AOTW: Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 SERGIO MENDES

[Harry]

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77
SERGIO MENDES
Elektra 7E-1027

Released 1975

Also released on Elektra CD through East/West Japan as AMCY-6016 and combined with MAGIC LADY in the US on Collectables COL-CD-7670.

Tracks:

Side One
1. Davy (B.Ighner) 4:05
2. I Believe(When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) (Stevie Wonder) 3:40
3. All In Love Is Fair (Stevie Wonder) 4:28
4. Let Them Work It Out (Bell-Creed) 3:09
5. Here Comes The Sun (George Harrison) 3:38

Side Two
1. If I Ever Lose This Heaven (Ware-Sawyer) 3:04
2. Lookin’ For Another Pure Love (Stevie Wonder) 3:38
3. Someday We’ll All Be Free (Don Hathaway) 4:14
4. You Been Away Too Long (B.Ighner) 4:13
5. The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye (Grusin-Bergman-Bergman) 3:58

PRODUCED BY DAVE GRUSIN AND SERGIO MENDES
Recorded at Record Plant
Mixed at Westlake Audio
Engineered and Mixed by Phil Schier
Orchestrated by Dave Grusin
Vocal Arrangements by Bob Alcivar
Photography: Ed Caraeff
Design: David Larkham & Friends
Photograph taken at Dewayne Valentine Studios, Venice, Calif.
Back Cover Sculpture by Dewayne Valentine

Special thanks to:
Harvey Mason - Drums
David T. Walker - Guitar
Oscar Neves - Guitar
David Amaro - Guitar
Dennis Budimir - Guitar
Bernard Ighner - Guitar
Jerome Richardson - Flute
Chuck Rainey - Bass
Paola Costa - Percussion
Bonnie Bowden - Vocals
Sondra Catton - Vocals

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Question: Is there an international version of this with B'77 named on the cover?

I remember seeing this in a store when it first came out. I hadn't heard of it being released -- this being the pre-internet age of course, and Sergio wasn't exactly all over Billboard at that time. I was pretty shocked to see just his name on the cover, but was a bit relieved to see two female vocalists listed on the back, along with names I'd become familiar with. So I thought it would still sound like Sergio, even if the package was different.

There are a couple of songs on here I really like but the whole thing is kind of a letdown, because it really sounds nothing like Sergio Mendes. Outside of the two-girls-singing format, it's just pretty bland American R&B combined with a lot of sappy balladry.

That said, I enjoy "Davy" and the three Stevie Wonder songs the most. A person could make a nice little compilation "Sergio Mendes Plays Stevie Wonder." (But it certainly wouldn't be in my most-played rotation, that's for sure!)

 

[Harry]

None of the versions I have mention Brasil '77 at all. The only reference was when I loaded the CD into the computer, the artist was listed as "Sergio Mendez and Brasil '77".

I have a promotional LP that I grabbed at the radio station. It's got an Elektra/Asylum promo sticker on it and a cut-out upper right corner. It was all I ever needed as I never really got into this album at all.

Again, the Stevie Wonder effect is a bit overwhelming here - I'd rather hear Stevie's versions. I guess my favorite would be either "Davy" or "Let Them Work It Out."

Harry

 

[Dave]

Seems like this is "Sergio Mendes covers the Bernard Ighner songbook"...

A few songs seem to contain rather overtly synthesized doodlings, while like the majority of the album, remain impersonally bland...

Funny how this album does not sport the '77 moniker, in which case this could be mistaken for a "Sergio solo", if not for the female vocalists included...

Three Stevie Wonder songs, such as "All In Love Is Fair" (which precedes "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing", on Stevie's Innervisions album; covered by Mendes, too, on his previous outing, Vintage '74), "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) and "Lookin' For Another Pure Love", (the latter two from Wonder's Talking Book LP), but in this era where doing "Little Stevie" was cool, & cool enough for "covers" of his songs, it's pretty safe to say that Sergio, even in this case, after seeing how the previous "Wonder-Tunes" were done, that he definitely did NOT "Nail 'Em"...!!!!

"Let Them Work It Out" from the famous Philadelphia songwriting duo, Thom Bell & Linda Creed is a pretty unusual choice (& if not for these Sergio albums being presented as "AOTW's", I would surely have started a thread on these "unusual '70's Sergio Mendes covers"!!!!) & I was first familiar with it during my earlier fascination & fondness & interest in The Stylistics, whom I enjoyed greatly (though mainly liked the NY stuff w/ Van McCoy as producer & his "wrecking crew"--though, mainly uncredited--backing them up...) I would say although this is not a favorite track I picked, it is one of the best Sergio did...

Briefly back to Bernard Ighner, their songs here are done OK, but given the myriad covers by other singers, & the fact they don't resonate with much of Sergio's trademark Brasiian beat, they sound greatly streile, in comparison to versions by Nancy Wilson, Shirley Bassey and Cleo Laine...

Nice to see The Bergmans, Alan & Marilyn covered, & although newer stuff like "The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye" hardly ranks w/ their older stuff, they are still credible enough even in this setting to still be fairly good songwriters of their time...

"If I Ever Lose This Heaven" made famous by Average White band & even covered by Quincy Jones on his Body Heat album gets a fairly decent reading, although the over-load of R&B covers, in contrast to the nondescript pop tunes they're alongside of, this seems to be "Sergio Selling Out"... (& hardly having the heart to evoke sounds of Brasil's North-East coast, just to paraphrase the liner notes in Tamba 4's We And The Sea)...!

