Os Mutantes - Which is the best album?

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I've got the "Everything is Possible" compilation CD. I think it's great but I've heard it's unrepresentative. Which one should I buy next?

― everything, Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

The first two albums are outstanding.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

first three even

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, third is maybe not as outstanding throughout as those incredible first two albums, though.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree - the third one has its moment too, especially _Ave Lucifer_which is one of the best songs EVER.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

first is very beatlesque and the second & third get way into silly psychedelia

their later stuff is more stones meets Yes meets queen and i wouldn't recomend it.

Rita Lee's first album is also pretty nice. mellower, orchestral bossa stuff with some psych moments near the end. the rest of the mutantes are on it, so it's not really a solo album

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i've never heard their english speaking album "Technicolor" but have always wanted to. is it good?

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

for me, 2>1=3

3 would be much better if it didnt have that one song where rita lee just rips off janis joplin - real obnoxious.

all classic, though.

― peter smith (plsmith), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, "Desculpe Baby" on the third album is one of their greatest.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

i like that first rita lee a lot, too, jason. that one song - "song for jose", i think its called, is really beautiful.

― peter smith (plsmith), Thursday, 30 September 2004 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)

So what I'm hearing is that there's nothing to be totally avoided. I love that. Ave Lucifer and Desculpe Baby are both on "Everything is Possible". I must admit I like when they go off into Cream-style heaviness on "Ando Meio Desligardo". Also "Panis Et Circenses" is a fantastic tune and could almost be Stereolab if it was played with keyboards and computers instead of trumpets etc.

― everything, Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

So what I'm hearing is that there's nothing to be totally avoided.

well...
their later stuff is more stones meets Yes meets queen and i wouldn't recomend it.

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

here's a place with pretty good reviews of all the albums. i'd stay away from anything post '71

http://www.slipcue.com/music/brazil/mutantes.html

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I recommend it! I love the later stuff. I love all their stuff.

What do people think of the Arnaldo Baptista solo album? Loki? I had a tougher time getting into that one, but I need to give it another spin.

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"more stones meets Yes meets queen and i wouldn't recomend it. "

To me that sounds pretty good! Course I really like the Cardiacs.

― everything, Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

They are good! After you get the first three, I'd skip the next two -- Jardim Electrico and whatever the other one is called -- and pick up A eo Z. That's the really Yes-sounding one and it's great.

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Two is the best one IMO. But the first 4 are all good.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i for one love "loki" by arnaldo baptista, but i think folks on this board would be more into "singin' alone" which is a more proficient, brazillian "skip spence-oar". it's just gorgeous, especially the track "o sol".
the best album the mutantes played on, however, has to be "gilberto gil 1968" on which they play backing band and handle some background vocals. there's also a single that the mutantes did with caetano veloso- "e prohibido prohibir" or "e proibido proibir" (i don't know the spelling). some of that can be heard, along with an absolutely insane live version of that track (think devo live 1974 or suicide live-level audience confrontation) on a disc from the veloso box set.

― naturemorte, Thursday, 30 September 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i love them all but the first 4 are ALL amazing.

― stirmonster, Thursday, 30 September 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Start with the first album Os Mutantes and continue chronologically from there.

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 30 September 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, avoid 'technicolor' - kind of spoils the songs translating them. the 'algo mais' comp. is pretty great too.

― stirmonster, Thursday, 30 September 2004 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

2nd album rulz

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 30 September 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

the first two are the best, with the second winning by a nose....get both! (especially since the comp has only one song from the debut)

― Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Thursday, 30 September 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Love "Cantor de Mambo" that santana-riffage track on EIP. Anything else like that?

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Thursday, 30 September 2004 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"Cantor de Mambo" - me too

― todd (todd), Thursday, 30 September 2004 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll third that.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 30 September 2004 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck em
check out teh almendra.

― brock (brock), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

The second album has to be, I virtually played it non-stop for a year.

Technicolor is nice. But not as good as the originals. "She's my choo choo" as opposed to "Aio mia desligado" not. Bat macumbo is more 'polite'. It's all the rough edges smoothed off to get a nice deal in Europe. But its those edges that they'd have wanted.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 1 October 2004 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(I'll get the other two albums when I see them...)

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 1 October 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i like the first two too. the third is growing on me. i read a piece about the mutantes in MOJO (can't find it now, dunno which issue etc.) that explained the concept behind the third one. However i forget what that was, can't find the article, sorry.

I like Gilberto Gil's album from that period which reprises 2001 from the mutantes into a truly future-dub qua latino-psych stereo experiment. His album is another true psychedelic masterpiece. Not so sure about the Gal Costa album.

I think the comparison with Stereolab is right on, save that the politics, the 1968, right-wing juntas etc. seem like elements the tropicana movement couldn't afford to be as casually glib about.

