LIKE A LOVER & BRASIL 66--50 YEARS AGO

[Rudy]

We had the first two B66s in mono, and I played those on the old Admiral hi-fi as a kid. We only had Look Around in stereo, and it wasn't allowed to leave the then-new stereo Maggotbox console in the living room.

 

[lj]

I've never understood why "Like a Lover" has never become the jazz standard that "So Many Stars" is. There is something about the lyrics to the latter that don't hit with me the way "Like a Lover" does.... It features sone of the Bergmans most achingly sensual lyrics, the all-day yearning starting with "Morning sun", ending with the "velvet moon" through "how I envy a cup that knows your lips ...and a table that feels your finger-tips" ...set aglow by Lani's tender, vocals filled with a gentle eroticism... all come together to make it one of my favorite Brasil '66 ballads.

Your observation is well taken, that is, "the all-day yearning starting with morning sun, ending with velvet moon." Brilliant concept and lyrics by the Bergman's.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Listening again to the alternate mix of "Like a Lover," I think I like it a little better than the LP mix. Mainly because it emphasizes Sergio's piano and the Pisano guitar more than the orchestration.

 

[rockdoctor]

I decided to put Like A Lover to the test with the cd's that I have.
I used Verve-Look Around, Classics 18, the Japanese UICY release and Very Best of from London.
I did not use the version from Greatest Hits as that has been CSG'd.
They all sound good but there are noticeable differences between the American recordings and the imports.
The UICY and Very Best both have a higher playing volume with the latter coming out louder than the former.
The two American issues sound almost identical to me as the Classics was most likely using the original masters.
In all the Verve and Classics have the best sound for me as a tie. The higher volume of the imports is a distraction
so the volume of the stereo has to be turned down a bit.
I have the UICY version in a storage box and the London recording makes a nice long playing cd for a bigger variety than
Greatest Hits or Classics.
The Verve version gets the most play.

 

[Harry]

That UK VERY BEST OF was one of the earlier CD packages of Mendes material and it is certainly loud. I also recall some boosted EQ on the highs and lows. But it was good at the time to have many many Brasil 66 tunes on CD.

 

[rockdoctor]

That UK VERY BEST OF was one of the earlier CD packages of Mendes material and it is certainly loud. I also recall some boosted EQ on the highs and lows. But it was good at the time to have many many Brasil 66 tunes on CD.

I found this particular cd on Amazon and bought it even though I already had all the albums as cd's. I bought it to have for travel. This way I have only 1 cd pack instead of 9 in the car.

 

[Harry]

I remember making a third disc for that set that actually had a bunch of the rest of the tracks done from needledrops. That way, I DID have plenty for travel.
At this point I was still missing the PRIMAL ROOTS album, but this third disc compiled all of the missing tracks from FOOL ON THE HILL and any others that were missed. I continued the alternating red and blue titles, but placed them in a list for readability. I hated the way the original 2-disc set was listed in a paragraph format. Very hard to read and find a particular title.

This is the remnants of an ancient Lotus 1-2-3 file that has been converted to Word. Originally, it was designed to fit a CD case.

 

[rockdoctor]

I remember making a third disc for that set that actually had a bunch of the rest of the tracks done from needledrops. That way, I DID have plenty for travel.
At this point I was still missing the PRIMAL ROOTS album, but this third disc compiled all of the missing tracks from FOOL ON THE HILL and any others that were missed. I continued the alternating red and blue titles, but placed them in a list for readability. I hated the way the original 2-disc set was listed in a paragraph format. Very hard to read and find a particular title.

This is the remnants of an ancient Lotus 1-2-3 file that has been converted to Word. Originally, it was designed to fit a CD case.

Harry,
That is a great cd on it's own.

 

[rockdoctor]

I was thinking earlier about Like A Lover and then about Look Who's Mine from YeMeLe.
I think the inspiration for Look Who's Mine might have been Like a Lover.
Like A Lover mentions "The Morning Sun, The River Wind and The Velvet Moon" in that order in the song.
Look Who's Mine mentions"Sleepy Sun, Gentle Wind and The Moon" all in the same order in the song.
It might be coincidence or maybe Alan and Marylin Bergman did think about Like a Lover when writing Look Who's Mine.
In either case, they are both great songs.