Brasil '66 singles

[Cuyler]

I love it! I’ve met people on the mainland named Lonnie but never Lani from Leilani! I have some friends here named Leilani; they go by “Lei” for short more often than “Lani.” In any case, it’s a beautiful name. I hope to do more research on Lani Hall! My mom appreciates her work with Herb Alpert. I know that my mom thought Lani had Hawaiian connections and that Herb was Latino at one point—she was surprised to learn that Herb is a talented Jewish American trumpeter. Honestly, even if the two of them are not Brazilian or Latino, their repertoires reflect such a worldliness that other artists of the time didn’t really have, not to my knowledge. To make Brazilian bossa nova not only mainstream but almost sophisticated/cosmopolitan for its time really speaks volumes about their forward-thinking vision, especially during the mid-1960s. I think my grandfather had some Sergio Mendes tapes (reel to reel) but unfortunately they baked in the Hawaiian heat, so when I rediscovered them maybe 5 years ago they were curled up and brittle. 😭

 

[Cuyler]

Some of us are pretty big fans without any, or very much, knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese.

I was going to mention as well that it speaks volumes to me how you all are so passionate about the music. It shows that music is the universal language!

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I love it! I’ve met people on the mainland named Lonnie but never Lani from Leilani! I have some friends here named Leilani; they go by “Lei” for short more often than “Lani.” In any case, it’s a beautiful name. I hope to do more research on Lani Hall! My mom appreciates her work with Herb Alpert. I know that my mom thought Lani had Hawaiian connections and that Herb was Latino at one point—she was surprised to learn that Herb is a talented Jewish American trumpeter. Honestly, even if the two of them are not Brazilian or Latino, their repertoires reflect such a worldliness that other artists of the time didn’t really have, not to my knowledge. To make Brazilian bossa nova not only mainstream but almost sophisticated/cosmopolitan for its time really speaks volumes about their forward-thinking vision, especially during the mid-1960s. I think my grandfather had some Sergio Mendes tapes (reel to reel) but unfortunately they baked in the Hawaiian heat, so when I rediscovered them maybe 5 years ago they were curled up and brittle. 😭

You should absolutely watch both the Herb Alpert and Sergio Mendes documentaries that came out in the last year.

 

[Cuyler]

I bought the "Herb Alpert Is..." documentary on Apple TV (it has spatial audio) mostly to see the clips from Make Your Own Kind of Music (Karen and Richard introduced Herb Alpert, who lipsynced to "This Guy's in Love with You" - from the pilot episode). That was a treat to see that clip remastered in HD. I'll have to sit down and watch the whole thing when I have time!

 

[Rudy]

So, this whole time I thought it was “Mais que nada” (“more than anything,” or “above all”) and am only now reading that it’s “Mas que nada” (literally “but that nothing,” but I read it’s a saying for “yeah right”).

The original tune was indeed "Mas Que Nada," and Tamba Trio was one of the first to cover it. I have a few versions of it and theirs is my favorite, with the Brasil '66 not far behind. I have a feeling the incorrect spelling was by way of A&M's production or art department and not Sergio, who (obviously) would know better when covering one of his colleagues' tunes. 😁

 

[Cuyler]

The original tune was indeed "Mas Que Nada," and Tamba Trio was one of the first to cover it. I have a few versions of it and theirs is my favorite, with the Brasil '66 not far behind. I have a feeling the incorrect spelling was by way of A&M's production or art department and not Sergio, who (obviously) would know better when covering one of his colleagues' tunes. 😁

I'll have to take a listen to their version! It could definitely be A&M as well... "mais que nada" makes more sense without context imho since it means "more than anything." And I know that Brazilians in general mix up mas and mais, so I definitely won't fault anyone for making that little error. (It's kind of like the there/their/they're of Portuguese, I feel. Even college-educated folks sometimes slip up on that from time to time accidentally.)

 

[rockdoctor]

Over the last few weeks, I've been actively seeking to fill out my collection of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 single 45s for the express purpose of finding any alternate mix gems among the mono recordings. Just having mono versions of some of the CSG'ed stuff is a bonus, and I'm finding a few little oddities along the way.

• "Like A Lover" is a very "wet" mix compared to the stereo
• "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" is a dry mix compared to the stereo
• "For Me" has the early vocal fade compared to the stereo

Anyway, I just want to know if I've gotten all that there is to be had. Here's what I've got, in numerical order:

825 Constant Rain/A Slow Hot Wind
838 For Me/Gente
853 Night And Day/Cinnamon And Clove
872 The Frog/Watch What Happens
910 With A Little Help From My Friends/Look Around
924 The Look Of Love/Like A Lover
961 The Fool On The Hill/So Many Stars
986 Scarborough Fair/Canto Triste
1049 Pretty World/Festa
1073 (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay/Song Of No Regrets
1132 Wichita Lineman/Ye-Me-Le
1164 Norwegian Wood/Masquerade
1209 For What It's Worth/Viramundo
1313 After Midnight (B'77 mono promo)
1346 The Crab (B'77 mono promo)

Other than a $15 copy on eBay of "Mas Que Nada/The Joker" that I'm not willing to pay for, I've been unable to find that original 45. For recording onto CD-R purposes, I'm going to use those two tracks from the mono version of HERB ALPERT PRESENTS. I find it somewhat odd that Sergio's first big hit is that hard to find, given the number of times it's shown up on compilations.

I'm undecided as to whether or not to include in any compilations I make whether or not to include the B'77 stuff, and there's at least one more B'66 single that I can only find in stereo, 1245 Righteous Life/Lost In Paradise.

