Search - Jim Capaldi :: Let the Thunder Cry

An overlooked pop masterpiece

Emilio Dreyer Pacheco | Porto Alegre, Brazil | 08/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jim Capaldi lived in Brazil for many years and was inevitably exposed to Brazilian music. But, having really experienced it and not merely sampled it, like Paul Simon and others, he was able to see (and hear) beyond the usual samba and rhythmic stuff. (In case you don't know, the recently released "Anna Julia", featuring George Harrison on guitar, is originally a Brazilian song.) On "Let The Thunder Cry", he wrote beautiful English lyrics for a Brazilian ballad and retitled it "Old Photographs". He was always a good lyricist and I can assure you he outdid the original. He also wrote a powerful rocker, "Favella Music", about the poor people who wander the streets of Brazil begging and thieving. The other songs are typical pop stuff, but well done. I especially like the ballads "Warm" and "Child in The Storm" and the upbeat "Only Love". "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" and "Bathroom Jane" are bonus tracks, they were not on the original album. All in all, this is a pop gem that deserves to be rediscovered, if only for the first five tracks I mentioned. Jim Capaldi deserves more credit than he usually gets as a solo artist and this is one of his best albums."