Search - Various Artists :: Nova Latino, Vol. 5

Day Late, Dollar Short

bordersj2 | Boston | 06/03/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There's loads of Nueva Bossa Nova comps out there. Some are at the head of the class, some in the middle, some bring up the rear. This is one series that was usually in the middle of the pack with a few stand-out cuts that push it slightly avove the regulars. There was even a box set released featuring the first 4 of the Nova Latino series. And, much like Brazilectro, you can usually expect to see the next Nova Latino in the spring-summer months. But that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of similarities. Unlike Brailectro, Break & Bossa & a few others, there usually aren't any exclusive cuts.



Nova Lation 5 takes that to a whole other level with this one. The positive: It's got some good songs. Victor Davies "Better Place", a cool remix to Bobby Brazil's "Gool! Samba For Ronaldo" remixed, Grupo Batuque's guitar and sun drenched "Taruma" and even the hppiness in Henri Salvador's "Jazz Mediterranee". For the most part, the songs on here are quality and if you're a bit new to this genre and want some cookie cutter songs, this will be a good cd to have. The negative: There's very little new tunes on this, and it's very un-original. There's a very heavy Brazilectro 6 and Brazilution 5.2 presence on this - those were compilations from this time, 2004. There're also a few tracks from Brazilectro 4 (2002), and cuts from Gluclich 4 (2000) and Glucklich 1 (1996 I believe). Not to mention an extremely high volume of carry-over between this and sony's Rio Lounge series. My last gripe; they butchered the heck out of Quant's remake of Constelacao by Jazzinho. That was HORRIBLE. To be fair, Brazilution 5.2 cut it by a few minutes too but it was nothing like the hack job here.



The verdict? It's a solid set of tunes if you're into the Nova Latino series instead of Brazilectro's, etc. It's got some decent cuts on it and there's still some cuts on here that are okay that weren't on the bigger/better comps and it will be a very fair summer cd. However I think the Brazilectro series and it's sister comp, Brazilution on Ministry, are always the better options because they're WAY ahead of Nova Latino in delivering fresher songs and quality original takes. Another series that's beyond this is Far Out Records many different projects - like Brazilian Love Affair. The artists on their label are stellar. Brazilution 5.3 was just released in Europe while Brazilectro 7 will be out in July... if you want to know what will be on Nova Latino 6 NEXT year, get those. lol



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