"Metacritic dotcom rates it as one of the top 2 cds so far this year (as of May 2006)"
Post Tropicalia gone off the deep end
wm | ...onward....thru the fog! | 07/28/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Tropicalia movement consisted of a group of inconoclasts who took bossa nova and samba, deconstructed them, then put them back together, and in the process indulged in psychedelics, so what came out became a heady mixture of Beatles inflected Brazilian music.
Tom Ze, an iconoclast's iconoclast, took things one step further and deconstructed the reconstructed Tropicalia and turned it into....well, Tom Ze....there's just no comparison, since his signature sound is just inimitable.
I'd have to agree with the reviewer here who says this is "not the place to start" if you're contemplating your first Tom Ze purchase. This CD, which is ostensibly an opera of sorts about the subjugation of women over the centuries, is indisputably his most inaccessible. It's got some highlights, but "Fabrication Defect", "Hips of Tradition", or "Jogos de Armar" are much more catchy and listenable as a whole."
Terrific Fun
Swineface | England | 05/24/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Tom Ze has lost none of his lively sense of fun over the years. Each track beautifully crafted and full of interest. The bold experimentation with layers of sound combined with traditional forms makes the album sound fresh each time I listen - which is often!"
"The current and official Tom Ze record of world events all summed up in a "PAGODE". An after-political-intrigue cocktail party for tails looking for cocks and cocks looking for tails and every other form of collusion and back-room, boardroom and even bathroom politicos with their secrets and lies and all disguised to look like a press-the-flesh / press-the-flush festival of Tom Ze-foolery ! Drink ! Dance ! Sing ! Samba ! Pagode ! Pagode ! and Pagode Again ! I adore this man tremendously !, so should you!"