Caetano Veloso - A Foreign Sound

On this new studio CD, Brazilian composer/singer/author Caetano Veloso reinterprets classic and contemporary American pop songs. Veloso's feathery, Miles Davis-like, Portuguese-inflected vocals negotiate the English language with silken skill with a 28-piece orchestra led by his long-time arranger, cellist Jaques Morelenbaum--featuring Carlinhos Brown on percussion and Veloso's gifted son Moreno on guitar--over Afro-bossa rhythms and spacey, echoplexed synth/guitar strains. Veloso sings the melody straight on the stunning string-accompanied "Feelings," and on a brave a capella reading of Cole Porter's "Love For Sale." But the fun begins when he reggae-fies Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," sings "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" with boppish sax lines and offers a twangy take on Kurt Cobain's "Come as You Are." From Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" to Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" and Arto Lindsey's edgy "Detached," Veloso shows that he's a master of sonic subversion. --Eugene Holley, Jr. Amazon.com

A must own

I have been a huge fan of Veloso for the past three years, mostly because of his Portuguese and Spanish masterpieces, but this time around he truly pulled it off with these interpretations. This English album is truly a work of art, and Veloso's sensationally melodic voice is soothing to the ears and the soul. His interpretations of "So in love", "Feelings," "Love For Sale," "The Man I Love," and my favorite, David Byrne's "(Nothing But) Flowers" have taken each melody to another level. Byrne is decidedly right when he plays Veloso's version in his concerts... there truly could be no greater compliment. March 16, 2008

A must have, excelent album, and there is a sound reason...

notwithstanding the validity of all personal opinions shown about the appeal of this project from caetano, i just would like to mention what he did stated at his concerts on this material (which i attended).

there has been a constant influence of english worded music in brazilian and in caetano's life (he even spent all his exile while the brazilian dictatorship, living in london). then brazil and the usa have a long road of interinfluence, both ways, from the sounding success of carmen miranda in hollywood to the appraisal people like jobim, sergio mendes, ayrto and many other received from the american press and public, rocketing to world fame from there (something brazil can not do is to discover itself: it needs from others!).

then there is the attention the brazilian public devoted to american artists. that brings its load of outstanding cases from the american song having strong impression on the brazilian ear.

so from here, from all this wealth of reciprocating cultural milestones, it arised according to caetano's words, a common universe from which he wanted to design a random/not so random (he is an artist, he needs the randomness against the method!)promenade.

to listen to caetano like if he were only a local exotic specimen, with a life alien to what we call globalization today, would be not to know caetano in his human depth, made of roots and uprootedness, tradition and influences, receptivity and demands. and it would deprive us from getting a balanced approach to his genius, to his universal power of poetry and sensibility.

he is normal. he's been there where we are today 40 years ago.

and that 's that. August 10, 2007

Love this

My husband and I heard him sing in a movie, so got on the internet to look up the movie and find out who was singing.
It is not in English, but if you can appreciate a lovely voice, you will enjoy this CD. January 25, 2007

More to the picture than meets the eye (ear, actually)

I read with interest the polemic that developed among a couple of reviewers as a result of co-composer Jacques Morelenbaum's comments in the liner notes that "Aviation didn't begin in America; it began in Brazil".

Look it up. It's indisputable that Brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont flew a contraption heavier than air prior to the Wright Brothers. The point is debatable, and it hinges on the definition of the contraption. What's more important, though, is that Morelenbaum made the comment in the context of THIS record. It's an analogy, get it, folks?

As with first flight, whether modern American music or American standards, both of which Veloso interprets here, were invented in America or in Brazil first is debatable. One thing is certain: Veloso and his cohorts can fairly be credited for inventing the Tropicalia movement back in the 60s. What was Tropicalia? Plain and simple, it was a fusion of American or western music with black music.

Let's not forget Brazil's geographic and historical location. As a major stopping point in the slave trade, African culture and music took root there, and mixed with "western" music centuries ago. As the African diaspora spread northward to the south of the US, for example, African American musicians took it to the next step, and are widely credited for inventing rock 'n roll in the 50s.

It's telling that Veloso and Morelenbaum titled this album "A Foreign Sound", because on the one hand, it's "foreign" in that it consists of American music. On the other hand, it's not "foreign" at all to Veloso, for the reasons described above.

If you're already familiar with Veloso, you'll know that nothing he's done in his beautiful career is accidental. He's an incredible composer, and the songs he chose to interpret on this album were carefully selected, and he more often than not imbues the songs with a new interpretation that even the original songwriter sometimes prefers over his original version.

On the latter note, David Byrne often introduces his song "Nothing but Flowers" before playing it in a concert by saying "I'm going to play it the way Caetano Veloso plays it".

Can there be a bigger compliment from one composer to another? I don't think so. Could any non American have paid a bigger compliment to American music, while simultaneously commenting that "Americans didn't invent American music" than Caetano has on done on this album? I don't think so. January 4, 2007

below average

I like Caetano a lot, I've heaps of his previous CDs, but this one sucks...a lot...
He needs to put his feet back on the ground. THis Cd is sooo pretentious that it hurts...
You can easely skip this one. June 26, 2006

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