Classic AOTW Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS (SP 4197)

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS
A&M SP 4197


Available originally on LP/cassette/open-reel/8-track, and on CD from Japan as POCM-1995 and in the US on Verve B0007426-02.

Track listing:

Side One:
1. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (Steve Cropper-Otis Redding) 3:08
2. Viola (Viola Enluarda) (Marcos Valle-Paulo Valle) 3:47
3. Song Of No Regrets (Sergio Mendes-Lani Hall) 3:55
4. Salt Sea (Sergio Mendes-Sebastião Neto-Lani Hall) 2:29
5. Empty Faces (Milton Nascimento-Lani Hall) 2:48

Side Two:
1. Pretty World (Antonio Adolfo-Tiberio Gaspar-Alan Bergman-Marilyn Bergman) 3:20
2. Dois Dias (Dory Caymmi-Nelson Motta) 2:29
3. You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Gus Kahn-Nacio Herb Brown) 2:34
4. Crystal Illusions (Memorias de Marta Sare) (Edu Lobo-Lani Hall-Johnny Guarnieri) 7:50



Arranged by: Sergio Mendes / Orchestrations by: Dave Grusin / Produced by: Sergio Mendes and Herb Alpert / Engineered by: Larry Levine / Recorded at A&M Recording Studios / Art Direction: Tom Wilkes / Photography: Jim McCrary / Write for a free full color A&M Record Catalogue / This album also available on stereo tapes / A&M Records, 1416 N. La Brea, Hollywood, California 90028.

Personnel Credits from Verve Reissue:
Sergio Mendes (keyboards, vocal, arranger) with collective personnel:
Oscar Castro-Neves (guitar); Sebastião Neto (bass); Rubens Bassini (percussion);
Dom Um Romão (drums); Lani Hall, Karen Philipp (vocal);
Dave Grusin (orchestra arranger, conductor); others unknown.
Recorded 1969

Despite the sappy orchestrations, "Song Of No Regrets" is my favorite here; the breezy pop of "Pretty World" makes for a nice cut also. Most of the album is so buried in orchestrations that today I find it tedious to wade through, however. A shame since it often buries the whole band in it. #fail

This album is very much a "mixed bag" as it features a lot of Brazilian material, but also shifts B'66 away from the "band" sound in favor of a much more orchestrated style. This was started on the Fool on the Hill album but it really takes over here.

There's a change in the production here too...my favorite way to say it is that Fool seems like a "hot" album, where Crystal Illusions seems much more like a "cool" album. I can't really put my finger on the reasons for that, but I think the more-out-front orchestrations combined with a more laid-back vocal style from Lani Hall (she sings without vibrato quite a bit of the time) are responsible.

My favorite song is the title track. I don't know what it is about this song, since it's so different from anything else in the Sergio Mendes canon, but I just think it's great. It's one song where the overblown orchestration fits right in and sets the mood. This is a song that if I'm driving home and it comes on, I just need to keep driving around until it finishes.

Overall, this is far from my favorite B'66 album but it's definitely got its high points.

I don't know if it ever occurred to me before, but in typing in the track listing, I came to the realization that four songs on this album had lyrics contributions by Lani Hall. That's quite impressive, actually.

I think I like this album better (overall, as an album) than the prior release, YE-ME-LE. At least this one somehow managed to escape the CSG fate, so in that sense it sounded better.

We've had the discussions before about Dave Grusin's work, and I'm as much on record as really liking it as others are in dismissing it. That makes this album easier for me to praise.

Side Two for me is the hook. It starts off with the sublime "Pretty World" which I liked the moment I first heard it on the radio - enough to actually buy the single prior to the album's release. And I wasn't generally one to buy 45s back then, figuring that the album version would be better in stereo.

The second track on Side Two, "Dois Dias" is just wonderful. Uptempo and fun with a catchy melody and it builds to a nice crescendo. Even Sergio's vocals are welcome here, and the key change just seals it for me. The only thing about the song that upsets me is that to date, I still have zero idea how to pronounce the title!

I remember the first time playing the album and "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" came on and my Dad's face lit up with recognition of a familiar tune done with a fab Brazilian beat.

