Red Hot + Rio 2
Various Artists (E-One)
“Play Safe.” That’s the English half of the bilingual motto inside the packaging for Red Hot + Rio 2; the other half, in Portuguese, translates as “Protect Yourself.” They are precisely the sort of slogans expected on an HIV-AIDS charity album, and one hopes that everyone who buys or hears this music heeds that advice.
But we should all be grateful the musicians didn’t play it safe.
Red Hot + Rio 2 is the 16th album in the Red Hot series, which has donated $10-million to HIV-AIDS charities over the last 20 years, and a sequel to the 1996 release Red Hot + Rio. The idea behind it is simple: Get North American and English artists together with some of the giants of Brazilian music, and pay tribute to the brilliance that was Tropicália.
It’s an appropriate focus for two reasons. First, Tropicália was in many ways the original fusion movement, not only adding a rock influence to the sound and feel of bossa nova, but taking a generally open and experimental approach to songwriting. It was also a rebel movement, and its primary musical leaders, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, were both jailed then exiled by the military junta that ran Brazil in the late ’60s.
It’s not hard to see, then, how rock musicians of the current generation would be influenced by Tropicália, and Rio 2 boasts more than its share of high profile fans, generally in combination with similarly-inclined Brazilian acts. There’s Beck, singing his own Tropicália, with Seu Jorge; David Byrne with Veloso himself performing a joint composition, Dreamworld: Marco de Canaveses; Devendra Banhart with Marisa Monte doing Nu Com a Minha Musica; and more. With 33 tracks in all, there’s plenty of room for collaboration.
It isn’t just another celebrity covers project, however. Even though the artists convey a strong sense of Tropicália’s history – a surprising number of the tunes here are taken from Panis et Circencis, the 1968 album that was Tropicália’s musical manifesto – they’re not chained to it. Instead, they have fun with the sound, with the songs, and with the very idea of the project.
A few, like John Legend, use their own writing to show how Tropicália has affected them (and his Love I’ve Never Known is one of the prettiest songs he’s recorded), while others simply take an unorthodox approach to reveal something new about the music.
For instance, when the California soul group Tha Boogie finds similarities to the Smiths in the Veloso and Gil tune Panis et Circencis other listeners would have missed. And when Of Montreal take on the fervently rhythmic Bat Macumba, the psychedelic guitar snarling in the background is not alt-rock indulgence, but the work of Sergio Dias from Brazil’s legendary Os Mutantes.
Some arrangements are tremendously ambitious, as with the up-tempo swirl of sound Angelique Kidjo, Forro in the Dark and Brazilian Girls provide for Aquele Abraço; others are delightfully understated, like the sly twist Atom, Toshiyuki Yasuda and Morena Veloso provide on the frequently covered Aguas de Março. But they’re all so delightful you may find yourself wondering why charity isn’t always this much fun.
MORE NEW RELEASES THIS WEEK
Together Apart
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- 3 STARS
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Grieves and Budo perform as part of the Vans Warped Tour at Arrow Hall in Mississauga on July 15 and Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau on July 16.
Tim Robbins and the Rogues Gallery Band
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The Express
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Gardens & Villa
- Gardens & Villa (Secretly Canadian)
- 2.5 STARS
“I don’t really want to go on,” sings California’s Gardens & Villa, “to places where they keep time.” And so, controls are set for suns and mixed eras, including Chemtrails, where John Lennon floats high in marmalade skies. This debut album is a bit derivative and doesn’t hold together completely, being dreamy here, taut there and electro-bloopy elsewhere. But listeners will find joy in the cherry picking – Star Fire Power is post-disco Band of Horses; Thorn Castles is a strummy, choppy salute to the magic of childhood. Keep dreaming, Gardens & Villa, you do it well. B.W.