But all that said, & aside, "Someday We'll All Be Free" is the song I picked, & while it hardly retains the soaring breeze of the Donny Hathaway original, it at least doesn't sound as "half-hearted" in its delivery as the rest of the compositions at times do... (The one track that really saves this album from being a "throwaway"...)

Which means "Here Comes The Sun", somehow, then, ranks as my least fav'... A Beatles song in this sort of context, at this late a date, really doesn't work!

Sadly, this is a down period for Mendes, sad, puffy, stuffy & over-blown... A few passages do shine, but over-all, even minus the '77 moniker (Homecooking is next...) a Sergio Solo Career this hardly makes & whatever reveals that it's still not, in the way of the "hired vocalists & instrumentation" tries to hard to avoid being the "corporate conglomerate pop" we hope "our Bandleader" isn't trying to be...!


Dave

 

[lj]

I bought this album in 1975 with some trepidation as there were no Brazilian songs on it. Once I heard the album I sold it for a few bucks at a used record store as soon as I could. For me it was unbelievable bad. If I wanted to hear quality Brazilian music there was plenty of it on vinyl in 1975, so I bought some great LP's by Jobim, Airto Moreira and Deodato. If you want the Real McCoy, why settle for less.

 

[JMK]

Sergio did a lot of personal appearances on tv to promote this album and I saw many of them. Can't say it's a great "Sergio" album, but it's OK. I much prefer the later Elektra albums. I still think that both Homecooking and New Brasil '77 are among the best things he did, Homecooking especially. Both "Davy" and "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" got airplay in NYC and SLC, both places I was living when this was released.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I still think that both Homecooking and New Brasil '77 are among the best things he did, Homecooking especially.

I agree to an extent. HOMECOOKING has three great tracks in my opinion -- the title song, "Sunny Day" and "Where To Now St. Peter." Those are songs with great hooks and great arrangements. I think they're a high point of the Elektra era. But, the album as a whole sounds extremely dated to my ears. I think most of that stems from the keyboards. The synths are a little too prevalent on the album and there's not enough of the "trademark" acoustic piano sound.

The other thing I don't really like about this album is the lyrics on the originals. "And if you happen to change your mind, a sunny day will shine, and you know a sunny day will always stay." Not exactly classic. when compared with the older B'66 albums.

I do like the HOMECOOKING cover. One of Sergio's best, in my opinion. Gatefolds are almost always cool and the pic of the band on the inside is great.

NEW BRASIL '77 is one I don't play as often, but has a few solid songs.

Wait, what album are we reviewing again?

 

[Harry]

Don't get ahead of yourselves, guys!

Those albums will be coming up, and we don't want to have poor little orphan posts with no responses, now do we?

Maybe we could comment on the album's back cover or something.

Harry

 

[richard_sloat]

THAT is TOTALLY Santa Esmeralda-like!!!!!!!!

http://www.google.com.br/#hl=pt-BR&...aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=a6e7d85ff1522ad7

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5253491

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Oh yeah, that's exactly the same.

 

[richard_sloat]

"-LIKE".

 

[Harry]

"-LIKE".

Not.



Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Mercifully back on topic: As I mentioned in my review, the back cover is what gave me a bit of "comfort" to know that Sergio was still using the two-female-singers model for his sound. Looking at the front, I was thinking he might have made an instrumental piano album or -- perish the thought -- an album of solo vocals. So I was glad to see Bonnie and Sondra on the back.

I was sad to see most of the players from the Bell records gone though, especially Claudio Slon on drums. For some reason I just thought he was cool. (I must have had a premonition that someday he would be an A&M Cornerite!) And, I was sad to see Gracinha gone. I always wondered what the reason was behind this album being made mostly by studio musicians, and much of the rest of Brasil '77 coming back for the next album.

 

[JMK]

I don't think there's any question--and in fact Claudio himself told me privately--that Sergio was trying to reestablish his chart performance once he moved to Elektra, and in fact the album did pretty well for that era of Sergio's recordings. What I always found interesting was that he kept Alcivar on board to do the vocals. One of the big "selling points" for me at the time was seeing Sergio and Grusin as co-producers.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I'm sure he WAS trying get back into the charts (what artist isn't?). I just wonder how the band concept -- not to mention Sergio producing by himself -- happened to be brought back for the next record. I suppose respectable sales for SERGIO MENDES gave him back some clout he hadn't had with the first album for his new label, but you would also think the label would want to continue with the "winning formula."

 

[JMK]

Well, remember, Sergio had been producing at least some of his stuff for some time on A&M, so in a way it was a return to form for him.

 

[Trevor]

If I missed it, my apologies - but - Are Sondra and Bernard Ighner related? (like brother and sister?)

Marlena Shaw has versions of Davy and You Been Away Too Long on her album: Who is this B!tch, anyway? Far better than these - imho.

 

[JMK]

Yes, Sondra is Bernard's sister.

 

[Trevor]

So - this video (below) of Sondra Ighner would be her...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTSHKLVx96w

Yes?

 

[Dave]

Maybe we could comment on the album's back cover or something.


Harry

Yeah, why don't we have MORE o' those???? (--Not to mention GATE-FOLD shots????) :twitchy:

I'm also ready for Homecookin', too!!!!


Dave