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Gilberto Gil 1968
$15.99 CD
Gilberto Gil 1969
$15.99 CD
Expresso 2222
$15.99 CD
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GILBERTO GIL
Gilberto Gil 1968
(Water)
"Frevo Rasgado"
"Vitrines"
GILBERTO GIL
Gilberto Gil 1969
(Water)
"Cerebro Eltronico"
"2001"
GILBERTO GIL
Expresso 2222
(Water)
"Expresso 2222"
"Back in Bahia"
Tropicalia: the late-60's Brazilian countercultural musical movement that has been romanticized by and influential to generations of musical free-thinkers (such as David Byrne, Kurt Cobain, and Beck) and obviously much loved here by OM staff and customers. At the fore of this movement was a young Bahian musician, Gilberto Gil, who fused traditional music such as samba and bossa nova with American rock & roll to create a funked up version of political protest. His story is that of legend, as he was once imprisoned and exiled by his government for subversive criticisms, and, in an ironic twist-of-fate perhaps only rivaled by Ice-T, he now holds the federal position Minister of Culture. Anyhow, the man made some groundbreaking music along the way, and three of his seminal records are now finally being re-released.
Self-titled, Gil's sophomore recording cannot be categorized as a singular sound, rather it is emblematic of a confluence of influences including but not limited to jazz, funk, samba, baroque pop, reggae, prog-rock, and touches of classical. Released in 1968, Gil is backed by psych pioneers Os Mutantes and the avant-garde orchestration of Rogerio Duprat -- the result of which sounds like the Rolling Stones doing a Monkees-style rendition of the score to Fantasia in Portuguese. Gil was heavily inspired by British bands like the Beatles and Pink Floyd, who were able to create commercial music that maintained integrity and seeming freedom. Sonically, this album is both deep and colorful as Gil exuberantly dismisses political oppression. One of the finest examples of tropicalia on record.
Following a year-long solitary confinement at the hands of Brazil's dictatorship due to political miscreance, Gil returned home in 1969 and channeled his discontent to record his second self-titled LP. Although this album contains his first hit song ("Aquele Abraco" with Caetano Veloso), it is thematically one of the most experimental records of its time. The upbeat Carnaval style you'd expect from a tropicalia album is certainly present, yet there are brilliantly bizarre moments of spoken word and tape effects reminiscent of both John Cage and dub reggae. During the recording of the album, Gil had fostered a significant relationship with poet/mad scientist Rogerio Duarte, and the resulting album plays like a masterpiece of Afrofuturistic surrealism.
Released in 1972, Expresso 2222 is Gilberto Gil's first album recorded in Brazil after returning from a two-year government exile to England. On this album, you can sense Gil's love-hate relationship with his home country as he sounds both proud and subdued throughout the LP. His usual conglomerate of styles are present on this record, if not a few more as a result of new relationships with prog-rockers Yes and the Incredible String Band. Poet Torquato Neto has said of this album, "There are many ways to sing and to make Brazilian music; Gilberto Gil prefers them all." After years of political struggles, Gil sounds pleasantly amicable on this record, as he finds his footing with sounds that are smooth and funky with only undertones of past frustrations. [MG] |
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