Gal Costa - Gal Costa (1969)

It has been a time since I was thinking about showing Loronixers some artists and LPs of Tropicalismo, also known as Tropicalia, a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre, poetry and music, among other forms. Key Tropicalismo artists are Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Tom Zé, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Maria Bethania, among others.

Tropicalia releases at Loronix will be very limited, introducing the main artists and their best LPs. I hope this will be a very successful series.

The first is Gal Costa with one of her best releases, Gal Costa - Gal Costa (1969), also known as Cinema Olympia, for Philips. I will not try a review of mine this time; AMG has done and includes this LP on AMG pick list. Find below AMG Review and tracks.

After Caetano Veloso broke out with his solo debut, the self-titled 1968 release recognized as the building block for the now infamous Brazilian Tropicalia movement, his friends and musical peers released similar albums, always upping the ante in terms of outrageousness and inventiveness. This release, the second of two self-titled albums released by Gal Costa in 1969, set the high watermark in terms of overall insanity and complete experimental freedom for the entire lot; not Veloso nor Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, or even the rambunctious Os Mutantes stepped this far out into psychedelia, and even though Costa had hinted at the noisier aspects she was interested in exploring with her previous release, this album must have shocked listeners when it arrived on the shelves. In fact, 35 years of MPB -- or music from anywhere else in the world for that matter -- hasn't heard another sonic assault quite like this. Costa is a ball of contradictions here: overtly wild but in control; sweet and accessible, yet brash; and, at times, almost violent as she screams and moans her way through the album while spindly, whiny guitars mix with soulful bass grooves, bombastic drums, exotic horns, woodwinds, and strings. The sonic textures are taken completely over the top with judicious use of delays, reverbs, and various production techniques new and exciting at the time. When taken all together, the listener may not at first notice the high quality of the songwriting for the unreal, emotional freak-outs laced throughout the performances. Costa's crazy improvisations over Caetano Veloso's tune "The Empty Boat" serve as evidence of this delightful impulsiveness when placed side by side with Veloso's own rather forward-thinking recording of the song, which sounds positively conservative by comparison. All in all, Gal Costa is an indescribable, unpredictable, ambitious, and fun record preserving a slice of time when Brazil was at its most controversial state musically and politically and is a must-have for any psychedelic collection. AMG - Gregory McIntosh

Tracks

01 - Cinema Olympia (Caetano Veloso)
02 - Tuareg (Jorge Ben)
03 - Cultura e Civilização (Gilberto Gil)
04 - País Tropical (Jorge Ben) - with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil
05 - Meu Nome É Gal (Roberto Carlos / Erasmo Carlos)
06 - Com Medo Com Pedro (Gilberto Gil)
07 - The Empty Boat (Caetano Veloso) - with Jards Macale
08 - Objeto Sim Objeto Não (Gilberto Gil)
09 - Pulsars e Quasars (Jards Macalé / Capinan)