WOW. A bossa nova treasure trove!
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 07/05/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Nara Leao, who passed away in 1989, was one of the greatest Brazilian singers of the bossa nova era. The early pioneers of bossa nova used to gather in her parents house to rehearse and to party; in the early '60s she became one of Brazil's biggest stars, lending her gorgeous, delicate voice to the early songs of Chico Buarque, Sidney Miller, and other up-and-coming songwriters. This amazing 15-CD box set collects her first fourteen albums (from 1964-1975), along with an additional CD's worth of rarities. (Each CD also includes a rare track or two, such as Nara singing in Spanish or French...) These album have been nearly impossible to find for decades, and their re-release is a wonderful blessing for fans of Leao and modern Brazilian pop. Great sound quality, handsome packging, and amazingly, thoroughly beautiful music.The albums reissued include: "Nara" (1964), "Opinao De Lara" (1964), "O Show Do Opinao - Ao Vivo" (1965), "O Canto Livre De Nara" (1965), "5 Na Bossa" (with Edu Lobo/Tamba Trio, 1965), "Nara Pede Passagem" (1966), "Manha De Liberdade" (1966). "Vento De Maio" (1967), "Nara" (1967), "Nara Leao" (her so-called 'tropicalia album, from 1968), "Coisas Do Mundo" (1969), "10 Anos Depois" (gorgeous!! - from 1971), "Nara" (1971), "Meu Primeiro Amor" (1975), and the "Raridades" disc, which inlcudes some of the tracks from the 1972 show album, "Quando O Carnaval Chegar," made with Chico Buarque and Maria Bethania. Amazon should also have the track listings..."
A true trendsetter
cmartins | Rio de Janeiro, Brasil | 12/01/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although nicknamed "The Muse of Bossa Nova", Nara, in her recordings, was anything but: she wouldn't record her first bona fide Bossa Nova album until the 1971 two-LP set Dez Anos Depois (recorded while in self-exile in Paris). But she was much more. In her 1964 eponymous debut solo LP, Nara (re-)introduced middle class audiences to then-nearly-forgotten samba greats Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho and Ze Keti, and by and large spurred a samba "renaissance". That very same year, shortly after the military coup, she starred in the Opiniao show with Ze Keti and Joao do Vale, and gave voice to a whole generation who had been stilled by truculence. As if that alone weren't enough, throughout the Sixties Nara (together with Elis Regina) was the springboard for then-fledgling songwriters Chico Buarque, Sidney Miller, Paulinho da Viola, Edu Lobo, Gilberto Gil among others, while consistently delving time and again into the treasure trove of The Great Brazilian Songbook and keeping herself unfailingly open to the new yet wisely eschewing the mere novelty. This set is expensive, sure; but it's also a unique opportunity (and beautifully packaged, too) to get to know a true trendsetter, without whom Brazilian music would have been much poorer."
Track Listings (207) - Disc #1