Sergio Mendes - ‘Timeless’
General Description
Artist/Band: Sergio Mendes
Album Title: Timeless
Year: 2006
Absolute Brazil
How I Got Into This Music
My old man, it’s all his fault, the important part of my musical education is all his fault, thanks Alte! heheh..
Yep, my dad had some of the original albums of this influential Brazilian artist, Sergio Mendes. I just remember the incredible sounds coming from all different musical directions: latin, Brazilian, jazz, pop. And those lovely vocals.. just making me wish I was on a sunny island in the tropics.. Hold on, that’s where I was when I listened to this stuff, the lovely island of Curaçao ;o)
So, a coupla months back, I was eager to rediscover some of this music. Lucky me, this album just came out..
Album credits at artistdirect.com || Google Search: Lyrics of Timeless
Tracks that got my attention:
Mas Que Nada ft. The Black Eyed Peas
First things first.. I do not like the Black Eyed Peas, period. They’re talented and inventive musicians and performers, but.. it just doesn’t work for me, to the point that I just zap away whenever there’s a video of them on the tele. But.. this is Sergio Mendes, so.. Nobody can screw up Mas Que Nada, not even Will I Am
That Heat ft. Erykah Badu
Saw the video, had to listen to the album. Miss Badu gets way too little airplay on this track.
Berimbau/Consolacao ft. Stevie Wonder
Wow.. It’s been a long time since I heard Stevie Wonder on the harmonica (The Eurythmics’ track ‘There Must Be An Angel’ to be precise).. Sweet..
Also when the beat and the vocals follow up the intro: deeeeeeelicious!! Miss Gracinha Leporace does let you feel that Brazilian groove, and the Mendes piano gets you right between the ribs!
The Frog ft. Q-Tip
The Abstract from A Tribe Called Quest on a groovy track, kinda works, too bad about the other guy.. The keyboards are so laidback.
Let Me ft. Jill Scott
Power vocalist extreme, Jill Scott, doing the nice and sweet stuff, love it!
Surfboard ft. Will I Am
sigh.. Fair’s fair: this track rocks! Again I’m guessing it’s the piano doing the hard work.
Samba De Brenco ft. Marcelo D2
Sweet, soft and lazy with groove-ass lyrics (don’t understand most of it, but it just gels..)
Timeless ft. India Arie
Third songstress on this album, excellent selection of artists! India Arie’s voice so incredibly strong and warm..
Loose Ends ft. Justin Timberlake and Pharoahe Monch
Strong message, lovely song, and that guy Timberlake keeps surprising me: damn, his vocals are fine!
Conclusion
Almost every track that has got Will I Am gets on my nerves, it’s usually the other performers that make those tracks bearable, with special exception for Surfboard coz there it all works perfectly. Let’s be honest here, this guy worked his sweet fanny off to make this album, so credit to him for that
But that sure as hell ain’t enough for me: it’s the excellent performances by Jill Scott, India Arie, Justin Timberlake and last but not least the great man himself: Sergio Mendes. Great album to reintroduce a lot of people to classic Brazilian music. Great album for those sunny days at the beach!
Ooooooh.. He’s gonna be at North Sea Jazz Festival this summer!
3(you know why it’s not a 4..)/5
EDIT 11-JUN-2006: I just keep enjoying this album more and more, almost forgetting BEP are on it. Songs like Berimbau/Consolacao, Timeless and Loose Ends have almost permenantly been in my head for quite some weeks now. So.. I reckon I’ll have to change the points:
Rating: 
(when it’s good, it’s good..)
May 17th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
He Frenchy
Zag opeens dat je verhuisd was, virtueel gezien dan. Ziet er goed uit deze blog. Zal ff het linkje wijzigen zodat mijn bezoekers je weer live kunnen vinden!
May 17th, 2006 at 6:09 pm
thx 4 the complimentjes en de link-update! tsja, kwas de xs4all experimentele dienstverlening best grondig zat.. nu kan ik in elk geval betalend schelden ;o)
wordpress is ook best nkreng om lekker op te zetten (laat staan de data conversie..), maar tloonde wel de moeite!
May 20th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Ik heb er op mijn eigen server ook wel wat mee gekloot, maar houd toch nog de blog bij xs4all aan want ach, ik kan er mee leven. Mocht ik ooit verhuizen dan zal dat een aardige kluif worden met alles wat er al op staat
May 20th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
yep, aardig wat data over te zetten!
dit is allemaal zonder een dump van xs4all gedaan, maar je zou
dan wel kunnen kijken of die te converteren valt.
klopt, als je ermee kan leven, why not stay?
October 26th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
[...] Twice shy? How I Got Into This MusicFirst single from his Justified album took me by surprise: a boy band nobody doing serious pop, produced by the Neptunes, how can that be?I just didn’t know what to think.. Second and third single came out and I knew I had to give that record a listen. The element of surprise worked for 4 or 5 tracks but the other ones weren’t that good. Still, I was curious for whatever this guy was producing. His incredible track on Sergio Mendes’ Timeless showed the quality of a real performer. And now, his second album is out.. Logical progression or ?? [...]