The following two songs are a real treat. I'm not much of a raer record hound, but I don't know of anyone else with this particular record. I found it in a used bookstore in some backwoods neighborhood of Sao Paulo and as evidenced by the "Natal" side, it's seen some better days. Seeing as this is a Christmas post I've included the "Natal" side, but the "Ano Novo" side is in far better shape and should be used to rock your new year's party this year. I passed it off to DJs Sean Marquand and Greg Caz for their New Year's party at Black Betty last year and it slayed, so the story goes. I love the way that this anonymous band reworked "Good Times" and "Rapper's Delight" within a year of the latter being released and also augmented the song with some funky clavinet as well as a samba-breakdown. A true holiday party MONSTER!
This song here, "O Vale" is one of the standout tracks from an otherwise dissappointing album from Cassiano. Cassiano was kinda the heart and soul of the Brazilian Soul music scene. He was a member of Os Diagonais and wrote some hits for Tim Maia, named "Primavera" off of Tim's first album. This is his second solo LP and is really quite unusual. The arrangements are a bit different, kinda in an acoustic guitar baroque curtis mayfield style. "O Vale" is one of the few songs on here that I really dig. Sadly, for all of Cassiano's talents he was not a great singer as his range his very limited, which is the main reason why this album suffers. He really found his groove on his next album "16 Kilates - Cuban Soul" where he learned how to frame his vocals more within his range. I would love to hear some of these songs from this album sung by others. If you're not deterred, you can buy the album here.
That's actually a good segue into this next song, "Madalena". This was Ivan Lins' breakthrough song. Ivan's first album was in a psych-soul style and was arranged by Arthur Verocai. Its got some cool songs like "Hei Voce" and "Madalena," but like Cassiano, Ivan had yet to figure out that he couldn't sing. These are great songs, but man does he destroy them on his album, which is not without its redeeming qualities. But I can't help but get annoyed when a great song gets thrashed by a second-rate vocalist. Dila, a one-off singer on Durval Ferreira's CID label is a passionate singer and while she's not pitch-perfect I love her take on this song. Another great version, possibly the definitive one is by the late, great Elis Regina (more on her soon).
Marku is one of my favorites. I posted a song of his last month as one of my scores from the WFMU record fair. This song here is from his first album from 1972, which featured arrangements by Erlon Chaves. If I'm not mistaken it was Erlon Chaves that "discovered" Marku and arranged for his first recording. His following albums are graced by numerous superstars: Joao Donato and Erasmo Carlos among others. The unique thing about Marku is that he lived in Martinique and Jamaica for seven years before recording his first album. He brings that Caribbean flavor to many of his recordings and that vocal style, so different than most Brazilian singers. You can download this album here. Once again, Loronix to the rescue, but Zeca's got the date wrong here, it's from 1972 not 1976. Also, Ed Motta just compiled a CD of Marku's stuff that's already sold out on Dustygroove, but check back later to see if they got come more CDs later.
Back in college and the years after I collected nearly every recording I could find that had anything to do with Bossa Nova. I was possessed by this Brazilian genre and its waves that emanated in Brazil reaching almost every foreign shore, from the U.S. to France to Japan. One of my all-time favorite non-brazilian Bossa Nova albums is the album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim from 1967. There's a particular quote from the liner-notes to this album that speak to the different mood and style that Sinatra was taking with these songs. After the trombone player botched a note, he said to Sinatra apologetically, "If I blow any softer, it’ll hafta come out the back of my neck.” The liner notes for this album are particularly great. Read them here.
In all of Sinatra's career he never recorded an album of songs from only one composer with the exception of Antonio Carlos Jobim for whom he recorded TWO full albums. The first one in 1967 and then the second one was recorded in 1969 with fellow Brazilian, Eumir Deodato (before his mega-hit remake of the Theme to 2001), but the planned album "SinatraJobim" was released in 1970 but then immediately recalled after only 3,500 8-track tapes were sent out to stores in California. Seven of the ten songs from this album would later be released on Sinatra's 1971 album "Sinatra & Company"
So, what of the three tracks that were not released on "SinatraJobim"? There was Off-Key (Desafinado), Sabia and Bonita. To complicate matters further "Sabia" and "Bonita" were later issued in Brazil on a double-LP set called "Sinatra-Jobim Sessions" which featured all of the songs from the 1967 and 1969 sessions (except "Off-Key") as well as "Manha de Carnaval" with Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa accompanying Sinatra from his "My Way" album and another song called "Drinking Again" that must have been recorded during the 1967 with Jobim but not released on the album. It was released later in 1967 on and album called " Frank Sinatra and the World We Knew." I have included this song here at the top of this post.
