Joao Gilberto Music

This is a simple, yet intimate album. It sounds like what you might hear had you Joao Gilberto over for drinks and got him to play his guitar for a half hour. I am not very familiar with Joao Gilberto's music (I am better acquainted with his ex-wife Astrud's). Mostly what I know of him is from the classic Getz-Gilberto album. But if this album is any indication, Joao's talent has not diminished since the 1960s. He made a wise artistic choice here and recorded these tracks with just him on guitar and singing. No drums, sythns, or strings. Most of the songs I was unfamiliar with, other than the classic Desafinado. Perhaps great musicians of the 1960s can never really recapture the sound they had perfected back then, whether it be Joao Gilberto, Bob Dylan, or Paul McCartney. What does come through here is the charm of a great musician standing alone. This is not a long album or an ambitious one, but it is an honest one, and one that you will not tire of listening to. A good choice for bossa nova fans.

This CD is an extraordinary experience of one voice with one guitar. For 40 years I've waited for the perfect Joao Gilberto album, and finally here it is.

Joao has remained the same romantic crooner that he was 40 years ago, but his voice is not the same... it's natural it won't ever be the same, our beloved Zen Baiano is getting on... The arrangements somewhat lack expression, they produce and impression of drowsiness. However I have to admit such arrangement is quite good in Eclipse (perhaps the best song of the disk, it's gently swinging like the reflection of the moon on the water). I also enjoyed Da Cor do Pecado, a lovely, sensual tune... But the overall impression is that his best times are gone.

I've taken a discovery dive into the wonderworld of Brazilian music, which was mostly unbeknowst to me, even being Brazilian myself. From all the different genres and musical movements I've researched, bossa nova is by far the most inspired. It was the most creative ever made in this country and I think nothing better will ever be done. To listen to any given bossa nova song is to look at a snapshot of the Brazilian soul. And this was the first bossa nova record I bought. I'm looking forward to buying Gilberto's earlier, orchestrated work, part of which I've listened to on the internet, but for me, this is really what his music is all about: voice, guitar, and silence. Any bossa nova fan should buy this. By the way, I strongly disagree with those who call bossa nova "chill out" music. The interpretation of "Coração Vagabundo" in this album is one of the most angsty, sad songs I've ever heard, and "Chega de Saudade" is a wonderful bittersweet tale and I love João Gilberto's rendition of it, especially the guitar rythm.

This is a pretty straightforward album: just João and his guitar, playing a bunch of songs he's cut before. Almost exceptionlessly beautifully, with one exception: the version of "Eu Sou da Bahia" on this album is HORRIBLE, even more so when compared to the version in his 1973 album, and should just have been left out. The rest of the songs are really good; my favorite is "Da Cor do Pecado". The sound could have been much better on this album, though; the bass sounds somewhat muddy. It's also really short at 30 mins.

Anyway, this is a really good album, and I was blown away by it when I got it; but after getting some of his older stuff (especially the original recordings compilation, his Montreux live set, and the 1973 album), I don't like it nearly as much.
Therefore, in my specially demanding João Gilberto rating scale, it gets 3 big stars out of 5.

This music is straight from heaven. After reading the words in english, I realize that the meaning behind the songs are as beautiful as the music itself.

I purchased this double album in 2003 in some cheap music store in Barcelona. I was new and only put me back 7 euros. Best purchase for an album EVER. If I could only take 10 albums with me to a desert island, this would definitely make the cut (along with Beach Boys Pet Sounds and Sublime's 40oz to Freedom).

It takes awhile for the hooks to set in (I'd start with the second disc first), but they will always stay with you. Highly Recommended.

update: I wrote this review before reading the other reviews. I didn't know the desert island vote was already used!

This is an essential collection: Joao Gilberto's first three albums, Chega de Saudade, O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor and Joao Gilberto (which for some unfathomable reason have never been re-issued in CD), plus two tracks from an impossible-to-find double seven-inch mini-LP of Joao performing songs from the Black Orpheus movie. Those albums revolutionized Brazilian music, and epitomize true-blue bossa nova. It's all there: the songs (including pre-bossa ones revisited in Joao's unique style, cf. Rosa Morena and Aos Pes da Cruz, the latter of which was shamelessly stolen by Miles Davis and Gil Evans), the instrumentation, the arrangements (mostly by Antonio Carlos Jobim), the beat - and, of course, Joao's singing and guitar playing, the very heart of bossa nova and an undying influence on all that came afterwards.

