Caetano Veloso - Livro
Caetano Veloso
Livro
1997 Nonesuch Records
Producers: Jaques Morelenbaum and Caetano Veloso
Personnel:
Caetano Veloso - vocals, guitar, piano
Luiz Brasil - guitar. agogo
Pedro Sa - guitar, maculele
Jorge Helder, fernando Nunes - bass
Marcio Victor - kettledrums, torpedo, snares
Du and Jo - kettledrums
Marcelo Costa - drums, guiro, agogo, tambourine, maculele and afoxe
Marcelo Martins - flutes, woodwind arrangements
Ze Canuto - flutes
Lucia Morelenbaum, Cristiana Alves - clarinets
Eduardo Morelenbaum - Bass Clarinet
Walmir Gil, Flavio Melo - flugelhorns
Ismael de Oliveira - french horn
Moreno Veloso - maculele, tenor guitar
Jaques Morelenbaum - maculele
William Magalhaes - keyboards
Zeca Assumpcao - acoustic bass
Carlinhos Brown - percussion
...please puchase cd for the psychotic ongoing list of players and varying instruments, or go toAMG for more info.
Caetano Veloso is arguably one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century, with peers like Bob Dylan, Cole Porter, Wayne Shorter and Billy Strayhorn. At 60, he has lost no creative spark or performing energy (this reviewer having seen him pack a full jouse at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco and bring the house down), and continues to forge a dynamic path with his potent mix of Tropicalismo ( a Brazilian music style he and regular collaborator Gilberto Gil helped create), Samba, Bossanova, pop, avant-garde and neo-classical elements. And his music is still very fresh, but not in a way that denotes him keeping up with the world, but rather the other way around. A romantic, political, intellectually powerful gentleman, he commands a near fanatical audience, and his 1997 album, Livro (english = book) is a good soft intro to his ouevre, whether you speak Portuguese or not (Caetano predominately sings in Portuguese, but occasionally dabbles in Spanish and English).
The opener, Os Passistas (Carnival Dancers) is a playful romp with a steady pulse of percussion and a spingy melody, typical fare for CV. More off kilter is Um Tom (A Tom/Tone) is a lazy walk of Xylophone and sparce instrumentaion over a mantra like set of lyrics. His falsetto is strong on the vocal layering of How Beautiful Could a Being Be is sumptuous, with his son Moreno co-leading and a band of seemingly dozens providing the alternating sets of repetitive backing vocals. In a take at the Gil Scott-Heron spoken word sweepstakes, one only has to listen to the anger in O Navio Negreiro (The Slave Ship), and even in the upbeat percussive buffer led by Carlinhos Brown (a star in his own right), Nao Enche (Piss Off) could be interpreted as scorn for a lover or scorn for the government.
Yet, after such bile, Caetano, ever the chameleon, swings into romance, with the soft strings and lilting delivery of Minha Voz, Minha Vida (My Voice, My Life).
If you have ever wanted to get into the music of Brasil, CV is a damn good place to start - particularly with this album. Be wary however, as his catalog spans almost four decades and has been known to dip into tangential forays that may leave the unititiated somewhat confused. This album however, is a great start.
You might like this if you like:
Gilberto Gil - Parabola
Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints
Carlinhos Brown - Alfagamabetizado
Ekova - Heaven's Dust
Livro
1997 Nonesuch Records
Producers: Jaques Morelenbaum and Caetano Veloso
Personnel:
Caetano Veloso - vocals, guitar, piano
Luiz Brasil - guitar. agogo
Pedro Sa - guitar, maculele
Jorge Helder, fernando Nunes - bass
Marcio Victor - kettledrums, torpedo, snares
Du and Jo - kettledrums
Marcelo Costa - drums, guiro, agogo, tambourine, maculele and afoxe
Marcelo Martins - flutes, woodwind arrangements
Ze Canuto - flutes
Lucia Morelenbaum, Cristiana Alves - clarinets
Eduardo Morelenbaum - Bass Clarinet
Walmir Gil, Flavio Melo - flugelhorns
Ismael de Oliveira - french horn
Moreno Veloso - maculele, tenor guitar
Jaques Morelenbaum - maculele
William Magalhaes - keyboards
Zeca Assumpcao - acoustic bass
Carlinhos Brown - percussion
...please puchase cd for the psychotic ongoing list of players and varying instruments, or go to
Caetano Veloso is arguably one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century, with peers like Bob Dylan, Cole Porter, Wayne Shorter and Billy Strayhorn. At 60, he has lost no creative spark or performing energy (this reviewer having seen him pack a full jouse at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco and bring the house down), and continues to forge a dynamic path with his potent mix of Tropicalismo ( a Brazilian music style he and regular collaborator Gilberto Gil helped create), Samba, Bossanova, pop, avant-garde and neo-classical elements. And his music is still very fresh, but not in a way that denotes him keeping up with the world, but rather the other way around. A romantic, political, intellectually powerful gentleman, he commands a near fanatical audience, and his 1997 album, Livro (english = book) is a good soft intro to his ouevre, whether you speak Portuguese or not (Caetano predominately sings in Portuguese, but occasionally dabbles in Spanish and English).
The opener, Os Passistas (Carnival Dancers) is a playful romp with a steady pulse of percussion and a spingy melody, typical fare for CV. More off kilter is Um Tom (A Tom/Tone) is a lazy walk of Xylophone and sparce instrumentaion over a mantra like set of lyrics. His falsetto is strong on the vocal layering of How Beautiful Could a Being Be is sumptuous, with his son Moreno co-leading and a band of seemingly dozens providing the alternating sets of repetitive backing vocals. In a take at the Gil Scott-Heron spoken word sweepstakes, one only has to listen to the anger in O Navio Negreiro (The Slave Ship), and even in the upbeat percussive buffer led by Carlinhos Brown (a star in his own right), Nao Enche (Piss Off) could be interpreted as scorn for a lover or scorn for the government.
Yet, after such bile, Caetano, ever the chameleon, swings into romance, with the soft strings and lilting delivery of Minha Voz, Minha Vida (My Voice, My Life).
If you have ever wanted to get into the music of Brasil, CV is a damn good place to start - particularly with this album. Be wary however, as his catalog spans almost four decades and has been known to dip into tangential forays that may leave the unititiated somewhat confused. This album however, is a great start.
You might like this if you like:
Gilberto Gil - Parabola
Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints
Carlinhos Brown - Alfagamabetizado
Ekova - Heaven's Dust
posted by theloniusfunk at 5:23 PM
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