to feed their new found addiction. Once this music gets under your skin, the worldview becomes a little different. And of course there were other volumes to this series--Brazil Classics Volumes 2 O Samba and 3 Foro Etc I highly recommend, just a shade below Volume 1, and that is probably mostly my own sentimentality showing.



So what are you waiting for? For mere pennies you can pick this baby up! If you don't ever get to to hear this music you will be missing out on something very special.

I Can't Help It; I'm The King!! Ambitious Lovers---Greed: No Não York

I love it when a plan comes together... Those were the inspirational words of Hannibal Smith the charismatic  leader of America's lovable 70's TV mercenaries the A-Team.

You Know The Damage You Do

I don't know if you have been to the phenomenon of a fusion restaurant. In America there have been a profusion of Pan-Asian Restaurants, where you can get some Chinese, Sushi & Hibachi, some Thai, maybe if you are lucky a few other things. They may be happening because restaurateurs think that a place serving solely Vietnamese or Thai cuisine would get not enough traffic from the locals to stay open. Or maybe the places are just too unfamiliar (Americans stink at geography) and they are worried they will have to eat armadillo brains or cockroaches. In any event, I find most of these lacking because they give you a little of this and that and it doesn't add up to much. Sometime I have been to restaurants that serve Mediterranean cuisine from Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc, and these seem to work a little better.

As long as they don't try to blend things together. As appetizing as it may sound on paper, when you try to mix and match different cuisines in one dish, there is usually a lot of failure. I think you need a true culinary genius as a chef to pull this off. The same principle goes for music, so when you see musical traditions blended together seamlessly in a unique and compelling way, you need to grab on to it. And The Ambitious Lovers pulled this ambitious feat off with a lot of panache. Greed, their second album has been a long time favorite in my household and is a wonderful blend of Brazilian pop music, punk rock, funk, and experimental noise courtesy of the duo of Arto Lindsay (vocal,guitar) and Peter Scherer (keyboards), with a panoply of guest musicians.

My personal view is that this was a visionary album, at the least ahead of its time, and is long overdue for rerelease in the US. When Ambitious Lovers were together I don't think there was much of a market for an album like this (1990), but today with the recognition and growing popularity of Brazilian music, I think our country is more than ready. It seems on this album Arto combined his collective experiences together and it all somehow melded together. He spent his formative years in Brazil during the time of the Tropicalia movement. Eventually he wound up in New York and was a guitarist in DNA, an experimental noise band that was included on the influential album No New York.

The first song Copy Me is a super funky jam that should have been a hit. Melodious and upbeat, but skronky noise interspersed throughout. The super bass playing of Melvin Gibbs (Rollins Band,Defunkt) propels this song along. Guitar polymath Vernon Reid plays rhythm on this little number. In a way on the uptempo numbers Arto Lindsay comes off like a cross between James Brown and Don Knotts and he sounds great. On the quiet numbers he has all the nuance and cadences of a great Brazilian singer, whether he is singing in Portuguese or not. But when he sings in Portuguese, it is simply sublime and sexy. Portuguese to me is one of the most beautiful languages, and in Brazil the use of space and rhythm sends it to another level entirely. When I first heard Brazilian music, I just didn't understand it at all, it was something that was completely alien to my background. Now I appreciate all its magic and beauty.

These qualities are in abundance on this album. Admit It is funky, erotic and flirtatious--It sounds like it was written in Portuguese and translated into English. It has that Brazilian feel to it. On some of the tracks there are massive amount of percussion, like the cocky booty shaking bounce of King. Arto crows on and on about being the master of the universe, but like in chess "A King can't beat a Queen". Then you have the beautiful ballad Para Nao Contririar Voce. Arto makes this sound deceptively simple, but I know that is surely impossible. The kinetic keyboard driven Quasi You is another high point on the album, with Lindsay testifying over the dance beat. Nana Vasconcelos is featured on percussion here and on many other tracks here.

Vernon Reid is prominent on another great track Love Overlap, which should have been the 2nd single in the US. The song is much in the style of Copy Me but with more synth, and it is another killer. Caso is another exquisite Portuguese ballad languidly crooned to perfection. Privacy is noise funk with rap vocals and a sweet screechy sax cameo by down jazz veteran John Zorn. "Privacy is My Poverty", Arto offers. The lyrics are fantastic on this album, at times so descriptive, at other times full of emotion, and more often than not wonderfully surreal. He is "working on a tan, in my fireplace" during Privacy. On Admit It, he croons "You're no exception, to the laws of symmetry". Tres Sexy.

And speaking of sexy....It Only Has To Happen Once is one of the sexiest songs ever. When you hear this song, the humidity in the room approaches 100%. "All it takes, is a quick constellation, of shadows, lashes and implication...", Wow. Definitely one of my personal favorites. Great lyrics, equally great delivery with a heartbeat rhythm. I originally bought this on vinyl and I taped this album onto cassette for my car. I think I accidently stepped on a cord during this song as I was recording and the heartbeat cuts out for a fraction of a second. And it gives the song an eerie yet amazing moment, one that registers with us as humans, like when you hear the vibrato of a violin in a live setting. It's not easy to describe.

I can't be more adament in my esteem for this record. On so many levels this is great. It's one thing to admire a band like the Len Price 3--I mean wouldn't it be great if they found another Who album from the 60's in the vaults that nobody knew about? But this kind of album walks a tightrope of styles and is on a completely different level artistically. If you are someone like me, who appreciates a gamut of musical styles and gets real pleasure out of inventiveness and creativity, you need music like this. Americans are driving hybrids these days, why not listen to one?

