Carlos Lee: "Bossa Maximus"
| RATE: | ++++ very good! Bossa nova with an attitude. |
| REVIEW: |
What Music continues to reissue obscure Brazil records, and put 'm on CD for the very first time worldwide. Most of the time, this means that only a handful of collectors know the original LP, and it changes hands for ridiculously high amounts of money. But with this record, What Music stumbled upon another kind of obscurity: Musidisc, the label that issued the original LP, claimed they'd never released a record by, or even HEARD OF a Carlos Lee!
Luckily the master tapes WERE found, and this reissue prooves the quest was well worth it. Twelve very nice bossa nova tunes, some of them extremely catchy, with transparent and varied arrangements, full of subtle breaks, and a very light injection of jazz here and there. The backing band features brass, sax, vibes, flute, acoustic guitar, percussion and piano. "Zulu" has great topical Afro-percussion. Another song features a catchy/quirky Ed Lincoln-esque Hammond sound. The moods change a lot: gentle and soft, or uptempo and nicely groovin' along, with an occasional (too short) scat. Just like Orlan Divo, Carlos Lee has a good, nice but strong "natural" voice, without any fancy artificial ornaments -- sort of a working class hero type of voice. He can sing melancholic tunes, tormented love songs, or "canção de protesto" without sounding cheesy or fake. As always -- the What Music reissues being exact repro's of the original LP -- this is a pretty short CD, but very enjoyable! |
| SLEEVE NOTES: | What Music web site page with liner notes & MP3 samples & full track list. |
| DETAILS: |
artist: Carlos Lee
title: "Bossa Maximus" label info: CD, What Music 0042, UK, 2002 |
| AVAILABLE FROM: | What Music, where you can find MP3 samples too. |