Search - Marcos Valle :: Marcos Valle

Classic Oddball Brilliance

Greg C. | NY | 10/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although Marcos Valle had been gradually breaking away from the strictures of bossa nova over his previous two albums, this 1970 album presented something of a break with most of what he'd done up to that point. For starters, both the songs and his hair were getting longer, and the dynamic of this unique record resides in the yin-yang between electrified rock-influenced tracks featuring Milton Nascimento's backing band Som Imaginário, and orchestrally-backed examples of Valle's expertise in 6/8 waltz-time rhythms. This latter talent demonstrates that Valle could have easily been a Hollywood composer in the 40s had he been born three decades earlier. And all this is before you get to "Freio Aerodinamico" (pure Stereolab!), "Os Grilos" (a dancefloor hit several decades later) and "Suite Imaginária" (a page taken from David Axelrod's work with the Electric Prunes--think "Release Of An Oath"). Both brilliant and a bit bizarre, and a traditionally overlooked chapter in Brazilian pop history. In other words, a must-have!"