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LP
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VL 900082LP
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2024 repress. Transa is the fourth album by Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso, released on 1972 by PolyGram. Like its predecessor, it was recorded while the artist was exiled in London, though he returned to Brazil shortly after completing it. Evocative, eclectic, intimate, and rhythmically complex, Transa contains everything that has made Caetano Veloso the most distinctive and, arguably, most important voice in modern Brazilian music. The record was cut in 1972, shortly after Veloso's return from political exile in England. Though the songs are not overtly political, they seem allegorical, celebratory, and plaintive at once, and point to a tension between the artist's expressive impulse and the strictures of his native country. This tension is further heightened by the presence of lyrics in both English and Portuguese. The beautiful, desperate "You Don't Know Me" may be the world's first bilingual bossa nova/folk-punk anthem of identity. The jazzy "Nine Out of Ten" gives way to the gear-shifting "Triste Bahia," which features webs of accelerating Brazilian percussion. A spare treatment of the classic samba "Mora Na Filosofia," the cosmic ditty "Neolithic Man," and the 12-bar "Nostalgia," (ending with the wise line "That's What Rock 'n Roll Is All About") close out the set. Transa is a jewel in Veloso's discography and a must for anyone interested in Brazilian pop -- or brilliant, original pop in general. 180 gram vinyl.
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LP
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TMR 548LP
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2024 restock. "The Tropicalia art movement of the late 1960s, with flourishes in visual art, poetry, theatre and music, is one of Brazil's most adored cultural concoctions. It was a movement which began out of necessity, shortly after a repressive military dictatorship seized power after 20 years of peaceful democracy. The term Tropicalia first came from the mind of Brazilian visual artist Helio Oiticica, whose eponymous piece consisted of a sandy maze bordered by tropical Brazilian flora and, at the end, a television set. Through satirizing symbols of their homeland and rejecting a pre-established national culture, the Tropicalists constructed a new form of 'aggressive nationalism' outside of an innately anti-imperialist Left and an unthinkingly patriotic Right. By refusing to accept underdevelopment as their identity and excitedly 'devouring' disparate culture (low and high brow, domestic and foreign, etc.), the Tropicalists carved out a unifying creative space, a universal sound, different from the older, bourgeois bossa nova movement and the newer, undiscerning rock movement. Caetano Veloso's self-titled debut solo album is one of the most important and influential Brazilian (and, dare we say, South American) albums of all time. With the release of this seminal album, Veloso would become the leading voice of Tropicalia. The songs on this album immediately connected with people. Alegria, Algeria was his breakout hit that gained traction as a hymn for liberty advocates, juxtaposing images of Coca Cola, guerrilla groups, bombs and Brigitte Bardot as part of the everyday experience. The album's first song Tropicalia was an anthem for the whole movement; it's a fragmented allegory, a structure borrowed from friends in the concrete poetry scene, touching on divergent cultural symbols, events, allusions and idioms, nimbly representing and critiquing the many contradictions in the new Brazilian dictatorship. Superbacana (translated as 'Supergroovy') follows a hyperbolic superhero's use of technology to fight a gang of cowboys led by the money-hungry Uncle Scrooge, serving as allusions to American imperialism and greed felt in their country, all in the rapid-fi re structure of a comic book. The subtext in all these songs, which the dictatorship would not immediately catch, were that these repressed but glaring contradictions, not the bountiful sunny paradise that the military regime was pushing, were the true national identity. Unfortunately, these cleverly veiled jabs in Veloso and his contemporaries' bodies of work gained greater and greater exposure as the movement became more and more popular, leading to the arrest, imprisonment and forced exile of Veloso and many of his cohort. Despite these difficulties, the Tropicalists continued creating in exile, strongly influencing artists both at home and abroad. This is the first authorized North American vinyl issue of Caetano Veloso. Whether you're a longtime fan or first-time listener, Third Man Records could not be more proud to spread the compelling story of this album, this artist and the Tropicalia movement."
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LP
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LR 135C-LP
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2023 repress. Lilith present a reissue of Caetano Veloso's Caetano Veloso (A Little More Blue), originally issued in 1971. Often referred to as "Brazil's unofficial poet laureate" and the "Bob Dylan of Brazil", this heavyweight of Brazilian music was also a young revolutionary who used his music to protest against Brazil's oppressive military regime. This protest music, which became known as tropicalia, first earned Veloso a stint in jail, but by the time this dour album was released in 1971, it had placed him in exile in the UK. Veloso's extreme bitterness and melancholy can be heard on every groove of this album, but don't let the album's gloomy atmosphere stop you from buying it; it is dripping with some of the best moments of saudade in the history of Brazilian music. Color vinyl.
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LP
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LR 142C-LP
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2023 repress. Lilith Records present a reissue of Caetano Veloso's Caetano Veloso (Araçá Azul), originally issued in 1972. Apparently when this album was originally released in 1972, confused and bewildered fans, expecting more of the same found on Transa, released earlier that year, returned the album to the shop, demanding a refund. Meanwhile, critics raved, and many now consider Araçá Azul to be one of his great creative moments. To be fair to his many fans, it was a stark departure from his previous releases, which were decidedly more pop, but Veloso had been through a lot recently, having just returned from political exile in the UK, so it is no wonder that the artist was feeling a bit like he needed to fly in the face of conformity. In Veloso's own words, "I made this album without thinking, without taking the time to stop to think." He refers to the album's "insolent experimentalism" and calls it a kind of "last stand." Clear vinyl.
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LP
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LR 144C-LP
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2023 repress. Lilith Records present a reissue of Caetano Veloso's Caetano Veloso (Irene), originally issued in 1969. Although Veloso had already been thrown in jail once for his criticism of Brazil's military regime, he continued to speak out against it on Caetano Veloso (Irene), with tracks like "Irene", (about a machine gun-toting outlaw celebrated by the left). No wonder he would soon find himself in political exile in the UK. The general tone of the album is in keeping with its dire message and actually, Veloso felt it was important for his voice of protest to be heard around the world. If he was a high profile public figure, he felt that he would be safer. Despite all of this (or perhaps because of all this) and the man still managed to make excellent records! Clear vinyl.
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LP+CD
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LR 337LP
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2023 repress. Originally released in 1968, Caetano Veloso's debut album did for Brazilian music what the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers did for rock & roll, giving birth to the soon-to-be Tropicalia movement, which fused Brazilian music with pop, psychedelia and social awareness (and Veloso's leftist politics actually earned him a stint in jail in 1968 for 'anti-government activity'). Veloso, nonetheless went on to become one of the most popular and influential Brazilian musicians of all time. Includes the genre-defining classics "Clarice" and "Soy Loco Por Tì, América", "Superbacana", "Tropicalia" and "Alegria, Alegria". Now with bonus CD of the album and OBI "bookmark" Japanese style.
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CD
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PHCY 1001
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"Japanese only compilation of Caetano's choicer pop moments ranging from 1971 to 1991 not necessarily related to the film industry in any way (the title is most likely a reference to Caetano's 1979 LP Cinema Transcendental). Caetano was of course a major mover and shaker (along with Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, etc...) in the tropicalismo movement of late 60s Brazil, was jailed briefly by the military dictatorship and subsequently forced into exile in London shortly thereafter, disrupting the flow of the tropicalistas. But you know all that already. Caetano's is some really beautiful blissed out ambient Brasilian pop, a perfect introduction to his creative force." -- Hrvatski.
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