João Almeida, Rodrigo Pinheiro & Vasco Furtado Linae

Emerging as an independent act after a five-year absence, Nelly Furtado seizes the opportunity to open another chapter of her career with The Ride. Originally recorded for Interscope, Furtado wrangled control of the album as she left the label and, fittingly enough, The Ride is perched between the mainstream and the fringe. Much of the latter is due to the presence of John Congleton, the producer best known for helming albums by St. Vincent, and the vivid, elastic soundscapes of Annie Clark's records are certainly an inspiration for Furtado. The Ride may not be as daring as St. Vincent's work, but that's relative. In its own way, the album is as much a redefinition for Furtado as Loose was a decade earlier, positioning her as a mature pop artist with adult alternative undertones.

Fernando Lopes-Graça was one of the greatest Portuguese composers of the 20th century. He composed songs in many genres, including folk-song arrangements, modernist settings of Portuguese poetry, and songs connected to political and historical events, all of which are represented here in this second volume (Volume 1 is on 8.579039). Early songs reveal the harmonic influence of Debussy, while Lopes-Graça’s utopian vision of international fraternity can be heard in his harmonisations of Greek, Czech and Slovak songs, which range from lament and defiance to pastoral sentiment.

Emerging as an independent act after a five-year absence, Nelly Furtado seizes the opportunity to open another chapter of her career with The Ride. Originally recorded for Interscope, Furtado wrangled control of the album as she left the label and, fittingly enough, The Ride is perched between the mainstream and the fringe. Much of the latter is due to the presence of John Congleton, the producer best known for helming albums by St. Vincent, and the vivid, elastic soundscapes of Annie Clark's records are certainly an inspiration for Furtado. The Ride may not be as daring as St. Vincent's work, but that's relative. In its own way, the album is as much a redefinition for Furtado as Loose was a decade earlier, positioning her as a mature pop artist with adult alternative undertones.

Released in 1964, the aptly titled Softly, the Brazilian Sound was Joanie Sommers' seventh long-player for Warner Bros. in under five years. She had been marketed as a torch balladeer to popular jazz and Great American Songbook enthusiasts, as well as a teenybopper to a considerably younger audience. Sommers joins forces with Laurindo Almeida (guitarist/arranger) in a move that predates Frank Sinatra's collaborative efforts with Antonio Carlos Jobim by several years. In actuality, the so-called "bossa nova" movement was one of the only trends to have any effect on the American pop scene during the mid-'60s - particularly when going up against British Invasion bands. And it's little wonder that Jobim's name crops up throughout the effort, as he co-penned a couple of tunes - including the sultry opener, "Meditation" (Meditacao)…

Released in 1964, the aptly titled Softly, the Brazilian Sound was Joanie Sommers' seventh long-player for Warner Bros. in under five years. She had been marketed as a torch balladeer to popular jazz and Great American Songbook enthusiasts, as well as a teenybopper to a considerably younger audience. Sommers joins forces with Laurindo Almeida (guitarist/arranger) in a move that predates Frank Sinatra's collaborative efforts with Antonio Carlos Jobim by several years. In actuality, the so-called "bossa nova" movement was one of the only trends to have any effect on the American pop scene during the mid-'60s - particularly when going up against British Invasion bands. And it's little wonder that Jobim's name crops up throughout the effort, as he co-penned a couple of tunes - including the sultry opener, "Meditation" (Meditacao)…