AOTW: Sergio Mendes BRASIL '88

[Harry]

Sergio Mendes
BRASIL '88
Elektra 6E-134

Available on RCA/BMG CD from Brazil (74321949972)

Tracks:

Side One:
1. Bridges (Nascimento-Brant-Lees) 4:38
2. Waters Of March (Jobim) 3:50
3. That's Enough For Me (Grusin-Austin) 3:52
4. Misturada (Moreira-Vandré) 3:00

Side Two:
5. One More Lie (Sembello-Dino) 3:39
6. Midnight Lovers (Sembello-Dino) 3:22
7. Harley (Sembello) 3:02
8. Tiro Cruzado (Angelo-Borges) 3:21
9. Life Goes On (Ighner) 4:02

Produced and arranged by Sergio Mendes
Associate Producer: Richard Hazard
Recorded and Remixed by Geoff Gillette
At Kendun Recorders, Burbank
from December 5th 1977 to
February 17th 1978
Assistant Engineers: Terry Moore, Bob Bullock,
Geoff Sykes
Mastered at Kendun Recorders by
Geoff Gillette and Terry Moore
Horns and String Arrangements on BRASIL '88 by Richard Hazard
Keyboards: Sergio Mendes
Bass: Nathan Watts
Drums: Raymond Pounds and Alex Acuña
Guitars: Michael Sembello, Oscar C. Neves, Nelson Angelo
Percussion: Laudir Oliveira, Nana, Emil Richards, Kenneth Nash, Sergio Mendes
Vocals by: Marietta Waters and Carol Rogers
Violins: Harry Bluestone, Paul Shure, Nathan Ross, Murray Adler, Henry Ferber, Shirley Cornell, Gordon Marron, Israel Baker, Arnold Belnick, Stanley Plummer, Assa Drori, Ralph Silverman, Sheldon Sanov, Ronald Folson, Don Palmer, Carl La Magna, David Frisina, Tibor Zelig
Violas: David Schwartz, Richard Dickler, Virginia Majewski, Samuel Boghossian, Gareth Nuttycombe, Allan Harshman, Rollice Dale
Cellos: Jeff Solow, Douglas Davis, Raymond Kelley, Edgar Lustgarden
Harp: Dorothy Remsen
Flutes & Piccolo: Bud Shank, Gene Cipriano, Terry Harrington, Ted Nash, Ronald Langinger, Jerome Richardson, Ernest Watts, Don Menza
Trumpets: Chuck Findley
Trombone: Frank Rosolino
Baritone Sax: Ernest Watts
Tenor Sax: Don Menza
Soprano Sax: Jerome Richardson
Flugelhorn: Chuck Findley
French Horns: David Duke, Richard Perissi, Vincent de Rosa
Background Singer on "One More Lie" - Cruz Baca
Orchestra Manager: Ben Barrett

 

[Mike Blakesley]

This one's a mixed bag. I really liked "One More Lie" when it came out and even wrote a letter to Elektra suggesting it would make a great single. (Didn't hear back.) Now, my favorite song on it is "Tiro Cruzado" -- sounds like a descendant of "After Sunrise" and "Asa Branca" from the A&M days.

The other songs on the album ....ehhhh, pretty much typical Elektra-era stuff.

 

[JMK]

Some of this album is overproduced IMHO (didn't the CD liner notes say it had a $300K budget, which was astronomical back then?), but I still like a lot of it. Think "Midnight Lovers" is absolutely gorgeous, easily more effective than Lani's later version. "That's Enough for Me" and "One More Lie" are fun numbers, and "Tiro Cruzado" and "Misturada" (which Sergio also produced for the aborted Manfredo Fest LP for A&M, though Manfredo's single of the tune was released on 45) are also great.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Agreed, I do like this version of "Midnight Lovers" a little more than Lani's version. I remember thinking (and still do) that the album had too many ballads on it. I also didn't think the version of "Waters of March" here improved much on the VINTAGE 74 version -- couldn't see much point in the re-make.

 

[Dave]

This is one SM album I missed out on (or perhaps the cover of Sergio & the two radios gave me a different, less-favorable impression of what I'd be getting, thereby purposely avoiding)...

The "That's Enough For Me", is surprisingly not the Paul Williams version, which I think on maybe an outing like Love Music or even had Primal Roots gone a different route, it would'a worked!

However, although I've yet to hear it, I decided "Bridges (Travessia)" should get my vote; just seems to be the familiar Bossa nova territory that we've grown to know & love, while, too, there's little point in "Waters Of March" being redone... Although compared to the painful period the group's tenure on Bell was, maybe it would be more appropriated in this new setting...


Dave

 

[JMK]

I know he gets some people's goat, but I much preferred the Grusin orchestration on Waters of March on Vintage '74. A lot more "fun."

 

[Mike Blakesley]

"Bridges (Travessia)" should get my vote; just seems to be the familiar Bossa nova territory that we've grown to know & love

Dave: Nope, not even close....it is a ballad.

 

[JMK]

Well, to be fair, not even Milton does it as a Bossa Nova.

 

[Harry]

Brasil '88's "Bridges" is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2HJHl0-y98

Harry

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

If I'm not mistaken, "Bridges" actually made it onto the Billboard R&B singles chart, right? Not much of his music charted in the 70s......

 

[JMK]

If I'm not mistaken, "Bridges" actually made it onto the Billboard R&B singles chart, right? Not much of his music charted in the 70s......

Not according to Whitburn. His only three charting R&B singles (through 1988, which is where my volume ends) are The Real Thing, I'll Tell You and Never Gonna Let You Go.

 

[richard_sloat]

Well, to be fair, not even Milton does it as a Bossa Nova.

It is a very, very good song regardless, isn't it?? Even the English lyrics for this version are quite nice.

 

[Dave]

Brasil '88's "Bridges" is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2HJHl0-y98

Harry

OK, so I stand corrected... Like the "newer version" of "Waters Of March", whereas the version from Vintage '74 is "Regular", this one is "Fast Acting"...!!!!

That said & judging by what I thought of the cover (and that I at least played the two "key songs") it's easy to then see why this is one LP (along w/ Sergio Mendes '86) from the later-Sergio catalog that I've justifiably avoided in that I thought these albums were just to me going to sound "Too New"...

So in conclusion, this just sums up as "never really heard"...

(Though, how the heck did I ever manage to have Magic Lady????!!!!)


Dave

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

Damn that Wikipedia!!!