Recorded the same year as Gil e Jorge, his brilliant collaboration with Jorge Ben, Refazenda keeps up the pace, but in a completely different way. Instead of the acoustic Brazilian folk of Gil e Jorge, Gil focuses on breezy pop. "Jeca Total," "Ê, Povo, Ê," "Tenho Sede," and the title track are dominated by flute, accordion, horns, and gentle strings. Gil is in excellent voice, whether he's delivering a driving song like "Essa é Pra Tocar No Rádio" or more intimate ballads like the last two tracks, "Lamento Sertanejo" and "Meditação." Though "Pai e Mãe" and a few other tracks are slightly reminiscent of the Gil e Jorge LP, Gil reasserts himself here as the pop star whom all of Brazil had expected him to be.
This 18-track anthology spans three decades, but the only way you'd know is through the gentle introduction of studio technology. Together with his friend Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil ushered in the late-60s tropicalismo style, which blended a variety of regional genres to form a musical challenge to Brazil's then-oppressive regime. Their lyrics were dense and allusive, their tempi were exhilaratingly fast. Gil's own songs are perfectly attuned to his light, high timbre; his favourite accompaniment is a delicately-strummed acoustic guitar, which often descends to a confidential whisper. If he uses a backing group, he does so very discreetly; a light touch of Latin percussion is quite sufficient to allow him to float his songs into the ether. This exhilarating album begins with his early song about his home patch in Salvador "Toda Menina Baiana", and moves on through a gamut of national styles and moods.
Volume 3 of the Chill Brazil series is compiled by the legendary Brazilian singer/songwriter Gilberto Gil, 'Chill Brazil 3' blends classic Soul Bossas culled from the Warner archives with the freshest voices in contemporary & electronic Brazilian music today. Classic artists such as Tom Jobim, Joao Gilberto, Gilberto Gil, Elis Regina, Chico Buarque, to name a few, combined with contemporary "Bossaists" Bebel Gilberto, Maria Rita (Elis Regina's daughter), Marcelinho Da Lua gives the perfect blend of the harmonic & rhythmic richness of these Brazilian Soul Bossas past, present & future.
Acoustic MTV is a live album by Gilberto Gil, released in 1994 as part of the MTV Acoustic series. Between the tracks are old compositions of the musician and novelties. For being one of the first in the series, produced by MTV Brazil, did not have on the cover, the logo of the broadcaster or the symbol of 'Acoustic MTV', since it followed the pattern of the North American series of 'MTV Unplugged'. Where he brought only the artist in question, in the classic image, stool and guitar, with the other musicians in the background, reading only 'Gilberto Gil Unplugged'.
This is undoubtedly the equivalent of Gilberto Gil "Unplugged" – Gil, his acoustic guitar, and a nonelectric five-piece band recorded live in a studio – and it is a thoroughly musical triumph as Gil mesmerizes his attentive audience for some 74 minutes. He starts out with the nearly pure reggae of "A Novidade," but before long, he establishes himself in a mostly consistent, loping set of intimate grooves thoroughly rooted in Brazil.
São João Vivo is the live version of As Canções de Eu Tu Eles, the Brazilian popular music legend Gilberto Gil's fine homage to Luiz Gonzaga and forro. This is basically the same album, though of course recorded live. Compared to the studio album, a few additional tracks have been added. Perhaps the most welcome of those tracks is Anastácia's romantic "Só Quero um Xodó," which Gil recorded with great success in the '70s. Gil also presents a different version of his own "Toda Menina Bahiana," another very fine '70s hit of his. To sum it up, though, São João Vivo is indeed a nice, enjoyable live album, but it is basically unnecessary for anyone who already owns the studio album As Canções de Eu Tu Eles.
This is undoubtedly the equivalent of Gilberto Gil "Unplugged" – Gil, his acoustic guitar, and a nonelectric five-piece band recorded live in a studio – and it is a thoroughly musical triumph as Gil mesmerizes his attentive audience for some 74 minutes. He starts out with the nearly pure reggae of "A Novidade," but before long, he establishes himself in a mostly consistent, loping set of intimate grooves thoroughly rooted in Brazil. Gil had a hand in writing all of this tuneful material except Anastacia Dominguinhos' "Tenho Sede," Caetano Veloso's "Sampa," and a left-field choice, Stevie Wonder's "The Secret Life of Plants," which lends itself very well to Gil's bossa nova approach and proenvironmental position. It is not a complete live portrait of Gil, though; the astounding quickness and flexibility of his voice is fully vented only toward the end of the concert. The later Quanta Live album will give you a wider panorama of Gil's range.