(An update: I've learned that this CD has been unavailable for quite some time now due to a court dispute between Joao and EMI. Seems that, not content with putting the tracks all out of order, EMI has, in the remix, substantially altered - for the worse - the original recordings. If so - and all the reliable expert testimonies say so - it's not, alas, representative of Joao's work. More's the pity. If you don't have those albums, you may as well go for this CD, but you've been forewarned...)

This is my top #1 desert island disc. If I have not listened to this album 500 times since I bought it 10 years ago, then I haven't listened to it at all.

It contains three years' worth of absolute seminal recordings. Yes it is in the late 50's style (compared to today's productions, it is fairly "lame") but musically there is so much packed into these 38 tracks it is nothing less than astonishing.

What hasn't already been said about JG? That he is a guitar god? That he has worked with brilliant songwriters? That his mixture of guitar and voice is unique and enticing?

OK so the CD is out of print. Dang. While you wait, buy the Getz-Gilberto album in the meanwhile. It's better than nothing at all.

Long live bossa nova!

It's a shame this disc is out of print. Packed with two-minute bursts of Bossa Nova goodness. Sound is crystal clear. Of all the samba discs I own, this seems to be the one perennial. Find it used if you can. Hopefully World Pacific will release it again at some point.

I purchased this double album in 2003 in some cheap music store in Barcelona. I was new and only put me back 7 euros. Best purchase for an album EVER. If I could only take 10 albums with me to a desert island, this would definitely make the cut (along with Beach Boys Pet Sounds and Sublime's 40oz to Freedom).

It takes awhile for the hooks to set in (I'd start with the second disc first), but they will always stay with you. Highly Recommended.

update: I wrote this review before reading the other reviews. I didn't know the desert island vote was already used!

This is an essential collection: Joao Gilberto's first three albums, Chega de Saudade, O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor and Joao Gilberto (which for some unfathomable reason have never been re-issued in CD), plus two tracks from an impossible-to-find double seven-inch mini-LP of Joao performing songs from the Black Orpheus movie. Those albums revolutionized Brazilian music, and epitomize true-blue bossa nova. It's all there: the songs (including pre-bossa ones revisited in Joao's unique style, cf. Rosa Morena and Aos Pes da Cruz, the latter of which was shamelessly stolen by Miles Davis and Gil Evans), the instrumentation, the arrangements (mostly by Antonio Carlos Jobim), the beat - and, of course, Joao's singing and guitar playing, the very heart of bossa nova and an undying influence on all that came afterwards.

(An update: I've learned that this CD has been unavailable for quite some time now due to a court dispute between Joao and EMI. Seems that, not content with putting the tracks all out of order, EMI has, in the remix, substantially altered - for the worse - the original recordings. If so - and all the reliable expert testimonies say so - it's not, alas, representative of Joao's work. More's the pity. If you don't have those albums, you may as well go for this CD, but you've been forewarned...)

This is my top #1 desert island disc. If I have not listened to this album 500 times since I bought it 10 years ago, then I haven't listened to it at all.

It contains three years' worth of absolute seminal recordings. Yes it is in the late 50's style (compared to today's productions, it is fairly "lame") but musically there is so much packed into these 38 tracks it is nothing less than astonishing.

What hasn't already been said about JG? That he is a guitar god? That he has worked with brilliant songwriters? That his mixture of guitar and voice is unique and enticing?

OK so the CD is out of print. Dang. While you wait, buy the Getz-Gilberto album in the meanwhile. It's better than nothing at all.

Long live bossa nova!

It's a shame this disc is out of print. Packed with two-minute bursts of Bossa Nova goodness. Sound is crystal clear. Of all the samba discs I own, this seems to be the one perennial. Find it used if you can. Hopefully World Pacific will release it again at some point.