Then the title track just puts a cap on this fabulous side, with its epic 7:47 timing, mysterious lyrics and dream-like atmosphere.

The first side is good too, but it's Side Two that always gets me on this album. Favorite track has to be "Pretty World."

Harry

I was going to mention the cover too. This is one of my favorite B'66 covers. Everything from the typefaces chosen to the photography just works on this album. The cover sets the mood for the whole thing.

In fact they never really had a bad cover -- my least fave is probably Ye-Me-Le just because it's so plain....after the full-color and gatefold Fool on the Hill, followed by the full-color Crystal Illusions, we're back to a plain B&W back cover group photo with Ye-Me-Le? At least they redeemed themselves with the next two covers (Stillness and Pais Tropical), which gave the group the status it deserved.

Oh and Harry -- I don't know how to pronounce "Dois Dias" either but if I had to say it out loud, I would probably say "Doe EES Dee AHS." (Where are our Portuguese speakers?)

Didn't Ye Me Le follow this one?

I'm with Harry -- "Pretty World" is my fave here and quite possible my fave of all the B66 songs....

Of course it did. Brain cramp...

Harry

This GE cassette portable I had actually came with a separate jack to plug in a cable that you could use to connect to an earphone output on a radio or TV; I used to tape TV episodes of "Emergency" that way. I also taped the TJB Coney Island special that way and it came out quite good, although the first minute was via the microphone since I was scrambling to find the patch cord!

Actually to my ears, a lot of A&M albums don't sound all that good. They had a period where they released albums with almost no bass content (Baja's Watch Out, TJB's Sounds Like, Brasil '66's Look Around are all examples). Others like this are stuffy sounding. Then they had that horrid CSG system that came straight out of A&M studios and ruined several of their albums with it. The music has always been good, but sonically a lot of them could have used some help. Back then, though, nobody really cared: they played it on junky console systems and plastic all-in-ones.

The two tracks from CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS that were anthologized on the BEST HITS THE LOOK OF LOVE SHM-CD from Japan ("Pretty World" and "Dock Of The Bay") sound much better there than on the most recent Verve version of the album. I don't know whether it should be attributed to the source material, the mastering choices, or the "SHM" material.

Harry

The SHM material doesn't affect the sound, so we can rule that out. (It just reduces error correction work by the CD player...which on a new CD is pretty much non-existent anyway.) It could be that they used different EQ over in Japan. I doubt they would get access to original tapes over there (unless they had digitized copies).

This album took a while to grow on me, but I do enjoy it. My favorite track is "Crystal Illusions" - I just like the eerie, spacey way this was done. It pales to Edu Lobo's version, but it's still good nonetheless.

Really, you like Edu's version better? I need to listen to that again...haven't heard it in years.

Paula, good to see you here. Your legacy here still surfaces once in awhile.

Thank you for the pronunciation guide to "Dois Dias" - it seems to make sense based on what little I know of the language, but I don't know if I'll ever see those words and instinctively pronounce them correctly.

In the past, I vacillated between ending posts with an attempted cleverness surrounded by ellipses and the word "online", and the more generic "NP" for Now Playing that I got from our Mr. Bill. I still do those from time to time when the mood strikes or something clever occurs to me. Perhaps I've not been too clever lately.

Tastes do indeed change, but I find that any real passions I ever had, if they do subside, many times will surface again. I've had on and off periods with Herb, Lani, Sergio, Burt, Carpenters - but something always seems to bring them back to the forefront.

Harry
NP: many versions of Carpenters "Superstar"

Well I was way off on the first word but sort-of close on the second. I have to admit the title doesn't come up much in casual conversation! (Welcome back Paula, good to see your input here again.)

Paula!

That is how I've leaned in recent years also. Ever since listening to Edu Lobo and others, I find I'm not as fond of some of the cover versions I used to like in the past.

I could also apply that to Bacharach but in reverse: I prefer the original hit recordings he wrote, arranged and/or produced; his later re-recordings don't usually cut it (unless it is more unknown tunes like those on Futures).