Edu Lobo - Sergio Mendes Presents Edu Lobo [1970 A&M] 256 kbps - 63 mb

Nice break out session recorded in the U.S. for Sergio Mendes's A&M label with songs in English & brilliant scat vocalese by this very fine singer/song-writer by the name of Edu Lobo. This would sit nicely next to any of the other song-writers of that generation, namely, Joyce, Milton Nascimento & Chico Buarque De Hollanda to name a few. This record has some very strong offerings & it also has some flaws in my opinion. Since this was recorded in 1969, I guess they were trying to sell this artist to the Beatles generation by adding "Hey Jude" to this set. Personally I think this record would have been a better document without that composition on it. I'll site Milton Nascimento's reading of "Norwegian Wood" on his Minas LP as a better example of a Beatles number handled to better effect. That said, there are some stunning examples of Brasilian songcraft here, most noteably, "Zanzibar", "Ponteio", "Even Now", "Crystal Illusions", & "Casa Forte". This is an excellent example of crossover Brasilian Folk-Pop circa 1970.
The real plus here besides Edo's fine voice & guitar is Hermeto Pascoal on piano & flute duties, so please listen for his work here.
As I say, I think this record is slightly flawed in terms of pacing in that it loses pace around track 8, but besides that this record more then makes up for that by being an outstanding specimen of Brasilian Folk-Jazz. Enjoy!

File Under: MPB/ Brasilian Folk-Jazz

P.S. Friends of this page who are super enjoying this movement of MPB & crossover Brasilian songwriting in general will place this record nicely next to Luiz Henrique's "Barra Limpa" [1967 Verve U.S.] or Marcos Valle's "Samba '68" also on the Verve U.S. imprint.
One last thing, Edu has a very talented wife by the name of Wanda Sá whose LP "Vagamente" [1964 RGE] is a yummy slice of Bossa Nova MPB & I think I'll post it for context. OK?