Astrud Gilberto Music

This is a charming album. The sound is dated, yes, but the remastered edition is luscious. The instrumental and vocal timbres are very warm and sweet.

The only caveat I have is that the vocals are not as solid as The Astrud Gilberto Album. That one sounds very confident throughout. Here, some of the singing sounds tentative. Maybe that by itself may be appealing to some listeners. I do not have that reaction. It sounds like Astrud was not entirely comfortable with the some of the songs or wasn't thoroughly familiar with them.

Also, on Fly Me To The Moon Astrud never sounds exactly on-key, which is a bit disconcerting. Who Can I Turn To is similarly afflicted. It makes me wonder if she was unable to hear the orchestral playback properly. I don't know the cause, but it should have been corrected before release.

Still, some of the songs here are utterly confident and among the best Astrud ever recorded. Manha De Carnaval floors me with its beautiful guitar arrangement and simply wonderful unadorned vocals. The title track and Aruanda are complete successes. I have always loved The Gentle Rain -- I even own the original soundtrack LP. Astrud's version is a worthy variation on the song.

For me this is a worthwhile CD, one that I come back to repeatedly, in spite of its objective flaws. I only wish Verve would release a reasonably priced remaster of Astrud's first album that equals the sonic authority and beauty of Shadow Of Your Smile.

.....and still do. This is a remake of an LP from back in '64....very early Astrud. There's always been a certain charm about her...maybe a "little girl" quality...hard to define. The story is that she only got onto the legendary Getz/Gilberto album in the first place because she could sing in English. Not sure if this was her first solo effort...

This is an album of pop music of the day, English and Portugese...probably the best known cuts would be the title song, "Fly Me To The Moon", and "Who Can I Turn To". One can say that Astrud has an accent, BUT, one can understand every word, which is more than can be said for some who grew up speaking English.

As I said, this is a reissue of an LP...and there's the one drawback; oh, the sound is fantastic, as we expect from Verve. But, 25' 34" is kind of short for a CD that goes for above-market price. Still, I like it, and I bet you will, too....

to all the other five star reviews, I can say Amen!
However, there is one thing I noticed about Astrud Gilberto's
voice I hadn't recognized before. Notice her transition from
either the low or middle register to a hign note. It's smoothness
is unimaginable. Truly the best CD of hers of all that I own.

Great easy listening with soothing and pretty female vocals.The songs are quite emotional,with a beautiful sadness to them that only the mid to late 60's can bring.Just fantastic.I also recommend "A Certain Smile,A Certain Sadness" and "A Look To the Rainbow" from Austrud Gilberto.......and Carlos Jobim's "The Composer Of Desafinado Plays" and "Wave",all of these recordings are from the mid to late 60's and are very similar.

This is as good a classic Bossa Nova CD as I've heard.

The delivery is so low key and understated that it blends in with any activity, reading, having a nice cup of tea, or writing.

Gilberto's voice is so cool and collected that it's hard to believe that she basically walked into the studio and cut these and her other classic tracks without any formal training.

Her voice reminds me loosely of Swing Out Sister's Corrine Drewery, another so called "untrained" pop-jazz vocalist with a cult following.

All the tracks here are worth listening. My only complaint is that there weren't more of them, and that most of them don't run a little longer.

Great stuff!

This is a charming album. The sound is dated, yes, but the remastered edition is luscious. The instrumental and vocal timbres are very warm and sweet.

The only caveat I have is that the vocals are not as solid as The Astrud Gilberto Album. That one sounds very confident throughout. Here, some of the singing sounds tentative. Maybe that by itself may be appealing to some listeners. I do not have that reaction. It sounds like Astrud was not entirely comfortable with the some of the songs or wasn't thoroughly familiar with them.

Also, on Fly Me To The Moon Astrud never sounds exactly on-key, which is a bit disconcerting. Who Can I Turn To is similarly afflicted. It makes me wonder if she was unable to hear the orchestral playback properly. I don't know the cause, but it should have been corrected before release.

Still, some of the songs here are utterly confident and among the best Astrud ever recorded. Manha De Carnaval floors me with its beautiful guitar arrangement and simply wonderful unadorned vocals. The title track and Aruanda are complete successes. I have always loved The Gentle Rain -- I even own the original soundtrack LP. Astrud's version is a worthy variation on the song.

For me this is a worthwhile CD, one that I come back to repeatedly, in spite of its objective flaws. I only wish Verve would release a reasonably priced remaster of Astrud's first album that equals the sonic authority and beauty of Shadow Of Your Smile.

.....and still do. This is a remake of an LP from back in '64....very early Astrud. There's always been a certain charm about her...maybe a "little girl" quality...hard to define. The story is that she only got onto the legendary Getz/Gilberto album in the first place because she could sing in English. Not sure if this was her first solo effort...

This is an album of pop music of the day, English and Portugese...probably the best known cuts would be the title song, "Fly Me To The Moon", and "Who Can I Turn To". One can say that Astrud has an accent, BUT, one can understand every word, which is more than can be said for some who grew up speaking English.

As I said, this is a reissue of an LP...and there's the one drawback; oh, the sound is fantastic, as we expect from Verve. But, 25' 34" is kind of short for a CD that goes for above-market price. Still, I like it, and I bet you will, too....

to all the other five star reviews, I can say Amen!
However, there is one thing I noticed about Astrud Gilberto's
voice I hadn't recognized before. Notice her transition from
either the low or middle register to a hign note. It's smoothness
is unimaginable. Truly the best CD of hers of all that I own.

Great easy listening with soothing and pretty female vocals.The songs are quite emotional,with a beautiful sadness to them that only the mid to late 60's can bring.Just fantastic.I also recommend "A Certain Smile,A Certain Sadness" and "A Look To the Rainbow" from Austrud Gilberto.......and Carlos Jobim's "The Composer Of Desafinado Plays" and "Wave",all of these recordings are from the mid to late 60's and are very similar.

This is as good a classic Bossa Nova CD as I've heard.

The delivery is so low key and understated that it blends in with any activity, reading, having a nice cup of tea, or writing.

Gilberto's voice is so cool and collected that it's hard to believe that she basically walked into the studio and cut these and her other classic tracks without any formal training.

Her voice reminds me loosely of Swing Out Sister's Corrine Drewery, another so called "untrained" pop-jazz vocalist with a cult following.

All the tracks here are worth listening. My only complaint is that there weren't more of them, and that most of them don't run a little longer.

Great stuff!

This is a charming album. The sound is dated, yes, but the remastered edition is luscious. The instrumental and vocal timbres are very warm and sweet.

The only caveat I have is that the vocals are not as solid as The Astrud Gilberto Album. That one sounds very confident throughout. Here, some of the singing sounds tentative. Maybe that by itself may be appealing to some listeners. I do not have that reaction. It sounds like Astrud was not entirely comfortable with the some of the songs or wasn't thoroughly familiar with them.

Also, on Fly Me To The Moon Astrud never sounds exactly on-key, which is a bit disconcerting. Who Can I Turn To is similarly afflicted. It makes me wonder if she was unable to hear the orchestral playback properly. I don't know the cause, but it should have been corrected before release.

Still, some of the songs here are utterly confident and among the best Astrud ever recorded. Manha De Carnaval floors me with its beautiful guitar arrangement and simply wonderful unadorned vocals. The title track and Aruanda are complete successes. I have always loved The Gentle Rain -- I even own the original soundtrack LP. Astrud's version is a worthy variation on the song.

For me this is a worthwhile CD, one that I come back to repeatedly, in spite of its objective flaws. I only wish Verve would release a reasonably priced remaster of Astrud's first album that equals the sonic authority and beauty of Shadow Of Your Smile.

.....and still do. This is a remake of an LP from back in '64....very early Astrud. There's always been a certain charm about her...maybe a "little girl" quality...hard to define. The story is that she only got onto the legendary Getz/Gilberto album in the first place because she could sing in English. Not sure if this was her first solo effort...

This is an album of pop music of the day, English and Portugese...probably the best known cuts would be the title song, "Fly Me To The Moon", and "Who Can I Turn To". One can say that Astrud has an accent, BUT, one can understand every word, which is more than can be said for some who grew up speaking English.

As I said, this is a reissue of an LP...and there's the one drawback; oh, the sound is fantastic, as we expect from Verve. But, 25' 34" is kind of short for a CD that goes for above-market price. Still, I like it, and I bet you will, too....

to all the other five star reviews, I can say Amen!
However, there is one thing I noticed about Astrud Gilberto's
voice I hadn't recognized before. Notice her transition from
either the low or middle register to a hign note. It's smoothness
is unimaginable. Truly the best CD of hers of all that I own.

Great easy listening with soothing and pretty female vocals.The songs are quite emotional,with a beautiful sadness to them that only the mid to late 60's can bring.Just fantastic.I also recommend "A Certain Smile,A Certain Sadness" and "A Look To the Rainbow" from Austrud Gilberto.......and Carlos Jobim's "The Composer Of Desafinado Plays" and "Wave",all of these recordings are from the mid to late 60's and are very similar.

This is as good a classic Bossa Nova CD as I've heard.

The delivery is so low key and understated that it blends in with any activity, reading, having a nice cup of tea, or writing.

Gilberto's voice is so cool and collected that it's hard to believe that she basically walked into the studio and cut these and her other classic tracks without any formal training.

Her voice reminds me loosely of Swing Out Sister's Corrine Drewery, another so called "untrained" pop-jazz vocalist with a cult following.

