Araçá Azul

Performer: Caetano Veloso
Distributor: City Hall

Notes: Personnel: Caetano Veloso (vocals, viola, piano, percussion); Lanny (guitar); Luciano Oliveira (pandeiro); Avenida Sao Luiz, Moacyr Albuquerque. Additional personnel: Edith Oliveira (vocals). Released in 1972, the same year as the indisputably stupendous TRANSA, ARACA AZUL weighed in as the most experimental work Caetano Veloso had released up to that time. That's quite an achievement, since Veloso's early records were wildly kaleidoscopic affairs, mixing in bossa nova with jazz, rock, folk, and Beatlesque psychedelia. The inventive, "weird" quality of these albums helped put modern Brazilian pop on the map, and earned Veloso a devoted following. But ARACA AZUL is a completely different animal. A schizophrenic journey of found sounds, tribal drumming, off-kilter bossa nova, art rock, and heartbreakingly beautiful ballads ("Tu Me Acostumbraste" is arguably the highlight here), the album pushes boundaries even by Veloso's standards. It doesn't have the memorable songs of TRANSA or his 1968 self-titled disc, but it's still pure Caetano: a thrilling celebration of the limitless possibilities of pop.

Caetano Veloso is a giant of Brazilian pop, often compared to figures such as Bob Dylan and John Lennon--even if the comparison doesn't quite translate. Veloso began in the late 1960s as one of the primary instigators of the "tropicalia" movement--an intentionally provocative collision of musical and cultural influences--for which he rapidly ascended to fame and notoriety. For years he was hardly known outside Brazil, but in time he became an international star renowned for his musical creativity and poetic soul.

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