― george gosset (gegoss), Friday, 1 October 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

http://pepsico.fr/marques/jusdefruit/premium_ambiant/images/pdt4.jpg

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 1 October 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

Please tell me I don't NEED NEED to buy the first few albums if I have Everything is Possible....please....I'm poor...

― trappist monkey, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

i've just got into them and I'd say you can't really go wrong with the first one, though i haven't listened to the others much yet.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 10 February 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

I like the second and third a lot, but it took a little while to get into them. The first one is the most accessible and probably the place to start. Once you have these you can get Technicolor-the English versions are different enough and well-played enough not to feel redundant. trappist monkey, you might be able to get away with just that collection, but I don't know exactly what's on it.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 10 February 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

1. Ando Meio Desligado
2. Ave, Lucifer
3. Dia 36
4. Baby [1971]
5. Fuga No.11
6. Cantor De Mambo
7. Adeus Maria Fulo
8. Desculpe, Babe
9. El Justiciero
10. Panis Et Circences
11. A Minha Menina
12. Bat Macumba
13. Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour
14. Baby [1968]

― trappist monkey, Thursday, 10 February 2005 01:34 (twenty years ago)

Are the first three still in print on OmPlatten? (is / was that label 'related' to Other Music somehow?)

― Matt Sab (Matt Sab), Thursday, 10 February 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

that's a really good compilation from the looks of things.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 10 February 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

It doesn't have O Relogio from the 1st album though, which is sublime.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Thursday, 10 February 2005 11:53 (twenty years ago)

That collection does look pretty good. I think you might be able to hold out on buying the others until you get your gift certificates next Xmas, if not this Valentine's Day.

xxpost:
I think they are out of print. Yeah, the guy (or one of the guys) who owns Other Music is/was a partner in Omplatten.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 10 February 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

I've seen the first two albums on Ebay for 25-30 dollars, which leads me to believe that they are out of print....however, I went to Brazil last summer and bought the debut for 5 dollars

― Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Thursday, 10 February 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

The strongest piece of evidence for me is that Other Music does not list them at their website.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 10 February 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

The first two are "must owns". And while you're at it, get the first five Caetano Velosos, and anything by Tom Ze, and the Arthur Verocai, Jorge Ben pre-74...
Thanks to Slipcue, I've become a complete Brazilian music obsessive.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 10 February 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

Whatever one has "Rita Lee" and "Dia 36". I was tempted to buy the Byrne comp for a while but after seeing the front and back cover to "Mutantes" i had to get that and that was the first one i ended up hearing. It's fantastic, the first track sound like Sgt. Pepper performing at a bull fight.

My favotie Mutantes, "Náo Vá Se Perder Por Ai", is intense and strange catchy dance-garage psychedelia by a group of mariachi hillbillies.

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Thursday, 10 February 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

A Minha Menina is my favourite of theirs.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 10 February 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone ever noticed that REM's "Stand" sounds a lot like "Jogo de Calçada"?

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

ah, so glad I listened to this!

― green uno skip card (ex machina), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 05:15 (twenty years ago)

Thought you'd like this Jon for some reason.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 08:19 (twenty years ago)

So glad you listened to what, Jon? The Everything Is Possible comp?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

One more thing about Technicolor- I hate to say it, but Liminha is a better bass player than Arnaldo.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

kicks ASS

― just adam (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

And yet another thing about Technicolor, this is the album where "El Justiciero" debuted, or would have, if it had come out back when it was recorded.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 17 March 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Late to the party as ever, but the second LP is extraordinary - don't think I've heard anything quite like it. It's insane that you can't buy this new. Thanks again, mark.

― Jeff W (zebedee), Thursday, 23 June 2005 09:35 (twenty years ago)

No problem. Like you, I am having great trouble locating the first and third CDs from OMplatten, they were everwhere and then they were Gone!

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 23 June 2005 09:42 (twenty years ago)

A copy of the fourth LP, "Jardim Eletrico" was in the Notting Hill MVE (the dance shop) a few weeks back. They wanted £80 for it. Needless to say it was gone within a week or so. Insane!

― Jeff W (zebedee), Thursday, 23 June 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

Mmm. You blogging the second album?

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 23 June 2005 09:59 (twenty years ago)

I still reckon the first one is best, for Minha a Menina alone. I'm quite partial to the darkly silly third album too.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 23 June 2005 10:03 (twenty years ago)

You blogging the second album?
Oh yes. But there's about five other records to do before this, so may be a few days. And in any case I'll need to give it some more listens first.

― Jeff W (zebedee), Thursday, 23 June 2005 10:37 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Os Mutantes - Comerciais Shell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MJCaGvrPRk

― jaxon, Saturday, 3 March 2007 19:17 (eighteen years ago)

"WOW!"

