Sergio Mendes Music

I have loved this group since the 60's and this by far is the best they ever completed. When Summer Turns to Snow brings me to tears every time I hear it. The 2 women who sing leads on the songs have the best performance voices I've ever heard....wish they were still together and making beautiful music.....
Try it....you'll love it...

I really like this band from the beginning they are so professional and what a great sound even now this cd sounds as if it was recorded yesterday, a really good quality recording. Top musicians.

"Fool On The Hill" was the 4th album released by Sergio Mendes with this red hot group Brasil '66, but the first album to feature the almost totally new group lineup. Some time after the release of "Look Around", Sebastaio Neto replaced Bob Matthews on bass, Rubens Bassini replaced Jose Soares on percussion, Dom Um Romao replaced Joao Palma on drums and Karen Philipp replaced Janis Hansen on vocals. Only vocalist Lani Hall remained of the original group. Even with all the changes, the great sound of Brasil '66 continued without so much as missing a beat. This album features two of their biggest hit singles, "Scarborough Fair" and, of course, the title song. "Festa" is a great uptempo number which higlights the talents of all the group members. "Casa Forte" will have you dreaming of warm Brazilian beaches, while Lani Hall's searing vocal solo on "Canto Triste" will give you chills. "Lapinha" gave us a preview of what was to come with an excellent vocal track by Gracinha Leporace, who later replaced Lani Hall when Lani left to pursue a solo career.

From the first note to the last, this album will take you on a musical trip to warm, sunny places. Put it on, sit back and let your mind take you to new places. You won't be disappointed.

If you are looking for a great example of latin/fusion from the mid to late 1960s, I highly reccomend FOOL ON THE HILL, by Brasil 66. Brazilian bandleader Sergio Mendes led this band, made up of both American and Brazilian singers. This included Lani Hall, one of the most well-loved singers of samba and pop music (made famous through the popularity of this group). The result of this fusion of Brazilian and 1960s style lounge music? It's beautifully balanced with East meets West sensiblity. If you haven't heard their take on The Beatles' "Fool on the Hill," then you don't know what you're missing. What's more, "Scarborough Fair" (a traditional song made famous by Simon & Garfunkel) is just beautiful here, with swaying rhythms (reminiscent of Rio De Janeiro on a hazy, lazy afternoon). There are some other songs, in Portuguese, but the group is really great in both languages!

Besides being the first Sergio Mendes album in my collection, "Fool on the Hill" is probably the SECOND album that I ever bought with my hard-earned 1960's allowance.

That said, the release remains one of my favorite of both my childhood and adult years. With two hit covers (the title cut and "Scarborough Fair), along with scorchers like "Laia Ladaia (Reza"and "Upa, Neguinho," the album is just as exciting today as it was four decades ago. Though the latter tracks are sung in Spanish, that fact is not a deterrent to appreciating and enjoying them and others.

However, the best track is the ballad "When Summer Turns to Snow." This is an evocative tune and offers Mendes one of the few times he has taken the lead vocals...and he does a darn good job at it, too!

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 is my absolute favorite Latin group. Their music makes you want to dance and sway. Their renditions of Beatles' songs is wonderful and really unusual. Together with Bossa Nova and other Brazilian beats makes this a great CD.

Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 were a hot act in the 1960's... pumping out hit after hit of music with a enique Latin twist. All of the songs hold up well today... the music is still 100% enjoyable, in spite of the less than great recording quality. If you listen in your car it'll probably sound OK... but if you listen with higher quality music reproduction system, you'll hear the flaws; I took away a star due to the poor audio quality

The pop music of Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 has aged well over the past 40 years. Brazil '66 quartet fronted by a pair seductive female singers, Lani Hall and Janice Hansen who sang American pop music and contemporary Brazilian bossa nova and samba music in the Portuguese language of Brazil. Hall and Hansen's lilting, frothy vocals gave Brazil '66 it's distinctive signature sound. Four decades later the pop/jazz/Brazilian fusion music of Brazil '66 sounds suprisingly fresh, while a lot of the critically lauded experimental music of the Sixties sounds...well.. quaint by comparison. It's a credit to the vision of Mendes who assembled a band of great players like guitarist John Pisano and others musicians schooled in the Afro/Brazilian and cool jazz traditions. Those who once dismissed Mendes as a musical lightweight with a gimmicky bossa nova sound have been proven wrong. Mendes' music anticipated much of today's world fusion music that combines conventional pop music with the exotic percussion and swaying tempos of third world music.

Today's Menedes fans are hipper than the cocktail hour core Brazil '66 Sixties fan base. The newer Sergio Mendes devotees are twenty and thirty somethings raised on punk and post-punk. It's the same musically sophisticated audience that rediscovered a a host of overlooked world music icons including; the French pop of Serge Gainsboro, the samba music of Carlos Antonio Jobim, the eccentric psychedelic music of Os Mutantes, the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and buoyant ska rhythms of jazzy Jamaica's Skatalites. To their credit, these younger fans have created a demand for re-release of material by these overlooked artists, including Sergio Mendes

This album, "Four Sider" has more songs than any anthology, BUT song per song "Four Sider" is not as consistently sumblime as another Brasil '66 anthology, "Classics Vol. 18." "Four Sider's" inclusion of weak cover versions of songs like, Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" or Otis Redding's "Sitting On the Dock of the Bay" may test the patience of a novice fan. "Classics Vol. 18" avoids some of Brazil '66's less inspired music.

