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| The bossa nova band leader pulls out all the stops on this lush masterpiece. The Look Of Love, With A Little Help From My Friends, more. |
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| 1 With a Little Help from My Friends |
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| 2 Roda |
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| 3 Like a Lover |
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| 4 The Frog |
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| 5 Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness) |
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| 6 The Look of Love |
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| 7 Pardizer Adeus (To Say Goodbye) |
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| 8 Batucada (The Beat) |
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| 9 So Many Stars |
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| 10 Look Around |
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Album Review
Sergio Mendes took a deep breath, expanded his sound to include strings lavishly arranged by the young Dave Grusin and Dick Hazard, went further into Brazil, and out came a gorgeous record of Brasil '66 at the peak of its form. Here Mendes released himself from any reliance upon Antonio Carlos Jobim and rounded up a wealth of truly great material from Brazilian fellow travelers: Gilberto Gil's jet-propelled "Roda" and Joao Donato's clever "The Frog," Dori Caymmi's stunningly beautiful "Like A Lover," Harold Lobo's carnival-esque "Tristeza," and Mendes himself (the haunting "So Many Stars" and the title track). Mendes was also hip enough to include "With A Little Help From My Friends" from the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" LP. As things evolved, though, the one track that this album would be remembered for is the only other non-Brazilian tune, Burt Bacharach's "The Look Of Love," in an inventive, grandiose arrangement with a simplified bossa beat. The tune just laid there on the album until Mendes and company performed it on the Academy Awards telecast in 1968. The performance was a sonic disaster, but no matter; the public response was huge, a single was released, and it become a monster, number four on the pop charts. So much for the reported demise of bossa nova; in Sergio Mendes' assimilating, reshaping hands, allied with Herb Alpert's flawless production, it was still a gold mine. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
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• Biography
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Other albums by: Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 |
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