Capsule review: Gilberto Gil - Realce (1979)

Musica Populeira Brasileira smoothed out in the late '70s like they switched from ice cream to soft ice. Gil is no exception but his gift is melodic invention, and he carries it through. Makes me smile, but no more, Gil. (first listen)

360 records from 2000: 49. Gilberto Gil & Milton Nascimento: Gilberto Gil & Milton Nascimento

Country: Brazil
Artist: Two male solo artists
Career: recording since 1966/67
Language: Portuguese
Genre: Musica Populeira Brasileira
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, ‘All this 2000 stuff is nice, but what you really need is a couple of old Brazilians doing a reggae cover of ‘Something’’. The year hasn’t forgotten you, and here it is. I like it.

One of the things I love about the Brazilian music scene, is that it’s a pop market – true, pop of a sophistication we can only dream of, but still, this is no Western fantasy of some uncorrupted native tradition frozen in time, it’s a living pop industry. Gil and Nascimento are two of its statesmen of course. They cut some monumental work in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. Imagine Elton John and David Bowie teaming up, only Gil and Nascimento can still cut it. The album sounds like a mid-70s MPB album lost in 2000, but a good one. It’s a broad and diverse canvas, 15 tracks, some classics by other artists re-interpreted (Beatles of course, Jorge Ben…), some co-writes (Gil on music, Nascimento words and singing). This is no McCartney in 2000 ‘it’ll do’ record. I was surprised, and I think those with an ear for Brazilian 70s pop will be too.

AllMusic’s reviewer reckons ‘This would have been an even better project if it focused on the two major talents involved more than trying to add too many oddball elements to the mix’. Clearly a professional reviewer who likes to have as little fun as possible doing his job.

At its best: Sebastian, Bom dia, Lar hospitalar, Yo vengo a ofrecer mi Corazon, Xica da Silva, Palco

Capsule review: Gilberto Gil - Kaya N'gan daya (2002)

Minister of Culture-to-be practices some intercultural dialogue, covers Bob Marley - 17 times. Excuse me, ain't no easy skankin' for me.

A long hard look at Brazil... part 4

One more from the Rogerio Duprat school of the initial Tropicalia wave. Gilberto Gil is a natural fit for this three ring circus. He weaves some pretty out there song constructions and orchestral arrangements together with his enthusiastic singing (I do wonder if he ever breathes). It's a tropical feast of a record – if most records are a couple of apples, a pear and usually some lemons, this one has pineapples, berries, watermelons, figs, lychees and maybe a monkey with a cymbal.

This one's representative. Wild and sweet.

But my highlight is this one. Just a crazy threechord romp with Gilberto firing on a raft of backing singers. They're hanging on for dear life. That's one amazing guitar solo too. Fine, it trails off a bit at the end, but who can keep this up for long?

A long hard look at Brazil... part 2

I knew this music was for me, so I was looking for more and I swiftly ended up on the (back then) fashionable Tropicalia end of the spectrum. Even though many of the same artists appear on this next record (Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Gal Costa), it's five years earlier (1968) and it's a different sound world. A carnivalesk psychedelia in thrall to Sgt Pepper's. Much of this was down to Rogerio Duprat, musical conductor on all of these artists' records of the time and also the instigator of this era-defining manifesto record:

The Sgt Pepper's influence crept in down to the artwork, as you can see. This is music that never settles down, but jumps from section to section, from rhythm to rhythm, backing band to orchestra to musique concrète at the drop of a hat. And still damn groovy!

Love the long intro on this one! One of the sexiest duets ever, even if they are actually singing about butter and gasoline.

Caetano is often called the Bob Dylan of Brazil, and Gilberto Gil its Bob Marley, so it's kind of surprising they teamed up to write the Brazilian 'Louie, Louie'. A gloriously dumb, sharp as a needle, all atittude anthem. This is kinda like Richard Berry's version of 'Louie, Louie'. It needed that little Kingsmen-like something extra.