You can find the Sinatra-Jobim Sessions and the holy-grail "SinatraJobim" album on the treasure cove of long-lost Brazilian records: Lornonix Using Zeca's "Find It" feature you can link to both albums available for download, though the tracklisting is a bit wrong as the "Sessions" download includes "Off-Key" though it is not on the original LP, believe me I know I'm lucky enough to have scored it when down in Brazil.
Speaking of Brazil . . . Like I mentioned yesterday when talking about Brazilian musicians there is a tendency to make comparisons with American stars. While of course there are flaws in every comparison, Dick Farney was most definitely the "Brazilian Frank Sinatra." In fact, during Dick's heyday in the late 50s and early 60s, the Frank Sinatra-Dick Farney Fan Club was ground zero for many future Bossa Nova stars such as Joao Donato and Johnny Alf, among others. In addition to having a repertoire and voice similar to Sinatra's, Farney was an excellent jazz pianist and many of his albums were straight instrumental sets. Farney has quite a following over at Lornonix, so be sure to swing by and download some Dick Farney albums.
His open ears took him a variety of directions beginning with his 1970 album, "Erasmo Carlos e Os Tremendoes" from 1970 where he pioneered the "Samba Rock" sound with the groundbreaking hit "Coquiero Verde". I believe it is the legendary Samba Rock group Trio Mocoto backing him up on this genre-defining tune. Anyone out there know if this is the first recording or if that honor belongs to Trio Mocoto?.
The following song, "Cica, Cecilia" is from Erasmo's next album, "carlos, erasmo" from 1971. This along with his following album, "Sonhos e Memorias 1941-1972" are his truly great albums, both nearly flawless. This is the rockier of the two and features guests like Arthur Verocai, Sergio Dias, Lanny Gordin among others. I'm pretty sure the arrangement on this song is by Verocai.
And here is the true masterpiece of Brazilian Rock, "Sonhos e Memorias 1941-1972" from 1972. This album rivals anything released anywhere else in the world during the 1970s, therefore of ALL TIME! I admit, I'm a bit biased, but for this kind of melodic pop music, Erasmo Carlos is untouchable. Get the album. You can find it here on J Thyme . . . . Kind
Next up we have my all-time favorite song of Erasmo's from his 1974 LP "1990 Projeto Salva Terra." The album is a step down from his previous two, but is still quite good and includes this beautiful song with some excellent jazzy chord changes and transitions: "Deitar e Rolar"
And finally we skip one album "Banda Dos Contentes" for his excellent 1978 album "Pelas Esquinas da Ipanema" with this jazzy-funk nugget: "Triângulo dos Biquinis" which I'm sure all of you can translate without any help. I just love the horn-driven outro.
Charlie and Morgan as friends, roommates and bandmates make a good team and watching this video I can't help but think of Charlie and Morgan as modern-day Henry Wayne "K.C." Casey and Richard Finch. Not that Charlie & Morgan are sequined suited sweaty white dudes playing funk music, but given the chance I doubt they would pass on that opportunity. Partially, it's just an appearance thing and they both really like this video, too. 
I got to see K.C. and the sunshine band back in the late nineties as one of the zillion bands that played Portland's "Last Chance Summer Dance" alongside some more contemporary, yet forgetable ("Color Me Badd" anyone?) bands. They were the highlight of the show for me, though K.C. has not aged well as evidenced by the above photo.
I'm on a bit of a disco kick today, but after the lengthy K.C. post, I'll keep this one short and to the point. I've been digging this new Glass Candy tour CD which has some songs of theirs as well as other related side-projects and the like. The first song on the CD is this one:
Glass Candy is yet another band from Portland, OR and they have really tapped into a nice combination of nostalgia and contemporary production and aesthetics. The song's a bit too slow to dance too, but you can't be dancing all of the time. I hope to post more of their stuff here soon.
The Main Ingredient has been a recent favorite of mine. Did you know that Cuba Gooding Sr. (yes, the Sr. to "Show Me the Money"'s Jr.) was one of the singers? Their sound is different than a lot of vocal groups as they always picked (or had picked for them) off-kilter arrangements and complicated songs that seemed like they almost didn't work. It's that unusual quality that I like so much about their discography. This song was also recorded by Isaac Hayes, though I can't say I'm familiar with his version and it was written by Leon "I Want You" Ware.
Los Rockin' Devils
My friend, Paulo, sent me this article this morning and I thought it was fitting to put on the ol' Soul Spectrum blog seeing how it's kind of an extension of Josh's wheelbarrow sound systems from one of my first posts. More props to these guys for tricking out their bikes like this. And I though I was fly when I successfully mounted a cup-holder on my handlebars.
A man by the name of Israel has been instrumental in opening my eyes to the joys of a soulful slow jam. Israel owns a "hole-in-the-sidewalk" record store in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. His shop, if you happen to figure out his unconventional hours, is a diamond in the rough full of some common and uncommon records at reasonable prices. One thing I love about going into Israel's shop is the music that he plays on the house stereo, which is often some sweet soul dating from the 60s to the 80s. Israel loves his slow jams and digging through his dusty records in a dimly lit basement below the street, I've gained a real appreciation for some sweet harmonies sung over a sinewy syncopated beat made sweeter by some sensuous strings. Thanks Israel.
The 45 we have here is a $3 find if I'm not mistaken and had me initially sold on the Stevie Wonder cover tune, but its the Johnny Bristol tune on the A-side that I listen to the most. The album is not too rare (pictured to the left), but I can't say I've seen it that many times and the cover probably turned me off before I knew there was gold buried within.
Dom Salvador is an important figure in Brazilian music despite his relatively small output as a band leader. At first he came to prominence as a bossa-jazz trio leader, releasing a handful of firey albums during the mid-to-late sixties. What happened next was a bit unprecendented. His self-titled album from 1969 (pictured below) was still a small band album, but the songs on this album belied a strong R&B style, but still retained some jazzy touches. The next album, which featured reworkings from Dom's previous album, would find Dom diving deep into the R&B scene not only in sound, but in style. Check the picture of Dom on the cover of "Som, Sangue e Raca." He's the one on the far right looking like a psychedlic farmer. This next album is one of the keystones of Brazilian Soul and Funk music. It's a monster. Oberdan Magalhes, later to gain fame as the leader of Banda Black Rio, is one of many young Black Brazilians playing on this landmark album. This would be the last album Dom recorded under his own name in Brazil. He recorded one solo album for Muse in the US in 1976 and has guested on many others and only recently started recording again under his own name. You can find his newest recordings and his website here.
Go check it out at Loronix, drop a note to thank the unstoppable Zeca who runs the site and if you're in New York you can even stop by and catch Dom Salvador playing piano at either the Water Club or at the River Cafe in Brooklyn. I went by the Water Club for a drink in the past year and sure enough, Dom is there playing standards and originals for the people at the bar and the tables near by. He's a really nice guy and was a bit shocked for me to be talking to him about his old Brazilian albums.
I'm from Portland, Oregon. Born and raised and darn proud of it. I've been thinking in the past couple years, when the idea of "settling down" rears its head that I'm glad I'm from a place that I have no problems returning to. No offense to every other city, town or rural landscape, but Portland is pretty darn ideal and an even mix of small town, greet a stranger on the street charm and big city cultural creativity. Some have even said its where hipsters go to retire. I'm not gonna even get into whether or not I'm a hipster and the implications for my impending "retirement," but basically, it's all true.
"I Can't Wait" is a perfect song. With John Smith's James Brown-esque chicken scratch guitar licks and its ubiqitous 80s synth beat. But really it's about Valerie Day's vocals and the HUGE hook. The song had a long history that seems pretty unfathomable today when pop-songs have shelf-lives of a couple weeks before they work their way to the MP3 scrap-heap.
On a recent trip back home I found this 7" single from 1984. I first I though it was just the 45 single of the famous song, but unlike the album (a copy of which I picked up in Brazil, not that you can't find it at any thrift store) it was released on "Poolside Records" where as the 12" single and the album were released on Atlantic Records. I gave it a listen and indeed its a very different version.
It took Nu Shooz nearly two years to go from this Poolside version to their chart-topping album. I found this timeline of the Nu Shooz story on this website:
