Sunday, November 25, 2007

Dolores Duran - Dolores Duran (1979)

Dolores Duran was such like a meteor, born in 1930; she started singing at the age of five, performing at popular parties in Rio de Janeiro. At the age of 10, Dolores Duran started his professional career at Ary Barroso's Calouros em Desfile Radio show. Two years later, with the passing of her father, Dolores started singing on the radio and musical shows using false identities to deceive the authorities.

From this fast start to the release of her first album, Dolores developed her talent as composer, something that would be recognized only after her passing. Dolores Duran left several compositions that became Brazilian popular music standards, including more than a few with Antonio Carlos Jobim.

I started this writing saying that Dolores Duran was such like a meteor, unfortunately, she died very early at the age of 29 from a heart attack after performing at Little Club nightclub. This is the first Dolores Duran album released at Loronix after more than a year hiatus and I think it is a very special post. Let's see.

This is Dolores Duran - Dolores Duran (1979), for Copacabana, as part of Copacabana label 30th anniversary. This beautiful tribute album features Dolores Duran recordings for Copacabana in the 50's, with new orchestra arrangements by Maestro Elcio Alvares on top of remastered original Dolores Duran recordings from 78rpms. The output is a Dolores Duran original singing, with new orchestral arrangements and the benefits of the modern recording technologies. I'm making available two LPs as a single album, 23 tracks and 65 minutes running time. Tracks 01 to 11 belongs to the first LP and 12 to 23 to the second one. Copacabana did not credit musicians in the set. Tracks include:

01 - A Noite do Meu Bem (Dolores Duran)
02 - A Banca do Distinto (Billy Blanco)
03 - Solidão (Dolores Duran)
04 - Coisas de Mulher (Chico Baiano)
05 - Escurinho
06 - Manias (Flávio Cavalcanti / Celso Cavalcanti)
07 - Por Causa de Você (Tom Jobim / Dolores Duran)
08 - Conversa de Botequim (Noel Rosa / Vadico)
09 - Quem Foi (Nestor de Hollanda / Jorge Tavares)
10 - Pano Legal (Billy Blanco)
11 - Um Amor Assim (Dora Lopes)
12 - Fim de Caso (Dolores Duran)
13 - Canção da Volta (Ismael Netto / Antônio Maria)
14 - Onde Estará Meu Amor (Lina Pesce)
15 - Estatuto de Boite (Billy Blanco)
16 - Nossos Destinos (Luis Vieira)
17 - Viva Meu Samba (Billy Blanco)
18 - Pra Que Falar de Mim (Ismael Netto / Macedo Neto)
19 - Conceição (Dunga / Jair Amorim)
20 - Só Por Castigo (José Batista / Nelson Bastos)
21 - Estranho Amor (David Nasser / Garoto)
22 - Bom É Querer Bem (Fernando Lobo)
23 - Não Me Culpe (Dolores Duran)

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousSunday, 25 November, 2007

    I'm less than enthusiastic about this "tribute". Adding new stuff to classic recordings just to make them sound "modern" (that is, with more commercial potential) usually produces ghastly results. It can only work if you're subtle and respectful to the original recording (for instance, Egberto Gismonti and the music of Garoto) or if you're neither subtle nor respectful but you're a musical genius (Frank Zappa, but that's another story). What we got here sounds fake and shoddy, with a horrible electric bass on the fore ruining most of the tracks. Dolores Duran is one of the few true Divas of Brazilian music. She deserves much better than this excuse for a tribute. Zeca, please, give us the original recordings.

    As a footnote: Usually, I don't do negative comments of music I dislike (I just ignore it), but my expectations were so great downloading this album, that I had to give vent to my disappointment somehow.

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  2. zecalouroSunday, 25 November, 2007

    I agree with most of your points regarding this album, AdHoc. The introduction of new things on original material is at least controversial; perhaps Copacabana would make a remastering of original Dolores Duran LPs, releasing them in a box set. It would be cheaper and, how can I say, fair with Dolores Duran.

    I can use my fingers to count comments like yours, reporting a bad listening experience with a good rationale such as you did. I encourage this kind of feedback when based on arguments; they are also very useful as an additional element on my decision-making criterion. Thanks for this one.

    Cheers, zeca

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  3. AnonymousMonday, 26 November, 2007

    thanks, adhoc. I was afraid that would be the case (ie, it would sound fake) and your comment just saved me hours waiting to be released from rapidshare.

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