The coolest sound from Rio
Doc Meter | 07/22/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The second Celso Fonseca album comes as a nice surprise to me. The first didn't impress me that much, but this contains high quality songs (well unless you are tired of the bossa nova stereotype) and a great voice, really a bit too much similar to Caetano Veloso but this is not a fault but a pleasure to me.
Two of the songs are really wonderful,"Rio para tras" and "Um mondo estranho". Not that peculiar the cover of Damien Rice and the instrumental "Atlantico". Very nice the duet with Jorge Drexler and the cover of Henri Salvador. Probably a bit too much all in the same mood but very classy. The production is minimal but when the songs are good they don't need much more than a voice and an acoustic guitar."
Delicate
Larry White | AdultPop.com | 11/17/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Truth be told, if pressed, we couldn't really tell, say, a samba from a bossa nova from a cha cha from any other mid-tempo, Latin dance style, for that matter. We do know, however, that we are magnetically drawn to the sultry beats of nearly all Brazilian music. Celso Fonseca, a superb singer/musician, is our latest Brazilian discovery. Fonseca's self-produced cd, `Rive Gauche Rio', is an enthralling piece of work. Grounded by the gentle strum of his guitar, Fonseca's alluring ballads are buoyed by the tasteful presence of horns, multi-tracked vocals, gentle percussion and modern studio devices and techniques. Fonseca's melodies and performances exude warmth and sensuality. Unfortunately, we may have to learn Portuguese in order to properly assess his way with words (although two songs are sung in English, including an intriguing rendition of Irish folk-singer, Damien Rice's `Delicate'). But really, with music this sumptuous, words hardly matter.
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