Mutantes (os Mutantes) Tecnicolor [recorded 1970] (2006) (repost)

In 1970, Os Mutantes re-recorded in English a full LP's worth of their best songs, apparently hoping to crack the American and European market. (Brazilian expats Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil would make the same move, for political reasons, one year later.) If ever, the late flowering of the psychedelic era was the perfect time for a Mutantes breakthrough, considering the trio's zany songwriting sense and even more anarchic production methods. And though the album never saw release until the next century - Western audiences proved far more understanding of Sergio Mendes' easy-pop version of Brazilian music forms anyway - Tecnicolor acquired a new lease on life when it was finally reissued in 2000. By no means did Mutantes commercialize their sound…

Three Brazilian teenagers start a garage band. They know nothing of music theory, have no equipment (they built their own guitar pedals and used tin cans as cymbals), but lots and lots of cannabis. Though the existence of Os Mutantes is in itself unremarkable, what is mind-blowing is the top-notch quality of the music. These three teens, Rita Lee (vocals), Sergio Baptista (guitar), and Arnaldo Baptista (drums), while attempting to mimic their heroes in the states, were able to surpass them. This was due to their inability to adequately imitate (due to their geographic isolation), and the band's unfettered creativity. For these reasons, their meld of otherworldly guitar noise, crisp harmonies, and propulsive drumming found no equal among American counterparts like the 13th Floor Elevators and the Electric Prunes…

Mutantes E Seus Cometas No Pais do Baurets is the fifth album by the Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes and the last to feature all three founding members. There was little sound technology available, so they had to invent their own wah-wah, flanger, and phaser pedals, sound systems, and more. The second track is an acoustic ballad where the innocent voice of Rita Lee presents the love declaration of a bitch to her dog, backed by a bumbo leguero (typical instrument of South American countries and a trademark of protesters against dictatorship). It is no surprise that they were hated by the government: censorship delayed the release of the album, due to the title and the lyrics of "Cabeludo Patriota" ("Hairy Patriot")…

Os Mutantes are best known for their psychedelic 60's output with lead vocalist Rita Lee, but they managed to sneak in and record in 1974 a simply fantastic album that deserves lots of attention. Rita Lee had left the band by the time of recording "Tudo foi feito pelo sol" and vocal duties were handed over to Túlio Mourão. Musically this quartet took a plunge into the land of prog rock and the end result is an album full of beautiful melodies and complex instrumental interplay of the best progressive rock one can find. The vocal harmonies are abundant and work to perfection on the album in combination with the symphonic keyboards of Mourão.

The songs heard on The Love Album first came to light nearly 30 years after their recording, but they should never have lingered in the vaults so long; what's more, if an LP had appeared on schedule, it would have easily remained Doris Day's finest album of the '60s. But neither her commercial fortunes nor the market for Tin Pan Alley songs (even standards) appeared particularly bright in 1967. Day had just broken with her record label Columbia, and was producing herself for the first time; and most of her contemporaries were either fighting the tide of pop culture or only keeping their head above water by covering new standards such as "Sunny" or "The Windmills of Your Mind." Day chose instead to sing a collection of songs whose cumulative age was something like 350 years old (although the chestnut "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" had been revived by Elvis Presley only a few years earlier)…