Os Novos Baianos is an important group in Brazilian music in the '60s and '70s from which came several successful solo artists: Moraes Moreira, Baby Do Brasil (then Baby Consuelo), Pepeu Gomes (a virtuoso in rock guitar and choro mandolin), and Paulinho Boca de Cantor. Other support musicians for their presentations/recordings included here had already constituted a band called A Cor Do Som, which also had some international success playing electric choro. This is the CD reissue of their second album, released in 1972. This work has a strong influence by João Gilberto, with whom they had been in the preceding year (clearly felt in Moraes' "Acabou Chorare"). But it is not related to bossa nova in any way, consisting in explorations of the group's compositions in acoustic/electric settings, with freshness and originality. The album has some important songs, like "Brasil Pandeiro," a classic by Assis Valente rejected by Carmem Miranda that deals with the appreciation for Brazilian music by the American people and is confusingly graphed as if it was one of the band's compositions; "Preta Pretinha"; "Acabou Chorare"; and "Besta é Tu."

I'm a little surprised that you've never heard it. It certainly is widely considered a classic and even was ranked #1 on a top 100 list by the Brazilian version of Rolling Stone. It's a very good album. I probably don't like it as much your friend does, but I think you'd probably like it more than I do. It has an odd but fun, quirky sound to it that I'd think would probably appeal to you.

Someone uploaded the entire album to youtube so you can stream it here: