NEW RELEASES - TOM ZE; OS BRAZOES: KING FLOYD - WELL DONE

TOM ZE - TOM ZE

Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, innovator and composer who was hugely influential in the Tropicália movement of '60s Brazil. Zé is often thought of as Brazil’s answer to Zappa or Captain Beefheart; a true innovator and a true artist. Mr Bongo re-issued Zé’s debut record ‘Grande Liquidicao’ originally released in 1968. This, his second solo album, is self-titled, and was released by RGE Discos in 1970. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity. It was only in the '90s, when musician and Luaka Bop label founder David Byrne discovered an album recorded by Zé many years earlier, that he returned to performing and releasing new material. Continuing in a similar musical vein to Grande Liquidicao, ‘Tom Ze’ is a wonderful combination of guitars, layered of percussion and tough rock ’n’ roll, underpinned by Ze’s instantly recognisable vocal. Ze is infact one of Brazil’s most sampled artists. ‘Jimmy, Renda-Se’ has one of the most recognisable intros you will hear, so it was no great surprise that Amerie sampled it for her smash ‘Take Control’. All in all, another essential record from a true legend of Brazilian music.

OS BRAZOES - OS BRAZOES

Rare and highly sought after in its original format, Os Brazoes self-titled album was originally released on RGE Discos in 1969. It is a psychedelic masterpiece that fuses samba, r’n’b and rock ’n’ roll influences using fuzz guitars, synths, percussion, lush vocals and effects. Os Brazoes formed in Rio de Janeiro in the late '60s. They backed Gal Costa during her Tropicalia period, yet apparently never recorded in the studio with her. Miguel de Deus, the bands front man, recorded the highly sought after ‘Black Soul Brothers’ LP in '77, which became an important record in the ‘Black Rio’ movement. Mr Bongo released the title track from that LP, on the ‘Brazilian Beats: Brooklyn’ compilation in '06 and recently as part of their Brazil 45s re-issue series. ‘Os Brazoes’ features covers of Gilberto Gil’s ‘Pega a Voga, Cabeludo’ and Jorge Ben and Toquinho’s ‘Carolina, Carol Bela’. The Mr Bongo LP reissue is manufactured in Japan, presented in a super high quality card sleeve with replica original artwork. The CD is presented in a 4-page digi-pack.

KING FLOYD - WELL DONE

Wonderful work from King Floyd – post-Stax, post-Atlantic, but still sounding great here – with that undeniable charm that always makes his records sound so great! Floyd's got a way of singing that's deep, but also a bit effervescent too – this crackling sort of energy in the way he puts over a lyric, even bluer one – which really gets some great support here from a small backing combo at Malaco, who can really hit the right sort of "Groove Me" mode at times! The set's a great example of the way that Malaco easily picked up the torch when those other two labels were starting to lose their coverage of the south – and King's very much at home on a sweet set of tunes that include "I'm Gonna Fall In Love With You", "I Don't Think I Could Face It", "I Feel Like Dynamite", "Movin' On Strong", "So True", "Can't Give It Up", and "Try Me". Nice photo of some ribs on the cover, too!. ~ Dusty Groove