Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes spins his remarkable magic on his newest recording, a bona fide classic! This is a kaleidoscopic album that underscores the maestro's ear for addictive melodies, as well as his ability to cast incredibly talented singers and musicians from all over the world
Customer Review: a review for Brasil '66 fans
It's been around 40 years since Mendes reached an artistic and commercial peak with several classic albums that successfully mixed bossa nova, jazz, and pop music. Those albums still sound fresh today, thanks to the terrific songs, latin rhythms and some sparkling arrangements. Since then, Mendes has experimented with mixing his Brazilian sound with folk rock, funk, dance music, hip hop, and on "Encanto," some r&b. As someone who prefers the work he did with Brasil '66 to anything more recent, to my ears the album is pleasant though generally forgettable with the exception of a few wonderful tracks. Unsurprisingly the best tracks are those with strong melodies by Antonio Carlos Jobim, in particular "Somewhere in the Hills" and "Dreamer," both of which are direct descendants of the sound of Brasil '66. "Dreamer" includes both Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, who sounds remarkably like she did when she was fronting Brasil '66. This is a genuinely stunning track and easily the best on the album. Natalie Cole sings "Somewhere in the Hills" which is appropriately jazzy and is one of Jobim's strongest melodies. Other Jobim tracks include "Waters of March" which Mendes has covered several times in the past. It's a singer's song, and sounds a little rhythmically stiff here, as it has in his previous efforts. "Morning in Rio" is also good, with a more Brazilian styled melody and a nice trombone solo. The rest of the CD is listenable, but not such that I ever want to hear most of it again. "The Look of Love" is an unnecessary remake of a good song. What made the original great was a sensational big band arrangement which has been dropped in favor of a hip hop arrangement. I liked the Brazilian styled funk of "Odo-ya" and the mellow "Catavento" with Mendes' wife on lead vocals. On the other hand, "Funky Bahia" and "Lugar Comum," the latter of which features an Italian rapper doing a little snippet of "Volare," are disposable pop/hip hop songs. If I could get into Mendes' head, I would try to convince him do an album of Jobim and Marcos Valle songs with Herb Alpert and Lani Hall and a small jazz/bossa combo. It might not sell a million copies, but it would be an artistic triumph. If you're an unreconstructed fan of Brasil '66 as I am, I can recommend this with reservations. You might be better off just downloading a handful of tracks. But "Dreamer" should not be missed.
Customer Review: Summery and enchanting.
"Encanto" follows the highly acclaimed 2006 collaboration with will.i.am Timeless and with this latest release, Sergio takes us even deeper into Brazil, having recorded all the basic tracks in Rio and Bahia and finally finishing up in in California, where the studio band included Alphonso Johnson. For "Encanto" (in Spanish for Enchantment), Mendes has also enlisted the formidable and enchantingly diverse talents of an array of guest musicians who hail from the world over. Latin superstar Juanes from Colombia and multi-talented Carlinhos Brown & Vanessa da Mata from Brazil jostle alongside the foremost Japanese pop group Dreams Come True, Belgium's Zap Mama and Italian rapper Jovanotti. This international cast is completed by the American stars Fergie, Siedah Garrett and Herb Alpert who is accompanied by his wife, original Brasil '66 singer, Lani Hall. Old smoothie Mendes gets jiggy on a selection of bossa-favourites with a raft of guest stars including the ubiquitous Will.i.am and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Natalie Cole and Herb Alpert et all... This new album essentially is a cross between Mendes' soft, salsa-tinged melodies and modern day R'n'B. The opening track, "The Look of Love" with rap/vocals by Fergie, is a deliciously moreish funky-fusion, and for the first third or so, the combination of Sergio's Rhodes with the hip-hopped production style is terrific. Perhaps this new version of Burt Bacharach's "The Look Of Love", which Mendes had originally transposed to bossa nova heaven in 1967 is the boldest track on "Encanto". This new interpretation, produced by Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, preserves the alluring melody of the original while bringing the song into the new millennium with crisp drum programming and a sexy rap by Fergie. Then it goes all smooth jazz on you. Not bad, though. Whether you are a Sergio Mendes fan especially the earlier stuff, Brasil 66, Equinox, etc or a Black Eyed Peas fan, or indeed R&B then there's something on this album to please everyone. I'd say for such a challenging album there are only a couple of songs that are just to heavy hip hop for me. The rest is a joy to listen to, if you are open minded about remixes and love to see what Sergio has been up to. This album is a grower. The more I listen to it, the better it gets. You will like it. Picks of the album: "The Look of Love", "Waters Of March", "Dreamer", and "Somewhere In The Hills (O Morro Nao Tem Vez)". Equinox Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits The Very Best of Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66
We know what Anorexia looks like, right? A 5'4" woman, weighing 80 pounds
will stand in front of a mirror gazing at her image and will see FAT!
