Search - Elis Regina :: Vento De Maio

For the true Brazilian music lover.

B. Nardi | 02/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you expect easy-listening run of the mill bossa nova, you most likely will not appreciate this excellent album. Different, raw, dreamy, in a way seventy-ish but always honest. It is an album which, like the best albums in history, will grow on you. Those who know Portuguese will understand that this is not just 'I love you so, please love me too'. There is enough boring bossa out there, this is for the true affecionadas of Brazilian music."

ELIS - A TORRID STUDIO SESSION NEAR THE END

RBSProds | Deep in the heart of Texas | 10/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Five GREAT Stars!! This is the late Elis Regina at her very best, singing, scatting, purring, and soaring her way through her only EMI studio session as only she can. Near the end of her life, Elis was pouring it on in this studio session. This session stretches from using huge orchestras and choruses to smaller intimate groups with friends. We can tell this is probably one of her last studio sessions because several songs are the exact songs and arrangements that appear on the live home-recorded "Trem Azul" (The Blue Train) CD, which was the last recording of her work. ("Trem Azul" was remastered from an 8-track recording to a wonderful CD.) The difference between the two CDs is in her vocal delivery and in the inclusion in this CD of other remarkable songs and bonus tracks. That makes both CDs worthy of purchase for inclusion in any comprehensive Elis Regina collection. All singing is in beautiful romantic Portuguese.



Let's get to the "Pieces D'Resistance". The big performance for me is "What Was Really Done" a fiery performance by Elis with Milton Nascimento that ranks among her very best; even her scatting in the background is exciting as Milton whips up his own brand of flames over the rolling beat. In "Get Off It" and "New Season" her voice is a combination of sassiness and poignancy that is matchless, not even by daughter Maria Rita. "Hit The Bullseye" is the type of joyous song that made all of Brazil fall in love with Elis. The single stop hesitations in the song and the sound effect are a real hoot! The title song, "Winds of May" is another huge extravaganza with Elis singing on the upper arc of her voice, as only she can, her voice holding firm. "The Blue Train"is always a bittersweet moment because we know that it was the last recorded song she sang in public before the tragic accident. She purrs her way through "God Only Knows"with a lot of saudade in solo and with the backgound group. In all, a great performance worthy of Five GREAT Stars."

Inexplicable voice smothered by unfavourable settings.

darragh o'donoghue | 01/30/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone warming a well-appointed chamber in their heart for 'Elis and Tom', Antonio Carlos Jobim's desafinitive collaboration with the singer (what an inadequate word) Elis Regina may find the latter's 'Vento De Maio' album very disappointing. It's not that the songs are bad - some of them are very beautiful, echoing with strange, often folk-dark, Brazilian melodies, Elis' bird-restless voice dodging the mysterious mood- and tempo-changes. But the whole thing is an early example of rycooderfication - all native eccentricities are ironed out by superslick production and anonymously proficient session-playing. A few of songs survive the process - 'Tiro Ao Alvaro' (Hit the Bull's Eye) equals anyting on the Jobim album, a joyous, rasping busk; 'So Deus E Quem Sabe' (God Only Knows) and 'O Que Foi Feito Devero' (What Was Really Done) lurk enigmatic vocal alleys; 'Outro Cais' (Another Pier) is a haunting miniature."