Um Canto de Afoxe Para O Bloco do lle (Ile Aye) - Caetano Veloso
O Leaozinho - Caetano Veloso
Cacada - Chico Buarqe
Calice - Chico Buarqe/Milton Nascimento
Equatorial - Lo Borges
San Vicente - Milton Nascimento
Quilomba, o el Dorado Negro - Gilberto Gil
Caramba!... Galileu Da Galileia - Jorge Ben
Caixa de Sol - Nazare Pereira
Maculele - Nazare Pereira
Queixa - Caetano Veloso
Andar Com Fe - Gilberto Gil
Fio Maravilha - Jorge Ben
Anima - Milton Nascimento
Terra - Caetano Veloso
Compiled by former Talking Head David Byrne and released in 1989, with liner notes and translations by Arto Lindsay, Beleza Tropical documents a New York hipster's first infatuation with the rich, deep, and varied spectrum... more » of Brazilian popular music from the rebellious '70s. There are better Brazilian anthologies, but none so clearly assembled in order to counter the received opinion of Brazilian music as lightweight bachelor-pad fluff (although Milton Nascimento, with his beautiful high tenor, sometimes comes close). Caetano Veloso (whose magnificent "Terra" is itself worth the price of admission) and Gilberto Gil are remarkable lyricists whose music is influenced as much by the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of northern Brazil as by the Beatles. Jorge Ben contributes a pair of highfalutin yet funky soccer songs, Chico Buarque is at his most uncompromisingly poetic, and Nazare Pereira taps deep into Brazilian folklore. --Richard Gehr« less
Compiled by former Talking Head David Byrne and released in 1989, with liner notes and translations by Arto Lindsay, Beleza Tropical documents a New York hipster's first infatuation with the rich, deep, and varied spectrum of Brazilian popular music from the rebellious '70s. There are better Brazilian anthologies, but none so clearly assembled in order to counter the received opinion of Brazilian music as lightweight bachelor-pad fluff (although Milton Nascimento, with his beautiful high tenor, sometimes comes close). Caetano Veloso (whose magnificent "Terra" is itself worth the price of admission) and Gilberto Gil are remarkable lyricists whose music is influenced as much by the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of northern Brazil as by the Beatles. Jorge Ben contributes a pair of highfalutin yet funky soccer songs, Chico Buarque is at his most uncompromisingly poetic, and Nazare Pereira taps deep into Brazilian folklore. --Richard Gehr
Utterly perfect intro to Tropicalia, Brazilian psych-pop scene from the late 60s/early 70s. Many classics here by Veloso, Gil, Nascimento and their peers. There is also a Tropicalia comp on Soul Jazz, which is a more varied affair, but this disc is a more gentle and intoxicating introduction to this amazing movement which tore Brazilian music from it's carnival/bossa nova-foundation.
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
CD Reviews
A great CD
01/19/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've had this CD for nearly 10 years now, and I still love it. It is a great introduction to Brazilian music. Like many compilations featuring various artists, there is a wide variety of styles; some songs I don't like as much, while others are just incredible, and that's why it ranks as a five-star CD. I would rank the best songs on "Brazil Classics I: Beleza Tropical" with songs by the Beatles or Simon & Garfunkel. It's hard to describe-- the music is a little bit familiar and accessable to my American ears, and at the same time very different than anything I had heard before. I gave a copy as gift to a friend, and he loved it. Then he promptly went out and bought two copies to give as gifts to other friends. It's definitely the kind of CD you want to share with your friends and spread the word about. The liner notes are quite good, too."
Great Artists...Just Not Their Best Songs.
M. Lee | Santa Monica, CA | 11/04/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I was definitely a little dissapointed in this CD. I originally bought it because it had a lot of my favorite artists on it (Jorge Ben, Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, etc.), however this CD does not showcase these artists best songs or work."
Almost worth replacing
M. Lee | 01/08/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I owned this CD until recently. Basically, I wore it out by playing certain cuts over, and over, and over ... mostly at grad school parties where friends would always ask "What's this! " About 70% of this material is as good as any music I've ever heard, Beatles included. It's the other 30% that grates. Such are the slings & arrows of any very good, challenging compilation by more than one artist. Continuity can be a problem. Worth owning once as a fine (and historically important) intro to Brasilian music, but not worth replacing. There's better musica brasileira to be had - once you know what you like. Therein lies the value of this CD."
Perfect For Non-Experts
Bradley F. Smith | Miami Beach, FL | 04/10/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Back in the '80s when this came out, US pop stars like David Byrne and Paul Simon won great praise for discovering "world music." Of course, this was the height of arrogance because this music has been around forever, just not known to many in the US. This Brazilian sampler is certainly melodious, though some think it doesn't contain the best work of the great Brazilian artists featured. So what? If you don't know this music very well, this CD makes a fabulous introduction. The lilting rhythms and irresistible melodies will grab any ears on first hearing and not let go."