To her eyes, as she stands in front of the mirror, examining every inch
of her body, her body weighs 250 pounds.
Anyone else; ANYONE ELSE sees the reality of her weight which is 80 lbs. Her skeleton is clearly observed below the skin surface, which has such little mass, that to the objective observer, this woman appears malnourished and maybe even close to dying.
The only conclusion that can be drawn is that this woman is seeing a distorted image of her body that no one else, I mean NO ONE ELSE sees.
And that's her illness!
The cure, if there is ever is one, is several weeks in an institution where the "patient" is taught to rely on and perhaps even trust what OTHERS are seeing, and not his/her own reflection in a mirror.
Once the patient is helped to understand that his/her view of their body is not real, but a distorted mental image, (sort of what we look like when we see ourselves in one of those "Fun House" mirrors at the amusement park), then the patient starts to see him/herself through more objective eyes, and ultimately see the truth of the matter...the truth that he or she has not been able to see...
that she weighs 80 lbs., not 250.
Well, how does this relate to what I call "Vocal Anorexia"?
It's simply this:
"Vocal Anorexia" is a condition where a singer will hear the sounds that
emit when he/she sings a song that NO ONE ELSE hears.
Take the case of the people who audition for American Idol. They will sing...
badly...excruciatingly awful.
Simon will say, "Do you think that was good?", and they will reply, "Yes! I was great!" However, to
everyone else, judges and viewers alike, they were about as terrible as they could be.
What's going on? The person is hearing something that is not real; sounds that objective listeners hear as unpleasant and even painful to hear.
And I know this because I've had students like this in my studio, and believe me, they CANNOT hear how bad they sound. They remain under an illusion that they sound great...a false illusion!
The only person who does not hear how bad it is, is the person singing. And that's an illness. It takes hours, months, maybe even years of ear training for a person with this affliction to improve their singing. Some will discover that what they believed to be a passion was a temporary whim, much like passing a store window and seeing an outfit and thinking to oneself, 'Oh, I gotta have THAT!',only to have it replaced by another "want" a few days later.
The pitch-challenged singer with a real desire to sing will do the work no matter how long it takes, and perhaps end up in the chorus of a Broadway show, or get good enough to perform at the local Karaoke club for friends and family.
Tone Deafness, for the most part, is often "fixable" with commitment and hard work. Less than 1% of the planet's population is truly tone deaf. The others just have something called "lazy ear".
But that's another article altogether. Back to "Vocal Anorexia".
There's a rather curious aspect of vocal anorexia that, to me, is much more intriguing, to say the least.
I have encountered numerous singers who will sing a song, and sound exquisite, simply wonderful. The vocal tone, the expression of the lyric, the entire performance could make one melt,
but to the singer's ear, it sounds frightfully horrendous.
If this singer is told how wonderful he/she sounds, it translates in the singer's brain as, "They're just being nice", or "They didn't hear all the mistakes, so they don't know".
The same inability of the anorexic patient to SEE what is plain as day to an objective eye is apparent
here as the anorexic singer cannot HEAR what is clearly beautiful to the objective listener.
And the solution to this "affliction", is the same. Since it's not a HEARING issue, but a mental one, the anorexic singer needs to learn how to hear him/herself through others ears and not his/her own.
This takes discipline and a continuous inner conversation where the singer must repeat often, "What I am hearing is not real. I will not judge my singing or rely on my own listening for it is flawed by my condition."
This is what Martha Graham was saying to her student, Agnes DeMille in a letter she wrote as a response to Miss DeMille's self-criticism of her work.
Agnes DeMille, for those of you who do not know, was the choreographer for the first Broadway production of "Oklahoma".
She became so critical of her own work that she almost quit, but instead wrote to her mentor, Martha Graham, for some advice.
And this is an excerpt of the note she got back. I strongly recommend that you read it SLOWLY, making sure you understand every word, especially if you feel that you may be one of those who suffer from vocal anorexia.
There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated
through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time.
This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist
through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it
compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours
clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have only to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open.
No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.
There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that
keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
Chrys Page is a singer, vocal coach, and eBook author of "The Art of Singing" Series, a set of "how-to's" for serious and committed singers.
Chrys provides singers worldwide with a variety of products and services geared to motivate, inspire, and help them on their vocal path wherever it may lead.
http://www.singyourlife.com has been serving singers for 8 years with online lessons, backing tracks, sheet music, and a monthly newsletter filled with timely tips and advice for singers.
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Her latest website, http://www.Karaoke-And-Beyond.com is exclusively for singers who wish to take their singing to another level, which is singing to "live" music. At this site, the singer finds Keyboard and Guitar Lessons, and a variety of self-help music books designed to help singers learn how to accompany themselves when they sing. The "Art of Singing" series is also offered, along with great deals on musical instruments through an affiliate link.
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