I'm only looking for original US singles at this point. I know there are a number of issues in the UK, Japan, Brazil, etc., that might qualify, but I can't trust that they are genuine US mono mixes. They could just be fold-downs - as indeed some of the US issues might be.

But from what I've heard, some of these have slightly different levels of compression, different dynamixs, some obvious, some really subtle.

Looking at the number of these tracks, there are too many to fit on one compilation disc as a regular CD-R, so I'll likely have to split them into two, which leaves me with the quandary of how to split and/or sequence them.

My first thought is to take all of the A and B sides and just split them roughly in the middle, so that all of the singles from the first three albums would go on one disc, and everything from FOOL ON THE HILL onward would go on the second disc. That works musically as the sidemen changed drastically at that point, but the there are the older B-sides that show up on the later singles.

The other thought would be to do the A-sides on one disc and the B-sides on another.

Comments...thoughts...additions?

Harry

Harry, did you ever get your copy of Mas Que Nada?

 

[Harry]

Yes I did. Patience paid off.

 

[rockdoctor]

Yes I did. Patience paid off.

Congratulations!!! I still hope to find a mono copy of the Fool On Th Hill album!!!

 

[GrooveVoyager]

Also, does anyone know the story behind her name, Leilani? Coming from Hawaii, I know it means "heavenly lei (flower garland)." I always find myself surprised when people not born in Hawaii have Hawaiian names (like Leilani Hall or Keanu Reeves).

Not sure where Lani's folks got the name Leilani.
An article I found recently states that Lani was born to a Russian factory-working father and Polish immigrant mother. Some more interesting Lani facts can be found at Brazilian Interpreter

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Not sure where Lani's folks got the name Leilani.
An article I found recently states that Lani was born to a Russian factory-working father and Polish immigrant mother. Some more interesting Lani facts can be found at Brazilian Interpreter

As I posted on June 24:



I believe Herb said somewhere that her parents were big fans of Bing Crosby’s song “Sweet Leilani, which was a hit less than a decade before she was born.

 

[rockdoctor]

Over the last few weeks, I've been actively seeking to fill out my collection of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 single 45s for the express purpose of finding any alternate mix gems among the mono recordings. Just having mono versions of some of the CSG'ed stuff is a bonus, and I'm finding a few little oddities along the way.

• "Like A Lover" is a very "wet" mix compared to the stereo
• "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" is a dry mix compared to the stereo
• "For Me" has the early vocal fade compared to the stereo

Anyway, I just want to know if I've gotten all that there is to be had. Here's what I've got, in numerical order:

825 Constant Rain/A Slow Hot Wind
838 For Me/Gente
853 Night And Day/Cinnamon And Clove
872 The Frog/Watch What Happens
910 With A Little Help From My Friends/Look Around
924 The Look Of Love/Like A Lover
961 The Fool On The Hill/So Many Stars
986 Scarborough Fair/Canto Triste
1049 Pretty World/Festa
1073 (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay/Song Of No Regrets
1132 Wichita Lineman/Ye-Me-Le
1164 Norwegian Wood/Masquerade
1209 For What It's Worth/Viramundo
1313 After Midnight (B'77 mono promo)
1346 The Crab (B'77 mono promo)

Other than a $15 copy on eBay of "Mas Que Nada/The Joker" that I'm not willing to pay for, I've been unable to find that original 45. For recording onto CD-R purposes, I'm going to use those two tracks from the mono version of HERB ALPERT PRESENTS. I find it somewhat odd that Sergio's first big hit is that hard to find, given the number of times it's shown up on compilations.

I'm undecided as to whether or not to include in any compilations I make whether or not to include the B'77 stuff, and there's at least one more B'66 single that I can only find in stereo, 1245 Righteous Life/Lost In Paradise.

I'm only looking for original US singles at this point. I know there are a number of issues in the UK, Japan, Brazil, etc., that might qualify, but I can't trust that they are genuine US mono mixes. They could just be fold-downs - as indeed some of the US issues might be.

But from what I've heard, some of these have slightly different levels of compression, different dynamixs, some obvious, some really subtle.

Looking at the number of these tracks, there are too many to fit on one compilation disc as a regular CD-R, so I'll likely have to split them into two, which leaves me with the quandary of how to split and/or sequence them.

My first thought is to take all of the A and B sides and just split them roughly in the middle, so that all of the singles from the first three albums would go on one disc, and everything from FOOL ON THE HILL onward would go on the second disc. That works musically as the sidemen changed drastically at that point, but the there are the older B-sides that show up on the later singles.

The other thought would be to do the A-sides on one disc and the B-sides on another.

Comments...thoughts...additions?

Harry

Harry,
I was on Amazon.com a bit ago and saw where they had Chelsea Morning backed with Where Are You Coming From? and the number at the bottom of the single was 1226. I heard it a lot on the radio back in 1970 so there was a single release of it after all. There was no price, just the picture of the single.

 

[Harry]

It does appear that 1226 was released in a promo with Chelsea Morning mono on one side. That would be of interest to me as I was compiling mono single tracks. The stock 1226 is only stereo.

 

[rockdoctor]

It does appear that 1226 was released in a promo with Chelsea Morning mono on one side. That would be of interest to me as I was compiling mono single tracks. The stock 1226 is only stereo.

I hope that it shows up somewhere for you.

 

[rockdoctor]

It does appear that 1226 was released in a promo with Chelsea Morning mono on one side. That would be of interest to me as I was compiling mono single tracks. The stock 1226 is only stereo.

Harry, I saw a promo of Chelsea Morning on ebay. The price tag is just over $45 though.