Tropicalia

Caetano Veloso e Gilberto Gil - Tropicalia 2 (1993) {PolyGram-Philips 518 178-2}
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© 1993 PolyGram / Philips | 518 178-2
Música popular brasileira / MPB / Tropicalia / Brazilian Traditions / Brazilian Pop / World Music

Between harsh criticism (due to the retro opportunistic use of Tropicália), and sectarian defense, Tropicália 2 yielded a Caetano Veloso/Gilberto Gil tour through E.U.A. and Europe one year after this release. The reference to Tropicália was used as a safe-conduct for the duo's incursions in electronics, axé music (the contemporary and pragmatic sound of Bahia) and other commercial exploitation – since under Tropicália everything goes (or used to go, some 30 years ago). The album opens with "Haiti," a dry percussive electronic pattern over which Caetano and Gil speak verses dealing with racism; "Cinema Novo" is a beautiful samba, whose lyrics "explain" and greet the Brazilian cinema movement which gained the world. "Nossa Gente" brings the percussive sounds of axé music together with funk brass attacks.

The first major-label release of Mutantes material was this 1999 compilation, put together by longtime Brazilian fan David Byrne through his Luaka Bop label. Including tracks from the band's late-'60s and early-'70s LPs (available separately through Omplatten), Everything Is Possible is a solid collection that only includes 14 tracks but does spotlight Mutantes' tremendous diversity. From the birth of tropicalia on their first album from 1968 (wildly experimental pop songs like "Panis Et Circenses" and "Bat Macumba") plus their later, more straight-ahead incarnations, the album gives beginners a solid place to start. The inclusion of both versions of the rather tiresome Janis Joplin retread "Baby" is a bit regrettable, but all around, Everything Is Possible gets it right better than could be hoped from a domestic compilation.

Bossa Nova translated as the "new beat" or "the new style", grew out of Rio De Janeiro in 1958. The instigators were a handful of artists with a desire to break from tradition, developing the samba rhythms with the influence of cool American jazz to find a music with such a warm soul and natural rhythm that no-one can help but tap and sway to its beat. Bossa Nova is palm trees swaying, it is like melting sugar in hot coffee, it is the setting sun and warm sand underfoot. It is the sound and beat of Brazil, it is one of the world's coolest musical styles and it remains to this day one of the world's great musical treasures.

Expresso 2222, Gilberto Gil's first album back in Brazil after spending two years in exile, is a spirited return to form, filled with driving, funky bass, hammering piano, and percussive guitar work. Gil's compositions are on par with the best of his 1968 and 1969 self-titled albums, but is a more even overall affair forsaking the outright diversity Gil showed on those previous albums for a more cohesive set of songs, and while the performances aren't as outrageously groundbreaking, with Expresso 2222 Gil had already proved how far he was capable of pushing the envelope, and so the insane arrangements were no longer necessary. This makes Expresso 2222 one of Gil's most immediately palatable releases of his entire career, and compared to the standards of global rock & roll it is of the most compelling and complex yet accessible albums released in the 20th century. Gil's compositions are melodic and beautiful, and his arrangements are imaginative as always; from using a chorus of backing vocals to great effect on "O Canto de Ema" and "Sai do Sereno" to the rhythmic interplay between Gil's guitar, vocals, and layered percussion on the title track, Gil is in top form throughout the album.