Search - Antonio Carlos Jobim :: Terra Brasilis

Middleaged and watered down bossa

sensor | Europe | 03/08/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Before this Jobim had released two great albums "Matita Pere" and "Urubu", where he seemed to try to go beyond the bossa-nova, for which he was primarily known. Maybe these albums weren't commercially succesfull enough, at any rate he chose with this album, to primarily return to his bossa-nova classics. Thus, even though the opulent title "Terra Brasilis" suggests, that this might be a collection of tonepoems about Brazil, it's basically rerecordings of a lot of his bossa standards and even some prebossa songs. Of course a lot of those songs are great, but Ogermans arrangements are a little too sugary and Jobim's performances also sound a little sloppy, like he doesn't take it too seriously, which might have something to do with uninspiring arrangements and him singing some songs, that probably were old to him and also in a language that wasn't his own. Maybe he also just didn't think of himself so much as a performer. A pity because you only need to listen to "Ligia" from "Urubu" to hear what a great singer he could be, when he wanted to and sang in his own language. Since it's originally a double album, of course there are some good moments like "Voce Vai Ver" and "Two Kites" that shows, that he hadn't lost his songwriting chops, but overall the whole thing, which might have worked if it had been edited down to a single album, is a little too lacklustre and not exactly Jobim at his sharpest."

Jobim's Most Complex Work

Rolando V. Arango | Washington, DC | 03/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am so pleased to see a CD version of one of my favorite of Jobim albums.

I have the original 2-LP set that was produced about twenty years ago and when I played it about six months ago, back at home in California, it still sounds wonderful. The sound is rich and full; the compositions range from the haunting Luisa to the Hector-Villalobos'like "Tren a Caparita."



This is a record that is best listened to late at night when there are no competing sounds and either you get lost listening to it or study the arrangements.



Enjoy and saludos, Rolando."

Genius

SandSon | São Paulo,SP,Brazil | 09/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When we listen this Cd, we have a notion of the dimension of the Jobim art."