One of the top six Caetano albums of all time
cued | San Diego, CA | 06/30/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Caetano Veloso is in my mind an uneven artist. He can spend years of his career experimenting like a mad scientist, canibalizing the latest musical trends world-wide, fusing them with his own unique oscilations between the popular and the playful, and the result is not always pretty. But about once every 7 or 8 years, Caetano strikes pay-dirt and releases a record that literally catapults him back to the top of the Brazilian musical mountain. I think of 1969's White Album (no, not the Beattles!) or 1970's records like "Transa", "Cinema Transcendental" and in this decade "Tropicalia 2" and "Livro" as Caetano's masterpieces. "Estrangeiro" is the capstone to Caetano's 1980's work. All previous discs released in the 1980's pale in comparison to this work. This work captures perfectly the balance between Brazilian tradition, avant-garde experimentation, and 1980's dance-pop. This is a record which will never stop sounding fresh. As my title says, this is one of Caetano's six greatest records of all time."
I just love this album
aoleo | Bridgeport, CT United States | 10/12/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was in my last year of high school when I first heard the song "Estrangeiro" (Foreigner) by Caetano Veloso. It was love at first sight (at first hearing, actually). Initially, I was struck by the power and uniqueness of its sounds. Later, the intelligence and sophistication of its lyrics inspired me. At that time, I was already a Caetano's fan. That song, though, made me start my Veloso's record collection and go to his concert for the first time.
The CD named after the song I fell in love with was the first of a great sequence of albums that Caetano released throughout almost a decade. Followed "Estrangeiro" (1989), among other album, the masterpieces "Circuladô" (1991), "Circuladô Vivo" (1992), "Fina Estampa" (1994), "Fina Estampa ao Vivo" and "Livro" (1997) - the last winning "best album of the year" in the Latin Grammy Award. I bought all of these records and went to all his concerts during the decade that followed. The sequence of good albums was so amazing that I started to believe that their author was infallible; that whatever he produced was unquestionably good. And I don't think I was alone; during the 90s Caetano became a national, maybe even international, unanimity.
Nevertheless, the CD "Prenda Minha" (1999) came to reinforce the Brazilian popular saying that declares that "all unanimity is dumb". The album is not that bad, but Caetano raised our standards to such a level that we always expect his works to near the perfection. Were this record signed by other artist, maybe, I wouldn't be as critic.
This album has actually a very good beginning. I love the sequence composed by the first four songs. The CD opens with a version of the tune "Jorge da Capadócia" by Jorge Ben. The song starts smoothly and grows along with the introduction of more and more percussion instruments - it starts with hands clapping and progresses to a complete group of percussion. The second song appears after an incredible transition in which the intense sound of drums and timbales is replaced by an ensemble of brass instruments that opens the mellow tune of the title song "Prenda Minha". A not less impressive transition brings the beautiful "Meditação" (Meditation) - a composition by Tom Jobim and Newton Mendonça. The fourth song, "Terra" (Earth), is an excellent re-record - rich in a new arrangement (credited, as "Jorge da Capadócia", to all the band - all other arrangements are signed by Jaques Morelenbaun) and strong interpretation by Caetano, who is backed up by the versatile band under maestro Morelenbaun's command. But that's it. What comes after the fourth song does not tells me much. They are 14 more tunes. Most of them re-record of old successes, which bring little or no excitement to me, neither in the arrangement, nor on the lyrics.
When I got "Noites do Norte" (Nights of the North), the latest work of Veloso, the first authorial since "Livro", once again, I was disappointed.
I really like when Caetano shows us his experimental side, as he did in "Circuladô", "Livro" or "Estrangeiro", but I felt that this time he "lost the hand". For instance, that happens when he sings/recite the beautiful text by the Brazilian abolitionist Joaquim Nabuco, the title song "Noites do Norte". It's not the first time Veloso attempted to "sing" prose - he did it before successfully in "Circuladô Vivo" ("Americanos") and "Prenda Minha" ("Verdade Tropical"). All the bravura of the century old essay (1900) didn't help in this case - he should just have kept his original idea and put the excerpt in the insert of the CD.
The homage to Raul Seixas (precursor of Brazilian rock)"Rock'n'Raul" has a nice rock arrangement that brings to Caetano's MPB some contemporary rock and techno flavor. The rhymes of the lyrics, however, don't do it to me ("Esbórnia na Califórnia/Dias ruins em New Orleans/O grande mago em Chicago/.../Uma plantation de maconha no Wyoming"), as Veloso's vacillation as he tries to sound like a rock singer.
Having said that, I should add, or reiterate, were this someone else's recording, I would probably find it very good. But I expect more from Caetano. This, however, didn't keep me from giving "Noites do Norte" another chance. Likewise most of Caetano Veloso's other albums, this one grows with time. The repeated audition bring to light details, nuances that we didn't perceive before; we notice certain musical texture, inaudible in the first try; we detect certain messages that are only reveled to us through the impregnation of the lyrics in our memory. This record is, after all, an adequate sample of the diversity and musical opulence of this who is one of the fathers of the Tropicalism and the Brazilian Popular Music as we know it, and who has brought so much beauty to the four corners of the world."
Very strong effort
Christopher Carton | Bakersfield, CA United States | 03/11/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"When I say 4 stars, I mean in the context of Caetano's lifetime body of work. Estrangeiro and "Circulado" should be seen as brother albums, much in the same way as his 71 album and "Transa," and "Qualquer Coisa" and "Joia." "O Estrangeiro" is undoubtedly one of the best songs he has ever written, probably the best on the album. But that, in no way, makes the remainder of the album anticlimactic. "Branquinha," written for his wife, is very reminiscent of his mentor, Joao Gilberto, with a simple, yet beautiful lead guitar in the bridge, I believe by Arto Lindsay, who produced both Estrangeiro and Circulado. There are some vastly differing directions in the first half of the album, but all very strong efforts. "Este Amor," which he wrote to his ex-wife Dede, is probably my second favorite song- lyrically, one of the most beautiful song/poems I've read anywhere, and gorgeous sound with piano and Bill Frisell on guitar. Outro Retrato is probably the weakest track, being the most obvious tie to the previous album, "Caetano." After a couple more songs which are good, not mind-blowing, the album ends with "Genipapo Absoluto," which is Caetano in top form- a guitar-based ballad aching for the past. Definitely stands up on its own, but anyone who has "Estrangeiro" should definitely get "Circulado," to understand where Caetano was in his grand process which continues to yield gifts to us devoted fans to this day."
