Digging in Brazil, Part 3: MPB Unplugged

This is one of the more interesting records I picked up on this last trip. I've never seen it before and never heard of it either. It's the kind of record that only someone really geeky like me could enjoy as it includes some rare performances by some of my favorite artists arguably from one of the greatest years for Musica Popular Brasileiro (MPB) . . . 1972. This is one of those annual recap records documenting the biggest news stories in short segments, including a small bit on Caetano and Gil returning from exile, but musically that's the only good part on disc 1. Thankfully disc 2 is chock full of interviews with famous musicians with something like 20 different artists ranging from bossa nova legends Tom Jobim, Johnny Alf and Carlo Lyra to MPB stars Milton Nascimento, Gal Costa and Edu Lobo.


Not only are there interviews, but in many cases the interviewer asks the artist to perform something live in the studio, sometimes accompanied by guitar or maybe just a matchbox for percussion. I've picked my favorites from these interviews for my nerdiest readers.



Erasmo Carlos - Quem Mandou Levar (Samba da Preguiça)
This one is the real treasure in my opinion. It doesn't get much better than Erasmo accompanying himself on guitar in the prime of his career. I don't think he ever recorded this song elsewhere. Anyone know if anyone else ever recorded this songs and if so, what's the actual title?

Paulinho da Costa - Gaurdei Minha Viola
Here we have a Paulinho da Viola classic with his sweet as honey voice and accompanied only by some matchbox percussion. This is the pure essence of Paulinho da Viola.

Gal Costa - Untitled Song
Gal sound drunk and/or high in the interview section, but this little song is sweet.








Caetano Veloso - Tropicália (Live)
This is the one interesting musical section from the news of 1972 from Disc 1. I like his 1972 reinterpretation of Tropicalia.

Luiz Gonzaga - Accordeon Solo
Man, can Luiz wail on accordeon. I wish somebody who makes beats would cut this up and make something cool out of it. Holler if you want a wav file and I'll hook you up.







Rosinha da Valença - De Conversa Em Conversa
Maybe Rosinha recorded this lovely number on one of her albums, but I recognize this tune from João Gilberto's 1969 album recorded in Mexico. Nice stuff.











Milton Nascimento - Untitled Song
I was marginally dissappointed with this one just because I would think that Milton in 1972 would be 24/7 mind-blowing. I think this is a version of another song he does, but can't place it. Little help people?








Edu Lobo - Candeias
Wow. Really digging this one. I guess Edu wrote it, but I know it from the lovely Gal & Caetano album "Domingo".

If You Think ... Roberto Carlos Is Just a Douche

. . . then you haven't been checking the song-writing credits on your favorite artists' best songs. Roberto is the better-known half of one of Brazil's best known and loved songwriting teams. Along with brother - from - another - mother Erasmo, Roberto wrote some classic pop tunes that were covered by a broad spectrum of MPB artists. Today, we're just gonna take one of his songs more popular songs from the late 60s and show you how a wide variety of Brazilian musicians from across the musical spectrum covered this classic jam.

Roberto Carlos - Se Você Pensa
"Se Você Pensa" was originally recorded for Roberto's 1967 album "O Inimitavel". The groove and hook are clearly in place on the original version and both of these elements are experimented with on the subsequent covers. The song is basically an ultimatum to a selfish lover, but I could have the lyrics wrong. For Roberto it's got the best of both worlds: love and anger, both of which he emotes pretty convincingly.

Gal Costa - Se Você Pensa
One of the next cover versions came from the queen of Tropicalia, Gal Costa. You can hear the fuzz quotient getting increased significantly and the aggressive lyrics getting more snarl and bite from the young and adventurous Gal on her first solo album.

Wilson das Neves - Se Você Pensa
Funky drummer Wilson das Neves takes on this classic on his 1969 album and really speeds up the tempo. This is the first of three instrumental covers of this song and you can hear that even in an instrumental the song has legs and can really run!

Eliana Pittman - Se Você Pensa
I had the great pleasure of catching Ms. Pittman perform at a small restaurant / bar in downtown São Paulo back in the summer of 2004. She's a marvelous vocalist that has excelled in the jazz field as well as the samba scene and even doing funkier material. This album from 1969 has her stretching out on her own following the passing of her father, the famous American horn player Booker Pittman, who she recorded with prior to this album. I'm not sure who's playing behind her, but whoever it is THEY SMOKE! Just check out her immaculate phrasing on her cover of today's tune.

Som Tres - Se Você Pensa
Another instrumental groover from the always excellent Som Tres. From the same year as the Eliana and Wilson versions, but with a unique approach nonetheless.

Luiz Eça - Se Você Pensa
There were two versions of this tune by Luiz Eça to choose from, this one and the one from his super-rare Luiz Eça y La Sagrada Familia, which has vocals and was recorded in Mexico. This version opens with a huge drum break and proceeds to jazz it up a bit.

Moraes Moreira - Se Você Pensa
The final version is from several years later, 1975, and was recorded by one of Novos Baianos' frontmen, Moraes Moreira, for his first solo album. He only recorded one cover song on this album and he choose to take on Roberto's iconic tune with a proto-punk high-speed guitar onslaught. This track was also featured on the Brazilian soap opera soundtrack for the show "Pecado Capital."

Funny Ha Ha or Funny La La?

