Search - Os Mutantes :: Tecnicolor

Thirty Years After

Paulo C. V. Gouvea | Salvador, Bahia, Brazil | 01/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Please notice that the correct name of the album is not Technicolor, but Tecnicolor, without "h".

This long-forgotten album was recorded in Paris, in November, 1970. The misteriously lost tape was found in 1994 and after long revival process the release was promised for July, 1999 and finally happened in April, 2000 - almost thirty years after recorded! No longer a legend, an object of the desire, it became one more classic of the Brazilian and world rock.

Performed by Arnaldo Baptista (keyboards and vocal), Rita Lee (keyboards, flutes and vocal), Sérgio Dias (guitars and vocal), Liminha (bass) and Dinho (drums and percussion), Tecnicolor consists mainly of reworkings of earlier tracks, with a few new ones, the band delivering loose, relaxed performances, keeping their funny approach. The group sounds more conventional here than on their first two albums.

Sean Ono Lennon (who met Arnaldo Baptista and performed an English version of "Panis et Circencis" together at the Free Jazz festival in Rio) signs the cover art of the album...

The lyrics present a mixture of English's, Portuguese, Spanish (or "Portuñol", a mix of Portuguese and Spanish) and French. In fact, some people say that the producer Olms arrested the disk because it was sung in a lot of languages...

The "brazilianism" imposed by the producer mixed with the then recent influence of groups as Yes, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and even of Santana and The Beatles gave to the work an own personality, always potentiated in the versions in English where they try to preserve the humor present in the works of the group.

Some highlights:

"Panis et Circences", classic song of the Mutantes, in shorter version with a fairly smooth approach replacing the heady sonic rush of the original recording.

"I Fell Little Spaced Out (Ando Meio Desligado)" has with good presence of bass and keyboard and benefits from the instrumental muscle. There is a good jam session of blues in the final part of the song.

"Tecnicolor" shows precise vocals, evenly distributed instruments, it is the high point of the album, justifies naming it . Also incorporates some Crosby, Stills, Nash e Young influence.

"El Justiciero", unpublished at that time, was released later in the album "Jardim Elétrico". Basically with guitars, bongo and maracas, it is a classic example of the refined humor of the Mutantes, with funny lyrics in mixture of Portuguese and Spanish with mistakes obviously deliberate, after brief introduction in English half sung half spoken by Rita Lee with curious Mexican accent. The lyrics printed in the insert omits a pearl of the Mutantes' nonsense: ... "Besame mucho Juanita Banana, when caliente el sol... " "Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour" changed definitively in a piece typically French, something as a bolero, with arrangement a la Vivaldi and amazing flutes. Rita astonishes.

If you can read portuguese, see more detailed review (or at least see the pictures) in http://soundchaser.com.br/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5162"

One of their strongest albums... recommended!

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 04/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This may not be the place to start with Mutantes, but it sure is a nice place to wind up. Musically speaking, this is probably their strongest album, at least the most consistent, without the wild swings in quality of their classic early works. PS - if you like this disc, you should also check out Rita Lee's first few solo records, particularly the pre-breakup albums where she's basically backed by Os Mutantes.



This is a grrreat record."

Incredible CD-- A "MUST HAVE"

EveAnna D Manley | Chino, CA USA | 10/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"IMHO, This "Technicolor" release is the best one to own (and I own them all). The remastering job done by Carlos Freitas of Classic Masters took him three months to do and by far, this is the best sounding collection of any of the Mutantes compact discs, even though he was only given poor 7 1/2 ips tape with tons of drops-outs to work with-- he pulled off of these tapes an amazing sound. It is much better than the Luka Bop compilation in terms of sound quality (listen to the two versions of "El Justiciero" which are the exact same recording and see what I mean). Carlos gave me a brazilian copy of "Technicolor" as soon as it was pressed last year and boy howdy am I pleased to finally see it available in the states! It is totally fun to compare the different arrangements of the english (or french) versions of the "Technicolor" tunes vs. the originals. (Yeah ok, some of the translations are off a bit, but who cares!) I have really gotten to prefer these "Technicolor" renditions/arrangements actually. This is totally one of my "desert island" discs. I couldn't rate it higher. Buy it!And thank you to David Byrne with your original Beleza Tropical compilation, for introducing me to the Tropicalismo world of Brazilian music. All I knew of Brazilian Music was Bossa nova before I picked up "Beleza Tropical" over ten years ago. You enlightened me. Thank you!"