A Foreign Sound

Amazing! Brazilian legend, Caetano Veloso half-reverantly/half-ironically celebrates the American songbook (which wonderfully, wonderfully includes Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads and no-wave legends DNA!). The arrangements are spacious, allowing Veloso to create a great deal of tension with phrasing. Caetano Veloso's vocals self-consciously recall Chet Baker's both in their
knowingly naivity and their androgyny. The result is a little unnerving (in a good way), and Veloso does the near impossible and makes these songs sound fresh.
For those not in the know, Caetano Veloso is one of the major songwriters of our time. He is called the Bob Dylan of Brazil, but one could just as accurately call Bob Dylan the Caetano Veloso of the U.S.
One gets the sense that Veloso genuinely loves these songs but isn't quite comfortable with them. Often the arrangements or vocals undermine the meaning of the song adding a level of complexity.

Stand-outs: 2,6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 22

1. very sweet vocals over invented Northern-sounding rhythm. stereotypical images of Brazil in celebrating a new dance.
2. haunting bossa nova version of Cole Porter's "So In Love"
3. very Chet Baker take on Irving Berlin's "Always"
4. "Come as you are" with mellow vocals and Nirvana groove played on clean guitar
5. geez, this _might?_ be good, but "Feelings" is still shlock
6. tense echoey a capella take on "Love for Sale"
7. full bossa arrangement of "The Man I Love", androgyny put to good use
8. androgynous take on the standard, with torchy horns
9. sweet bossa take on "Cry Me a River"
10. Harry Belafonte calypso standard. Funny take on stereotypical images of Jamaica
11. Beautiful, impossibly tense version of "Nature Boy", quirky vaguely no-wave noises
12. Hilarious version of Talking Heads song. Post-apocalyptic alienation as tropical fantasy. very funny arrangement.
13. Funny celebration of NYC with spookily out-of-place cello
14. '60's teen-pop Paul Anka song, kinda Bossa, with bad smooth jazz sax. Quotes his own much covered "Baby" which quotes this.
15. Gershwin standard, spare with just acoustic guitar, very tense.
16. Very questionable Dylan cover. bad funk groove (think porn, bakawah!).
17. "Love me Tender" as a lullaby. Chet Baker as Elvis.
18. nice jazz reading, touching
19. nice soulful, finger-snapping Stevie Wonder cover, spare with funny noises
20. wow! apocalyptic strings in treatment of no-wave classic by DNA. "Too blonde for y'all!"
21. sweet androgynous version of this song from Sound of Music.
22. Irving Berlin song with quirky unnerving noisy groove