Thanks, jaxon, those are terrific.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, 3 March 2007 21:12 (eighteen years ago)

there is a possibility that i am going to do a collaboration with sergio dias later in the year (which will be sponsored by a brazilian beer company). if it comes off we will then hopefully perform it live and that will then be followed by a full os mutantes live show. selected uk dates only. i'll report back if this comes off though i have to confess to being somewhat intimidated with the prospect of collaborating with such greatness.

― stirmonster, Saturday, 3 March 2007 23:30 (eighteen years ago)

Super-homem Superflit
Supervinc, Superhist
Superviva, Supershell
Superquentão

xpost: that's awesome, stirmonster!

― Tim Ellison, Saturday, 3 March 2007 23:34 (eighteen years ago)

i like the first 2 rita lee "solo" albums - the os mutantes gang are all over themm, esp. the 1st. not great but definitely solid. the one she did after breaking with the band - i think it's credited to tutti frutti or something - is not so hot. she sort of goes glam, which sounds great on paper but doesn't really fly

― gershy, Saturday, 3 March 2007 23:36 (eighteen years ago)

Stirmonster, if you'll allow me to namedrop for a moment, I interviewed Sergio last summer and he's an incredibly nice guy, humble and very excited by music. You should get along great with him.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Sunday, 4 March 2007 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

Interesting that not a single one of those commercials has the cool version of "Algo Mais" that's on the second album.

― Tim Ellison, Sunday, 4 March 2007 00:55 (eighteen years ago)

What a timely revival - yesterday the first four Os Mutantes albums and the second Rita Lee album arrived at my house. Enjoying all greatly.

― Scik Mouthy, Sunday, 4 March 2007 08:07 (eighteen years ago)

mutantes with gilberto gil video

― curmudgeon, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:10 (eighteen years ago)

i love technicolor! the english versions are amazing. especially the english panis et circenses. so good.

― s1ocki, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:17 (eighteen years ago)

there's a pretty good gilberto gil profile in the NYT today too, if anybody's interested

― modestmickey, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

that is if you don't mind glossing over the lawrence lessig kool aid bullshit that's spread throughout

― modestmickey, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

link?

― s1ocki, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:44 (eighteen years ago)

The NY Times article is mainly about Gil's role in the 'copyleft' (as opposed to copyright of course) movement ...

― curmudgeon, Monday, 12 March 2007 02:49 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/arts/music/11roht.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

― modestmickey, Monday, 12 March 2007 04:39 (eighteen years ago)

BTW: Os Mutantes are playing at the Lincoln Center Festival this summer.

― MC, Monday, 12 March 2007 22:34 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

is there a website out there w/translated lyrics?

i specifically wanna know the translation to "ave, lucifer."

― s1ocki, Sunday, 1 April 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

Did the Omplatten reissues have english translations?

― Alex in SF, Sunday, 1 April 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I think so. Was kind of annoying actually.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 1 April 2007 21:18 (eighteen years ago)

But there was a website "planet of the mutantes" or something that had them

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 1 April 2007 21:19 (eighteen years ago)

here it is

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 1 April 2007 21:20 (eighteen years ago)

not seeing hte translations there!

― s1ocki, Sunday, 1 April 2007 21:25 (eighteen years ago)

sorry, s1ocki, i forgot how to read a few years ago, and i thought you wanted the portuguese lyrics. i'll make it up to you and try to find the omplatten with the English lyrics which i have somewhere around here

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Sunday, 1 April 2007 21:54 (eighteen years ago)

thanks dude!!

― s1ocki, Sunday, 1 April 2007 23:14 (eighteen years ago)

the apples
surround the naked bodies
in this river that runs
in my gentle veins

angels and archangels
do not stay in this hellish eden
and the arrow of the savage
killed a thousand birds in the air

quietly, the serpent tangles itself
in his feet
it is lucifer of the forest
that tries to embrace me

love comes
that a paradise
in a friendly embrace
will smile on us without anyone seeing

promise
my soft love
like a flower full of honey
to become drunk, without anyone seeing us

they devour black grapes
they devour celebrations and flowers
they devour cups and pains
they devour fragrant incense

but they devour lucifer for me
on a tray for me

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 2 April 2007 00:20 (eighteen years ago)

three years pass...

There is a movie about Arnaldo called Loki playing today at the Tribeca branch of the 92St Y.

― Blecch Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 April 2010 15:19 (fifteen years ago)

The group is also in "Beyond Ipanema" that is showing tonight and Saturday in DC as part of Filmfest DC at the Goethe-Institute. This movie shows clips of the reunited Os Mutantes (possibly original band as well-- I saw this movie but I forget) but spends more time showing David Byrne, Beck and Devendra Banhart talking about Brazilian musicians than it does showing the Brazilian musicians.

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 April 2010 18:09 (fifteen years ago)

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