Home Cooking

[Trevor]

This has always been an interesting album for me.
The vocalists: Bonnie Bowden (Amaro), Lise Miller, and Marietta Araiza (Waters) have an interesting sound when they sing all together. Seperately, it's quite easy to know which singer is singing, because they each have a very distinctive voice.
I think that this album is a hit or miss album with most fans. I know that Brandon likes it for the same reasons as I do... but I am not sure about the rest of the fans.

 

[Cortnee]

Home Cooking I consider to be in the middle of the road. It's not my favorite, yet it's not my least favorite.I'm with you Trevor, Homecooking IS an interesting album INDEED! "Sunny Day" gives me the urge to puke everytime I hear it. Lise Miller really SHINES on "Tell Me In A Whisper", which was written by Edgar Winter & the late Dan Hartman. Joe Pizzullo worked with Dan on his hit song I Can Dream About You. My point is the some songs suck while the others are shining gems.Gracinha is also on Homecooking, she sings backup on Emorio. Why isn't she credited though? I know Marietta is on Homecooking, however she does't sing any solos.Bonnie sings on "Cut That Out" , "It's So Obvious I Love You", and " Homecooking". while Lise sings on Where Now To St. Peter", Emorio, and Tell Me In A Whisper. Shakara is an awkward instrumental with no flair at all. Homecooking is a 6!

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I like "Sunny Day." The lyrics are pretty lame but the thing is sure catchy. I also like "Home Cooking" for the same reason. "Where To Now St. Peter" does the near impossible, which is to do a great job on an Elton John song without actually being Elton John.

I think "Shakira" is one of Mendes' better instrumentals. It has a better flow to it than some of his others.

The rest of the album has not stood the test of time for me all that well. I love the cover though.

 

[Dave]

HOMECOOKING is a "fair to middlin' album" to me, too. :|

"Cut That Out" and "Homecooking" are all that are really memorable.

And the cover is nice, too!

Dave

 

[JMK]

I have to disagree pretty strongly with those who dismiss this album. In some ways I think it's easily the strongest (along with "New Brasil '77") in Sergio's admittedly spotty Elektra period. After the MOR mush of "Love Music" and, to a lesser extent, "Vintage '74" and the weirdly almost anti-Sergio first Elektra release, "Homecooking" was a breath of fresh air for this longtime Sergiophile. The rhythm section had a new vitality (which would spill over into "New Brasil '77") and the arrangements were top-notch. As I mentioned here a year or two ago, I found out recently that this was a big fave at Berklee when it was released, due to the exemplary bone and other horn work of greats like Hank Redd, etc. I absolutely love just about all of this album, with the possible exception of the (again, strangely anti-Carlos Lyra) "It's So Obvious That I Love You."

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Well now if Sergio's entire recorded output consisted of just those post-Bell Elektra albums, then HOMECOOKING would be far and away his best! But compared with his entire catalog, I think he did much better things before AND after this one.

To me the biggest problem with the album is: Too many different keyboards. I found myself longing for the simpler acoustic piano days. The keyboard work on this album sounds dated now, unlike that on many of the B'66 albums.

That "new vitality" on NEW BRASIL '77 can mostly be attributed to the disco movement, me-thinks.

 

[JMK]

I've always thought of Magic Lady as Sergio's "disco" album. Just my two cents, but I felt a visceral infusion of energy with Homecooking that stayed through New Brasil '77--there was a reinvention and reimagining of the classic Brasil '66 sound, using more of a Quarteto em Cy sound in the vocals, and it just really connected with me more strongly than anything Sergio had done since leaving A&M.

 

[Cortnee]

Magic Lady is definitely Sergio's disco project. There's NOTHING disco-ish about The New Brasil 77 or Homecooking or Brasil 88 except for the song One More Lie.

 

[Dave]

Well, HOMECOOKING is a bit of an also-ran, then. It would be interesting to run a poll on all of Sergio's Elektra material, as I have the S/T Sergio Mendes album before that, and used to have SERGIO MENDES & THE NEW BRASIL '77 (A/K/A "Soccer") and even used to have MAGIC LADY.

Dave

 

[jfiedler17]

Joe Pizzullo worked with Dan on his hit song I Can Dream About You.

Seriously? I never knew that! That's always been one of my favorite songs, but I only have the 45! I need to find an LP of it now and check out the liner notes!

 

[Mike Blakesley]

There's NOTHING disco-ish about The New Brasil 77 or Homecooking or Brasil 88 except for the song One More Lie.

Cortnee: Clean the peanut butter outta your ears, lady! Love Me Tomorrow, Why, Sunny Day, Homecooking, The Real Thing, and to a lesser extent Mozambique are all very disco-ish. There may be even more than those, but I'm not with my CDs at the moment to look at the titles.