Pulse of Brazil, the

This is a collection of modern Brazilian/samba tunes, all featuring Grupo Raca. Other contributing artists are mentioned below. The instrumentation varies between piano, sax, guitars, and different drums. Vocalists vary - both chorus and solo tracks.

Straight up, I found this album pretty boring. I’m a huge bossa nova fan (though I guess this isn't quite bossa nova), but this just didn’t do it for me. Many of the vocalists had no flair, and nothing seemed too original.

2, 3, 7, 11, 13 are the worthwhile tracks. Especially 3 and 13.

- Captain Dee (Doug)

1. Muted trumpets in the intro. Male chorus, strumming guitars, and a simple Brazilian beat. One guy goes solo for a bit. Cheerful.
*2. Quiet guitars, steady beat, happy & muted saxophone, and female singing. This strikes me as good morning music.
*3. Instrumental track. Jazzy piano, carefree samba beat and soft drumming. This cut is really fun.
4. Synth, beat and bassline reminiscent of 80’s pop. Somewhat distanced male vocals.
5. More rhythmic, strumming guitars, solo singing. Finger snapping and background grunting vocals comes in at interludes, disturbs the otherwise mellow flow.
6. Blues-like feel with male solo vocals. Bass and quiet sound effects. Organ/keyboard like notes anchor the background.
*7. Flute, playful guitar. Second beat comes in, and everything becomes jazzy and fun. Flute has its own fun as well.
8. The background sounds like a Casio demo – dare I suggest Wesley Willis style? Chanting, distanced female vocals.
9. Male vocals, steady beat, strumming background guitar. Celebratory, but in a contained way. Classic-sounding Brazilian percussion. Muted trumpet solo.
10. Live recording. Male lead vocals followed by a background chorus. Predictable and boring percussion.
*11. Sexy male vocals, with an occasional chorus of background Ahs and ethereal chimes. Mellow background instrumentation.
12. Cheesy, repetitive background instrumentation. The support vocals sound strained. The solo singer sounds constipated. *13. Classy! Fully instrumental. Great interplay between multiple guitars and occasional sax.
14. More quintessential Latin percussion, male vocals. Festival music, perhaps?
15. Funky bassline intro, female vocals. Latin percussion, predictable beat.
16. Live recording. Female background vocals, lead male clearly a showman. Trumpets, piano, xylophone-like sounds.