All the tracks here are worth listening. My only complaint is that there weren't more of them, and that most of them don't run a little longer.

Great stuff!

This is a charming album. The sound is dated, yes, but the remastered edition is luscious. The instrumental and vocal timbres are very warm and sweet.

The only caveat I have is that the vocals are not as solid as The Astrud Gilberto Album. That one sounds very confident throughout. Here, some of the singing sounds tentative. Maybe that by itself may be appealing to some listeners. I do not have that reaction. It sounds like Astrud was not entirely comfortable with the some of the songs or wasn't thoroughly familiar with them.

Also, on Fly Me To The Moon Astrud never sounds exactly on-key, which is a bit disconcerting. Who Can I Turn To is similarly afflicted. It makes me wonder if she was unable to hear the orchestral playback properly. I don't know the cause, but it should have been corrected before release.

Still, some of the songs here are utterly confident and among the best Astrud ever recorded. Manha De Carnaval floors me with its beautiful guitar arrangement and simply wonderful unadorned vocals. The title track and Aruanda are complete successes. I have always loved The Gentle Rain -- I even own the original soundtrack LP. Astrud's version is a worthy variation on the song.

For me this is a worthwhile CD, one that I come back to repeatedly, in spite of its objective flaws. I only wish Verve would release a reasonably priced remaster of Astrud's first album that equals the sonic authority and beauty of Shadow Of Your Smile.

.....and still do. This is a remake of an LP from back in '64....very early Astrud. There's always been a certain charm about her...maybe a "little girl" quality...hard to define. The story is that she only got onto the legendary Getz/Gilberto album in the first place because she could sing in English. Not sure if this was her first solo effort...

This is an album of pop music of the day, English and Portugese...probably the best known cuts would be the title song, "Fly Me To The Moon", and "Who Can I Turn To". One can say that Astrud has an accent, BUT, one can understand every word, which is more than can be said for some who grew up speaking English.

As I said, this is a reissue of an LP...and there's the one drawback; oh, the sound is fantastic, as we expect from Verve. But, 25' 34" is kind of short for a CD that goes for above-market price. Still, I like it, and I bet you will, too....

to all the other five star reviews, I can say Amen!
However, there is one thing I noticed about Astrud Gilberto's
voice I hadn't recognized before. Notice her transition from
either the low or middle register to a hign note. It's smoothness
is unimaginable. Truly the best CD of hers of all that I own.

Great easy listening with soothing and pretty female vocals.The songs are quite emotional,with a beautiful sadness to them that only the mid to late 60's can bring.Just fantastic.I also recommend "A Certain Smile,A Certain Sadness" and "A Look To the Rainbow" from Austrud Gilberto.......and Carlos Jobim's "The Composer Of Desafinado Plays" and "Wave",all of these recordings are from the mid to late 60's and are very similar.

This is as good a classic Bossa Nova CD as I've heard.

The delivery is so low key and understated that it blends in with any activity, reading, having a nice cup of tea, or writing.

Gilberto's voice is so cool and collected that it's hard to believe that she basically walked into the studio and cut these and her other classic tracks without any formal training.

Her voice reminds me loosely of Swing Out Sister's Corrine Drewery, another so called "untrained" pop-jazz vocalist with a cult following.

All the tracks here are worth listening. My only complaint is that there weren't more of them, and that most of them don't run a little longer.

Great stuff!

As a long time Astrud Gilberto fan, I was extremely pleased with this collection. Astrud's voice is beautiful, sweet and haunting. The overall sound and orchestration is beautiful (I do not understand the other reviewers complaints regarding the sound quality and orchestration). I highly recommend this CD.

the sound of this cd is mostly ok, but a few tracks sound like they didn't spend much time with the transfer to digital... some distortion on louder orchestral parts on one track, a couple tracks actually start a few beats into the recording, so you miss the downbeat! imagine releasing an album like that? maybe the original source recordings are flawed too, who knows, i'd try for one of the more recent remastered versions, see if they're any better.

but the music is mostly cool, esp. the first half which is the original tracks of the Astrud Gilberto Album, a few tracks are iconic: Agua De Beber, Dindi, Once I Loved... by today's standards a little heavy with studio orchestra in some moments, but it was the flavor of that age, even the early Brazillian records made by Joao Gilberto with Jobim were arranged like that.

what can i say? there will be no other Astrud Gilberto! she's simply fantastic! i love all her songs!

I'm always reaching for this CD! I have a lot of Astrud Gilberto CDs, but I reach for this one the most. And she's so cute on the cover, too. I love the hair.

If you find yourself alone, having landed at the airport of a city in the middle of nowhere, and you're taking a taxi to your downtown hotel, and it's dusk or evening or late night, you will be happy to hear Astrud Gilberto's pure, clear voice playing out a mood of pretty melancholy and longing, just for you.