Frenchy’s Fracas

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..)

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General Description
Artist/Band: Erykah Badu
Album Title: Wordwide Underground
Year: 2003

Mellow, musical craftmanship with a touch of weirdness and a lot of Soul..
 
How I Got Into This Music
CNN did a special segment on the Texas artist with the weird spelling, Erykah Badu. And they showed parts of the video “On And On”, and I was stunned! Here’s this skinny yet incredibly beautiful lady with the big killer eyes, singing a nasal variant of something sounding like Miss Billie Holiday, wow!!
Now she can’t compare to Lady Day and she sure as hell ain’t trying to. So I was hooked immediately, but her first album “Baduizm” didn’t work for me. Later on, “Baduizm Live” came out, a live registration (as the title already suggests), and that album.. well, it worked instantly!! It was weird how much difference in enjoyment there was for me between the studio and the live album..
This continued with her second album “Mama’s Gun” which couldn’t impress me at all.. Then this album “Worldwide Underground” came out..

Tracks that got my attention:

Bump It Featuring Zap Mama & Karon Wheeler
Remember Karon Wheeler? No? Howzabout the “Back To Life” track from SoulIISoul? Ahah.. She did the vocals.
Groovy soul track with a weird finale

Back in the Day (Puff)
Now this track really gets me going! Mega mellow melodies, instant floor filler and weird nostalgia trigger.. Love it!!

I Want You
This is a very gutsy song. I tried letting friends of mine listen to it, but the intro is about two minutes before any real melody is presented. Now I got used to it after three times, but I understand why this wouldn’t work for a lot of people.
Thing is, once the song gets going, you get a very, very enjoyable track and once you’ve listened to the whole thing a coupla times, you understand how much of a risk has been taken.. Masterful and powerful track!

Woo
Please people, skip the “Nu Soul” labelling, okay? This is excellent Soul, nuff said..

Think Twice Featuring Roy Hargrove
Gotta brush up on my classics.. Can’t figure out the original version of this track, but hey.. Nice groove..

Love Of My Life Featuring Queen Latifah, Angie Stone and Bahamadia
Often sounds quite crappy but I love the guest vocals by Angie Stone and Bahamadia..

Conclusion
Badu’s album or EP or whatever is an album I play quite a lot, so I enjoy listening to it. You kinda expect her to do more impressive stuff, but this lady’s got a mind of her own and doesn’t do her music to please others (even her record label, I guess..). This is not a hit album, but still there are nice tracks, so-so tracks and two great songs on it.. She really is one of the prominent Soul artists of this time.

Rating: (those eyes.. oooooh..)

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