Has anyone heard this? I've really enjoyed Os Mutantes' s/t album lately and wouldn't mind delving a little deeper into Tropicalia. Soul Jazz's new comp has gotten really good reviews, but the import price is a bit steep. Is it worth the money?

This sounds like something I'd like too.

Tropicalia essentially consisted of the work of 5 artists over a couple of year period. They include a Jorge ben track but its not really tropicalia. Looking over the track listing, it looks good but I wouldn't pay a lot for it. You're probably better off buy a couple of studio albums from the artists instead for the same price.

Which artists would you recommend, Billy?

this comp is perfect if you're looking for a taste of the artists from Tropicalia, and will probably get you interested in picking up some of the studio albums from certain artists. good way to pick out the ones you dig.

my favs: Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben

If you're limiting the topic to tropicalia, its really Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze, and Gal Costa...that's pretty much the whole universe of tropicalia and really only their late 60's work.

I think if you like any of it, you'd probably be likely to like most all of it and I do. That said, I think its much more interesting as a cultural phenomena...the history and story behind it than the music itself. I personally think the tropicalia work of Caetano Veloso is far from his best. He doesn't even play an instrument on those albums. The producers convinced him that he wasn't a talented enough guitarist. He came into his own when exiled in England.

I'd rank tropicalia artists in the following order:

Gilberto Gil
Os Mutantes
Gal Costa
Caetano Veloso
Tom Ze



If you're talking brazilian in general though, there's lots of stuff I like more than most tropicalia

Been meaning to check out this comp.

I've been enjoying this old Tropicalia record compiled by David Byrne a bit lately. It's basically the same sort of joint as this Soul Jazz one, except with a couple of tracks that aren't strictly 'tropicalia'.

I'm familiar with the closely related Bossa Nova artists but not Tropicalia. An older friend once recommended Os Mutantes to me because he knew I was a huge Stereolab fan.