Inexpensive Brazilian records (is there such a thing?)

[Tsundoku]

I was chatting to Joe Pencilface recently about the way Brazilian stuff seems to have shot up in price. That, plus the increasing costs of postage, makes building up any kind of collection here a bit untenable. So, I thought I'd probe the group mind a bit. Are there any great Brazilian records that don't cost the Earth? I think 70s second presses might be the way to go.

[Tom B]

How inexpensive is inexpensive? Lots of MPB stuff doesn't cost the earth & is great, if that's your bag. Elis Regina, Wilson Simonal, Pery Ribeiro etc

[Beater Pan]

Sergio Mendes stuff is mostly fairly cheap, although of course not all of it is really a keeper..

[babycart]

Postage knocked me out of that game a good while ago.

Some of my Brazilian records are stuff that already found it's way over the Atlantic, but they're mostly European-issued stuff. There's a lot more of this than you might think, and European interest in Brazil goes right back to the 50s. Apart from certain raers, it's generally pretty cheap, too.

[Tsundoku]

How inexpensive is inexpensive? Lots of MPB stuff doesn't cost the earth & is great, if that's your bag. Elis Regina, Wilson Simonal, Pery Ribeiro etc

Dunno really, idle speculation - £20?

What are some of your faves Babycart?

[Shere Khan]

The first record of this kind that I ever bought was Joyce's 'Feminina', from Mr Bongo when you could just take one out of the racks. It's well known but that doesn't prevent it being fantastic and it can be found in the £25/£30 region as a rule. There's a VG on discogs for £17 but it's in Japan.

[babycart]

Dunno really, idle speculation - £20?

What are some of your faves Babycart?

Essential Airto on Buddah (German press)
Teca & Ricardo - north-eastern stuff from France
Tania Maria - Via Brasil 1&2/Brasil in my Soul (France/Spain)
Antonio Carlos & Jocafi - S/T & Mudei de Idea (Spain)
Quinteto Violado - first three lps (Brazilian presses, but inexplicably common in Europe)
Joao Gilberto 1973 (France)
Edu Lobo - Limite das Aguas (germany),Sergio Mendes presents (UK/SPain)
Milton Nascimento _ Milagre dos Peixes (80s German reissue)
Sivuca - Rendezvous A Rio (France)
Baden Powell - various Barclay/Saba/other issues
Djavan - Flor de Lis/ S/T

Don´t think I spent more than €20 on any of these. There's loads more, especially taking into account more recent reissues of grails on Far Out/Dare Dare/ whatmusic etc.

[Tsundoku]

Cheers babycart (and others)

Any fans of Chico Buarque? His stuff seems inexpensive, have heard great things about Construcao, but not heard it yet.

[babycart]

Cheers babycart (and others)

Any fans of Chico Buarque? His stuff seems inexpensive, have heard great things about Construcao, but not heard it yet.

I love Chico, but he doesn´t do much groovy, rocky or funky stuff. It's almost all firmly based in samba. All the first four self-titled lps have fantastic songs on them and Construcao is a masterpiece - musically brilliant, but well worth finding translations of the lyrics, too.

Per Un Pugno de Samba is wonderful, too - a Morricone re-edit of some of his best songs, with uneasy strings, harpsichords and Edda Dell'Orso weaving in and out.

[SirSlim]

Cheers babycart (and others)

Any fans of Chico Buarque?

Yes - this is a good one.

[peretti]

I like BC's list above. There seemed to be a big Brazilian music resurgence mid 80s through to mid 90s with tons of French and German reissues and comps in the high street shops, quite good but mostly on pretty thin vinyl. I'm sure I still see those about for probably much less than I paid for them new. Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben, Claudia, Joao Gilberto etc. I think reissues are the way forward if you want to explore without going broke.

As a mid-80s teen I also briefly bought loads of samba and battacuda comps plus too many cheap bossa nova reissues during a confusing period when I thought Astrud Gilberto could sing. I totally overdosed on Stan Getz and Jobim, too. If you get your bossa nova on you can still fill your boots from every £1 record box in the land. I still find quite a lot of Brazilian stuff in the wild in charity shops.

[Shere Khan]

Cheers babycart (and others)

Any fans of Chico Buarque? His stuff seems inexpensive, have heard great things about Construcao, but not heard it yet.

I like this track he did with Nara Leao which is on a 7" with Gal Costa on the other side. It's charming.

[babycart]

I like this track he did with Nara Leao which is on a 7" with Gal Costa on the other side. It's charming.

That's Sivuca sprinkling a bit of northeastern accordion magic on that.

a confusing period when I thought Astrud Gilberto could sing.

Joao couldn´t really sing either. I was reading about his early years recently, when he was depressed, struggling and banging out a single chord for hours in the bathroom until his dad committed him to a mental hospital. The 1973 lp provides an extreme close-up of the art he forged back then, which soon became commonplace.
I think Astrud pretty much adopted his minimal vocal style and added a lot of her own cool charm and character to it.

[Beater Pan]

After hearing it in a DJ set yesterday, I just came to think of Maria Bethânia Viana Telles Veloso – A Tua Presença which is also worth it alone for Mariana Mariana.Thanks Madlib/MF Doom for putting me on to her. Mono versions of that go for less than 20 €, Stereo a bit more.

[Tom B]

Maria Bethânia Viana Telles Veloso – A Tua Presença

Good call, also has the fabulous Mano Caetano with Jorge Ben