This video is for my buddy, also known as The Man Who Would Be King...Of Brazil!! It's his imaginary theme song, he just doesn't realize it yet. 

Stay Thirsty My Yankees



Os Mutantes---Fab Tropicalia and the World's Most Interesting Man

I did not have any clue about Brazilian music until David Byrne began putting out Brazilian compilations on his Luaka Bop label. The first in the series, Beleza Tropical (covering artists of the 60's and early 70's), was where I got the bug, but it took a while for the infection to spread. Brazilian music is different from what I was used to hearing--in a lot of this music there is a subtlety that I was unaccustomed to. Plus enjoying music performed in other languages seems to be an acquired taste. But you can't go wrong with a compilation with Jorge Ben, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, and Chico Buarque, and I overcame my musical baggage and began to appreciate this great new musical world.

I could not help but love this music, and there is something very special about Portuguese. There is a real poetic languid beauty there that is not in many other languages. Someday I would like to get there as it seems to be an amazing and diverse culture, though I wish that there were some solution to the great economic inequities found in that society. I have a few terrific albums, I've seen the Simpsons episode in Rio and I've been to Rodizio restaurants, but that is about it.

I do have a friend who has made his way down to Rio as a cultural ambassador a few times, and while some people see him as an unassuming sort, those in the know are aware of his greatness. Every time I see the Dos Equis commercials starring "The World's Most Interesting Man". I know that there is a real person who is the

Stay Thirsty Smarty Jones

inspiration for this fictitious character--they "copied" him. Take away the beard, replace the head hair with a NY Yankee hat, and that's my friend. He's a guy who has travelled the four corners of the globe and has the photos to prove it. Skiing in the Alps, cruising the Amazon, on Safari in Africa, buying gourmet olive oil in Bari, rubbing shoulders with diplomats in St Petersburg. Watching the changing of the Scotch Guard in Edinburgh. And of course enjoying the high life in Rio, while being the world's biggest Yankee fan (an honorary Steinbrenner) and a reformed punk rocker who traded in his Doc Martens for a thong. And he really does like Dos Equis!!And if a man of his pedigree is a Brasileirophile, should I be anything less?

Os Mutantes were a band starting out at the same time as the groups from Beleza Tropical, and they were also formed part of the Tropicalia movement of the 1960's. There was political unrest and social change in Brazil at the time, as there was in the US and Europe. Tropicalismo, as it was also called, was also a movement that involved literature, poetry, and theatre.  And aside from  merely being an incorporation of rock and roll and psychedelia into Brazilian music, there was also a political component to the new movement, a reaction to the military coup d'etat in 1964, which set up a right wing reactionary government. In many cases dissent was not tolerated and artists suffered reprisals from the new regime.


O Bruxo Do Luxo

 I am flabbergasted that Os Mutantes were teenagers when they put out their first album. They were so musically talented and precocious. It is very easy to remark about their love of the Beatles. It is very clear that they were very influenced by the Beatles and seemingly the sort of rock and roll  seen in American teen films of the era. But they took those influences and mixed them with Brazilian traditions. And on top of that, the music is so eccentric, theatrical, sweet, wacky, and unpredictable. You really don't know what will happen next, but you can't wait to find out. And I'm not talking about so-bad-its-good kitsch. This album is without a doubt a desert island disc, and one of the best albums of the 60's.

Os Mutantes consisted of brothers Arnaldo and Sergio Baptista and Rita Lee. I'm not sure who played what, and there certainly many other musicians who contributed to this album. Panis et Circensis starts the record in predictably eccentric style. The song keeps changing forms like a case of attention deficit disorder. But the musicianship is excellent with nice "Penny Lane" horns and the harmonies are great. A Minha Menina is just a really classic song featuring a great fuzzy psychedelic guitar lick and gogo type harmonies. My personal favorite here. Like a lot of the songs O Relogio starts and ends as a sweet ballad featuring Rita Lee and morphs into a lysergic rave up in the middle. Throughout the record there are sound effects--crashes, laughter, bird calls, whistles. And there are xylophones, clarinets, trombones, flutes, organ, strings. It's nice to see music like this getting recorded, because I could really see a producer or engineer taking these guys aside and asking "why are you doing this? This is a bad idea".

Adeus Maria Fulo is a very percussive Brazilian tune, the sort of thing you might expect on a Brazilian album today, but maybe not the refined Bossa Nova style that they were known for then. The following song is another highlight, the playful sexy Baby. I actually saw Portastatic (Mac McCaughan of Superchunk solo really) sing that song at Maxwell's in Hoboken, and he did a nice job. Gal Costa also does a beautiful version of this. Senor F is cheeky musichall  cabaret, replete with New Orleans horns. It's like modern Western music in a microwave.

Probably the crowning song on this album is Bat Macumba in all its joyous strutting abandon. After this is the cool stoner madrigal Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour. Another highlight is Trem Fantasma, which is a mercurial pop song, changing from droniness to sleighbells to harmony filled chorus with horns. Tempo no Tempo is a cabaret type song, ending with church bells. The album closes with Ave Genghis Khan, another organ filled rave up. What a shame this didn't come out in the US sooner! A crazy and fun album to listen to. made a few  The second album Mutantes is also recommended. And before Rita Lee was out of the band they made a few more. They actually reunited recently and toured the US, though without Rita Lee, unfortunately. If you like 60's rock and psychedelia this album should be part of your life. And stay thirsty, amigos.