Humor is one of the most difficult things to master in a foreign language. Barring physical humor (dad getting hit in the nuts with a nerf baseball bat) which is pretty universal, figuring out the nuances of a foreign sense of humor is the sign of true mastery of a language and its culture. I think we also have a bias for our native culture's humor as we learn it so early, so getting under the skin of another kind of humor can be extremely difficult. Everyone can remember telling (or parents reminding us) of our first attempts at humor. My first joke that I continuously repeated was:

Q: What's the difference between a piano and a fish?
A: You can tune a piano, but you can't tunafish!

Musical comedy is also a fairly universal medium from Bill Cosby to Weird Al Jankovic and Brazil, with its vast catalog of recorded music, is no exception. Sure, I was a Weird Al fan as an adolescent, but most musical comedy is not so durable, because frankly the music is just not that great and after awhile you get to know all of the jokes by heart and then what is there to enjoy? That's why Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos are so great, because 1) I barely understand any of the jokes, and 2) the music is great, so I can listen to these albums for the musical enjoyment alone.

What I've managed to glean from friends and websites is that Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos are a parody band based on several popular Brazilian acts. Clearly the Tropicalists (namely Caetano Veloso) and their second-generation offspring Os Novos Baianos are the primary targets. I also happen to think that the extremely popular duo of Toquinho & Vinicius are prime targets too as one of the characters silently strums a guitar, while the other pontificates with an assumed gravitas and baritone voice.

Evidently they were very funny in their day. As I try to make out the lyrics I can detect some jabs at Brazilian hippydom in the forms of parodies on bleeding heart ecological sermons and white Brazilians faking the Soul Brasiliero Funk.

The two comedians that came up with the musical skit (think about how the Blues Brothes emerged from Saturday Night Live skits based on the characters played by Dan Akroyd and John Belushi) are Arnaud Rodrigues and Chico Anisio and the skit originated from Chico's popular comedy program "Chico City". This skit was one of many skits (again like Blues Brothers on SNL), but as far as I know it was the only one to spin-off into a popular musical entity. Both actors/comedians/musicians have a long history and each of them have their own side projects on record and I presume television. From what I've heard these guys were pretty well known when their first album came out and they must have done pretty well as there are no fewer than five Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos albums. I've only really listened to these first two which both came out on Durval Ferreira's CID label in 1974 and 1975. As usual with CID releases, the musicians are top-tier including Jose Roberto Bertrami (Azymuth), Orlandivo (who co-wrote some songs) and of course Mr. Ferreira himself. Like I said earlier, what makes these records great are the songs. They're catchy and also really diverse in style. As you can hear from the selections these guys take on Funk, Forró and even Salsa between these four exemplary cuts.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Nega
This will one day be the start off track for a killer Brazilian mix that currently resides in my head.
Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Vo Bate Pa Tu
This is by far their biggest hit and if I get the slang right is translated as "I'm gonna beat you" . . . but please correct me if I'm wrong (I'm horrible with prepositions). UPDATE: a real, live Brazilian tuned in to comment and give a more accurate translation, which sure enough required some specific slang. Evidently, these lyrics refer to cocaine and the title basically says "I'm gonna cut a line (of cocaine) for you" - see Ulysses' comment for details.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Forró
A nice forro tune.

Baiano & Os Novos Caetanos - Yo No Quiero Saber
An interesting Salsa-inspired track. This sounds really familiar . . . does anyone out there know if this is a cover of something else?

Os Mutantes Record Rundown

So one of the most interesting parts of my discussions with Sergio Dias of Os Mutantes was a record-rundown of the most influential records that informed Os Mutantes distinctive sound. For the super-fans out there Sergio's selections make some obvious sense but I dare you to come up with a list of 15 records before clicking the link and see if you can guess them. If you get more than 4 albums or artists I'll be impressed. After reading his selections I find it makes perfect sense why each of these records were picked. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Brazilian Funk & Folk for Christmas Day

These Brazilian treats should be a welcome addition to your holiday playlist although they might be a bit tough for the family to sing along to. Pour some cachaca into your egg-nog and pretty soon you'll be able to sing along just fine.

Caetano Veloso - In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day
First we have a not-very-festive contribution from Caetano Veloso that comes from his 1971 album recorded while in exile in London. This is a beautiful album of Brazilian rock and folk - the kinda thing that today's neo-folkies just east up, particularly Caetano's get-up on the front. I think I saw a dude walking down Bedford Avenue (hipster mainstreet) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn trying to rock this same look. Caetano's homesickness is visceral on this track as he spends the holidays far from home in a different hemisphere, far colder than Christmas in Rio.


Cassiano - Hoje E Natal
Cassiano wrote this lovely holiday tune for his classic 1976 album, "Cuban Soul - 18 Kilates." Here, Cassiano finds is vocal range better and delivers some sweet soul about the holidays. The song title means "Today is Christmas."

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!

Equipe Radio Cidade - Bons Tempos - Natal

Equipe Radio Cidade - Bons Tempos - Ano Novo

I just found some info on Equipe Radio Cidade on this website. Here are the technical information for these two songs (note the participation of Ed Lincoln, dance-band legend):

Bons Tempos II – Natal de 1980. – Letra: Romilson Luiz e Eládio Sandoval. Arranjos: Eduardo Souto Neto. Produção: Mariozinho Rocha Participação especial: Roupa Nova, Ed Lincoln e Mestre Marçal. Gravação: Estúdio Emi-Odeon.

Bons Tempos II - Ano Novo de 1980 – Letra: Romilson Luiz e Eládio Sandoval. Arranjos: Eduardo Souto Neto. Produção: Mariozinho Rocha Participação especial: Roupa Nova, Ed Lincoln e Mestre Marçal. Gravação: Estúdio Emi-Odeon.