Brazil Classics 4: The Best of Tom Zé

Brazilian pop hits Avant Garde/misc. Household appliances and tools in arangements with horns, strings “prepared” guitars (punctuated by grunts, screams and other wild percussion) meld with eccentric metaphorical lyricism. The results: sounds of “sambas and archangels / street and street riot”, sometimes hypnotic, sometimes dissonant and always a beautiful amalgamation of unusual noises and pop songs. Although many songs have a samba / pop feel, lyrically they go much further than the typical samba texts about nature, sex and love. Lyrics aside, these songs remain on the Brazilian continuum of music with incredibly complex diversity. It’s historical music, the historical legacy of the song, i.e., the Brazil = music equation. An integral part of the culture and important in the world of musical exploration.