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Album Details |
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| Popcorn - Luiz Henrique and Walter Wanderley - 1968 |
Label: Verve V6-8734 (USA)
Format: LP
From: USA
My rating: 8/10
Entered: 07/30/2002
Last updated: 09/09/2002
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Search on GEMM |  | A great album, with vocals by a Brazilian singer about whom I know very little. This really is a lost gem, every bit as interesting and charming as Marcos Valle's album for Verve from the same period.
The first track is enchanting in the same way as Walter's best work is - tropical rhythms join his staccato hammond organ. The track turns out to be 'happy birthday', sung in both Portuguese and English, and I expect this is the coolest recording of that song ever made. Henrique's voice is gentle and very charming. As the song fades out, he indulges in some scat vocals.
Next up is a nice version of 'cabaret' (what good is sitting alone in your room/come hear the music play/life is a cabaret old chum/come to the cabaret), played in an easy-going style with an incredibly warm organ sound.
Next up is a Henrique original, 'Florianopolis,' where the focus is more on the vocal and Henrique's guitar. This is followed by 'Kee-Ka-Roo', a Wanderley original of which I'm very fond. It's an upbeat, bluesey, funky instrumental with scat vocals.
'Diane in the morning' is a slow, meditative Henrique original, with the singer's guitar showcased as much as the organ and vocal. The piece has several different twists and turns, and finishes with a cool pseudoclassical section with flute, harpsichord, organ and bass.
'Popcorn' is not the Gershon Kingsley classic, but is instead a spellbinding, hypnotic piece with scat vocals, organ, bossa guitar and funky drums. Musically, it sounds as if it came out of the same session as 'Kee-ka-roo', but this is no bad thing. The relentless drum rhythms make me think strangely of 'fool's gold' by the Stone Roses.
'A different beat,' a track that Henrique wrote with Oscar Brown Jr, is sung in an English accent that recalls that of Astrud Gilberto. It's a sweet little track, with also recalls the slightly sugary atmosphere of Marcos Valle's Samba '68
'Home on the Range' starts with some whistling that recalls Quincy Jones's Walk don't Run soundtrack. This is another slow-paced number sung in English.
'Blue Island' is a nice dreamy bossa nova with English vocals. It's slightly quaint, but very pleasant. Dusty Road has similar instrumentation, but is darker and more insistent, with a musical nod to the classic Baden Powell track 'Berimbau' in the chorus.
The album closes with 'in my automobile', written by Menescal and Boscoli. This is a short, mostly instrumental track, with a sprinkling of vocals from Henrique.
In all, this is a great album. I think there's a Japanese CD, but the album doesn't seem to be too hard to get hold of. |
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