Madredeus – Faluas Do Tejo (EMI)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 11/26/05
Mellow and pretty Fado songs from (and about) Lisbon, Portugal. Basically acoustic guitars and singer Teresa Salgueiro; lilting, almost painfully pretty. Fado has been described as Portuguese blues, but it’s less driving than blues and the sadness is achingly sweet. Madredeus modernizes the classic form somewhat, but doesn’t change its spirit. Did I mention that Salgeiro has one of the loveliest and most emotive voices on the planet? I don’t usually like pretty stuff, but this stuff really grabs at your heart. It makes me long to go back to Lisbon, and I’ve never even been there!
FCC? – dubious as hell; it’s all in Portuguese anyway. 3, 10, 6 and especially 9 are probably the most accessible tracks.
1. 5:07 swaying like waves, lush and pretty.
2. 4:02 lilting and rolling, very spare music behind the vocals, which are unbelievably high, light and pure.
3. 4:59 **a bit of a samba groove, but even lighter and more mellow than Rio lounge. Evocative of something – I don’t know what.
4. 3:48 slow, lots of harmonics. Simple tune, like a lullaby.
5. 4:58 even slower, with an orchestra way off in the distance. About the boats on Lisbon’s river, “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”, Portuguese-style.
6. 3:18 **as close as you can get to reggae without drums, keyboards deep in the background. Nice for sunset on the beach.
7. 4:30 very slow, full of longing. Damn, that’s some mighty purty gee-tar… Don’t get me started on the singing, either…
8. 4:32 deliberately “scratched” to sound like an old record. Lots of arpeggios, orchestra in distance. Salgueiro speaks lyrics, with her own singing far away, like the orchestra. Interesting.
9. 4:29 **interesting! Bouncy, almost like circus music, if the clowns were on Prozac. Just as pretty as the rest of the record, mind you, but with odd little wah-wah effects.
10. 3:56 **another samba-ish number, both in the swing and the chord construction. Sweet.