On the other hand, the internet bible of music criticism AMG, has selected "Four Sider" as the best Mendes anthology. It's a toss of a coin..."Four Sider" may have four more songs than "Classics Vol. 18, but not necessarily songs of the 24 karat variety. The choice is yours. As a footnote, in 1992 Sergio Mendes released a solo album, the "Brasilerio" which has become a cult masterpiece of Afro/Brazilian roots music. Fans of Mendes should check out that CD, as well.

I can't help but think of Mr. Mendes, Herb Alpert, and Jerry Moss meeting every night for dinner and drinks to discuss the future of Latin music in the U.S., various audiences ripe for Latin crossover, good people for Sergio to get to know, etc. There really is an undercurrent of business on this record, like the club/disco music unleashed by many folks a decade later. Still, much of it is enjoyable because it is so reminiscent of a certain period in the sixties.

OK I guess I'm in the minority on this one.

Almost every track on this 4-sider (neat how 4 lp sides now take up just one CD) got plenty of radio play in La La Land when I was growing up so this really is a "greatest hits" album from my youth. And who cares if they're covers or not? They're excellent covers. Great arrangements. Terrific vocals. Top notch players. Love it!

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 is my absolute favorite Latin group. Their music makes you want to dance and sway. Their renditions of Beatles' songs is wonderful and really unusual. Together with Bossa Nova and other Brazilian beats makes this a great CD.

Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 were a hot act in the 1960's... pumping out hit after hit of music with a enique Latin twist. All of the songs hold up well today... the music is still 100% enjoyable, in spite of the less than great recording quality. If you listen in your car it'll probably sound OK... but if you listen with higher quality music reproduction system, you'll hear the flaws; I took away a star due to the poor audio quality

The pop music of Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 has aged well over the past 40 years. Brazil '66 quartet fronted by a pair seductive female singers, Lani Hall and Janice Hansen who sang American pop music and contemporary Brazilian bossa nova and samba music in the Portuguese language of Brazil. Hall and Hansen's lilting, frothy vocals gave Brazil '66 it's distinctive signature sound. Four decades later the pop/jazz/Brazilian fusion music of Brazil '66 sounds suprisingly fresh, while a lot of the critically lauded experimental music of the Sixties sounds...well.. quaint by comparison. It's a credit to the vision of Mendes who assembled a band of great players like guitarist John Pisano and others musicians schooled in the Afro/Brazilian and cool jazz traditions. Those who once dismissed Mendes as a musical lightweight with a gimmicky bossa nova sound have been proven wrong. Mendes' music anticipated much of today's world fusion music that combines conventional pop music with the exotic percussion and swaying tempos of third world music.

Today's Menedes fans are hipper than the cocktail hour core Brazil '66 Sixties fan base. The newer Sergio Mendes devotees are twenty and thirty somethings raised on punk and post-punk. It's the same musically sophisticated audience that rediscovered a a host of overlooked world music icons including; the French pop of Serge Gainsboro, the samba music of Carlos Antonio Jobim, the eccentric psychedelic music of Os Mutantes, the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and buoyant ska rhythms of jazzy Jamaica's Skatalites. To their credit, these younger fans have created a demand for re-release of material by these overlooked artists, including Sergio Mendes

This album, "Four Sider" has more songs than any anthology, BUT song per song "Four Sider" is not as consistently sumblime as another Brasil '66 anthology, "Classics Vol. 18." "Four Sider's" inclusion of weak cover versions of songs like, Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" or Otis Redding's "Sitting On the Dock of the Bay" may test the patience of a novice fan. "Classics Vol. 18" avoids some of Brazil '66's less inspired music.

On the other hand, the internet bible of music criticism AMG, has selected "Four Sider" as the best Mendes anthology. It's a toss of a coin..."Four Sider" may have four more songs than "Classics Vol. 18, but not necessarily songs of the 24 karat variety. The choice is yours. As a footnote, in 1992 Sergio Mendes released a solo album, the "Brasilerio" which has become a cult masterpiece of Afro/Brazilian roots music. Fans of Mendes should check out that CD, as well.

I can't help but think of Mr. Mendes, Herb Alpert, and Jerry Moss meeting every night for dinner and drinks to discuss the future of Latin music in the U.S., various audiences ripe for Latin crossover, good people for Sergio to get to know, etc. There really is an undercurrent of business on this record, like the club/disco music unleashed by many folks a decade later. Still, much of it is enjoyable because it is so reminiscent of a certain period in the sixties.

OK I guess I'm in the minority on this one.

Almost every track on this 4-sider (neat how 4 lp sides now take up just one CD) got plenty of radio play in La La Land when I was growing up so this really is a "greatest hits" album from my youth. And who cares if they're covers or not? They're excellent covers. Great arrangements. Terrific vocals. Top notch players. Love it!