Astrud Gilberto - c/d, s/d

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I have a few Astrud Gilberto records in my collection, Beach Samba, Look To the Rainbow, The Shadow Of Your Smile, and the live album with Stan Getz, Getz Au Go Go. My favorite of the lot is Beach Samba, though it has that bizarre final cut with (I think?) Astrud's son singing along.

Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 22 July 2005 05:50 (nineteen years ago) link

the only thing i have is this Talking Verve comp with all english sung versions. i absolutely adore it. she even does a cover of Chicago's "Beginnings". the whole thing is sorta campy, but totally cool and fun.

The Amazing Jaxon! (jaxon), Friday, 22 July 2005 05:56 (nineteen years ago) link

I heart her. I have no patience for people who bitch about her lack of this, that or the other thing. She's one of the touchstones of a kind of singing I think of as flattened cool, that whole urbane sophisticate thing. Flirtatious but inaccessible. I looooove her "Fly Me to the Moon."

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 22 July 2005 06:23 (nineteen years ago) link

her and Francoise Hardy are the twin pinnacle of that style, they're both fantastic.

Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 22 July 2005 06:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Classic to the fullest. She is tied (with Ronnie Spector) as my favorite female singer.

"Bim Bom" is one of the best tropicalia songs ever.

Horrid Monsta (That One Guy), Friday, 22 July 2005 06:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Gypsy and Gear OTM. My favourite is the Asturd Gilberto album.
I'm no AMG basher but they must have been hitting the crackpipe when they wrote her entries.

Omar (Omar), Friday, 22 July 2005 06:47 (nineteen years ago) link

"Berimbau" off Look to the Rainbow is my favorite Astrud tune.

More like Tony GAYO am I right? Fellas? (Matt Chesnut), Friday, 22 July 2005 06:47 (nineteen years ago) link

her and Francoise Hardy are the twin pinnacle of that style, they're both fantastic.

otmfm

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 22 July 2005 07:15 (nineteen years ago) link

I've heard The Astrud Gilberto Album, Look To The Rainbow, and The Shadow Of Your Smile, and based on those three, I'm leaning towards Dud overall. I think the backing music is crucial to whether or not I enjoy her. I like TAGA quite a lot, actually. Her voice really clicks with A.C. Jobim's music (I like "Girl From Ipanema" too, though not "Corcovado" all that much). On the other two albums, though, the music is sort of boring and her voice can get irritating (the "bo-NIIII-ta" in "lugar bonita" is the first thing that comes to mind). I've listened to them several times with the hopes that I'll grow to like them, but apart from a handful of tracks, I've always come away disappointed.

I still have hopes for her though. I'd like to hear her other stuff.

Has she done anything else with Jobim?

Lingbertt, Friday, 22 July 2005 07:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Classic, obviously.

One slightly lesser-known track to search: "A Certain Sadness." While you're at it, also search Dubstar's cover of it.

brittle-lemon (brittle-lemon), Friday, 22 July 2005 07:20 (nineteen years ago) link

The intro to Dindi is poss my favourite moment of hers, although the Verve comp (retro Stewardess sleeve) is imo the must have compilation. I like Take Me to Aruanda ... makes a change to hear an upbeat number!

Francoise Hardy thirded by the way. Can I recommend (if you don't already own it) Ma Jeunesse Fout le Camp - for me her definitive original album.

Jez (Jez), Friday, 22 July 2005 09:18 (nineteen years ago) link

"Let Go" is amazing. I expect it's the Bossa Nova hardcore (if there is such a thing) who slate her, but I wouldn't really put her in the same bracket as Jobim or Edu Lobo.

Braces Tower, Friday, 22 July 2005 10:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I've got the Verve "Genius of Astrud Gilberto" comp and like it very much, although I feel her style does get a little wearying after 51 tracks. I think my favourite track of hers is probably the Stereolab-preceding "So Nice(Samba de Verao)".

Philip Alderman (Phil A), Friday, 22 July 2005 10:29 (nineteen years ago) link

She covered about three Harry Nilsson songs, so CLASSIC!

Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 22 July 2005 10:34 (nineteen years ago) link

I enjoy Astrud and Francoise Hardy, sure, and hate to be the dissenter (mild dissent, actually). But Astrud--yeah, she is cool, fine-looking, sexy--doesn't hold a candle to Elis Regina or Miucha (the latter who is João Gilberto's second wife and whose two LPs with Jobim, collected on "Echoes of Rio," I heartily recommend). Elis Regina is my favorite singer when Dusty Springfield isn't, or Al Green or George Jones...and I find it weird that Astrud is considered the epitome of the bossa-going-into-MPB style while Elis is somewhat neglected.

But like I say, I only mildly dissent--I love Astrud's version of "Water to Drink" and many others, just don't think she's half the singer that Regina/Miucha/Costa are. And, Elis's stuff is so badly compiled, and there's a lot of her work that is over-florid/bad rock music, etc. So--if you can find it (good luck) there's one called "O Melhor de Elis" that's the best single-disc comp; of course, "Elis & Tom"; and the '66 "Elis"; and "Elis in London."

Elis is pretty sexy too, in a strange way...

edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 22 July 2005 13:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Getz Au Go Go is fantastic. It's such a warm and intimate record -- almost like I'm there in the audience.

mcd (mcd), Friday, 22 July 2005 13:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I love Elis, too. Don't forget Elis Especial. And Nara Leao. I think there are some great threads on these ladies, if I remember correctly.

mcd (mcd), Friday, 22 July 2005 13:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I too only have Getz/Gilberto and a comp (Finest Hour). Has anybody heard the album I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do, one of Astrud's final Verve sessions? Finest Hour has a couple of songs from it, including a really stunning version of "Trains and Boats and Planes." A real perfect matching of singer and song.

Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Friday, 22 July 2005 16:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I've heard the title track of "I haven't got..." No one can ever top the version by Dee Dee Warwick, and Astrud...doesn't. But her reading, as you might expect, makes the song all languid, as if she is feigning boredom in order to convince us and herself that she doesn't miss her ex. So it sort of works.

brittle-lemon (brittle-lemon), Friday, 22 July 2005 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, I think haters mostly get annoyed by a stylish non-singer getting the bulk of attention for a style full of proper great singers, which I suppose is inevitable. I'm not deeply-versed in the bossa nova and post bossa nova, but I've been most impressed by Wanda de Sah, I think.

Lately I'm kind of fond of Now, one of Astrud's US 70s recordings -- I like her version of "Take it Easy, Brother Charlie," and then I just get some amusement out of some of the soft-focus Muppet-Movie schlock and that crops up in spots.

nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 22 July 2005 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...
I retract my Dud. Just listened to The Shadow Of Your Smile, and it's like 10-times better than I remember it being (though her voice does still get cringe-worthy occasionally when she goes for the high notes). It was sort of silly to say dud in the first place anyway considering how much I like The Astrud GIlberto Album. TSOYS is one of those albums that I held onto hoping that I would "get it" at some point later on, and it actually happened.

Lingbertt, Monday, 26 September 2005 06:57 (nineteen years ago) link

i like the george michael duet - "desafinado".

retroman, Monday, 26 September 2005 07:09 (nineteen years ago) link

the "bo-NIIII-ta" in "lugar bonita" is the first thing that comes to mind

ha, this is one of my favourite bits actually - i love the way she just misses that note. if you dislike slightly missed notes then astrud isnt the girl for you.

ilx=filth, Monday, 26 September 2005 07:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I like her voice! And I don't necessarily have a problem with singers not having perfect technique, but every once in awhile Astrud will make a sound that makes me wince. Overall she sounds great though.

Lingbertt, Monday, 26 September 2005 07:57 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...
classic

A. Lingbert (A. Lingbert), Sunday, 7 January 2007 02:17 (seventeen years ago) link

i really like her somewhat crossoverish late 60s stuff, I HAVEN'T GOT ANYTHING BETTER TO DO & SEPTEMBER 17, 1969

not all the songs work, but some are outstanding - Wailing of the Willows, Trains and Boats and Planes, Beginnings (Chicago!)

she really is amazing, i'd take her voice over just about anyone, fuck the haters.

timmy tannin (pompous), Sunday, 7 January 2007 02:26 (seventeen years ago) link

here's my favorite. on CTI. includes memorable version of the Carps' "For All We Know" aka "Solo El Fin."

m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 7 January 2007 12:39 (seventeen years ago) link

ah all right then it's called Gilberto (w/Turrentine)

m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 7 January 2007 12:41 (seventeen years ago) link

two years pass...

I was just listening to her '60s-era Verve singles in order & it's funny how it becomes apparent that Verve were trying to sell her as a pop/jazz singer rather than just a Brazilian singer, even with that unconventional voice of hers. September 17, 1969 is to me her most astonishing LP (it contains "Let Go") and it was her last for Verve. She also released two very good and very pop non-LP singles in 1968-69, "Come Softly to Me," (the song the Fleetwoods had a hit with) and "The Thought of Loving You." The more I listen the more I appreciate how much good stuff is on all of the 1965-1970 albums - plus the one on the CTI label and Now from 1972. There's always that schizophrenic confusion about what kind of singer she's trying to be - she's not Elis Regina, but she's not Claudine Longet either - and yet the personality is always there. It's nice music to fall asleep with.

Josefa, Tuesday, 20 January 2009 23:21 (fifteen years ago) link

<3 some of her pop covers (Association's Windy, Chicago's Beginnings, etc)

Most of her s/d can be sorted by orchs (Al Cohn, Claus Ogerman, Don Sebesky, Gil Evans, Marty Paich, etc)

count hoodlum (PappaWheelie V), Tuesday, 20 January 2009 23:26 (fifteen years ago) link

So which orchs are s and which d?

Josefa, Tuesday, 20 January 2009 23:31 (fifteen years ago) link

I love EVERYTHING by her.

I have no taste :-(

But for others, I think it might largely come down to this.

count hoodlum (PappaWheelie V), Tuesday, 20 January 2009 23:33 (fifteen years ago) link

the final 2 verve records are A+

velko, Wednesday, 21 January 2009 01:29 (fifteen years ago) link

I need to get those Turrentine sessions.

This: http://www.bossa.net/image/A/Astrud_Gilberto/I_HaventGotAnything-thumb.jpg

is just lovely lovely lovely.

The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 21 January 2009 02:08 (fifteen years ago) link

tipsy mothra, Wednesday, 21 January 2009 05:10 (fifteen years ago) link

^^^ Why was everything cooler in the '60s?

What was her first language, anyway - I read somewhere that she was ethnically German..

Josefa, Wednesday, 21 January 2009 05:34 (fifteen years ago) link

two years pass...

i don't have any of her 70s stuff,this is fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOhtMELSwaA

I gave your mom morgellons (buzza), Saturday, 19 November 2011 05:32 (thirteen years ago) link

1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dll6UQmXrno

███★★★███ (PappaWheelie V), Saturday, 19 November 2011 16:08 (thirteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwPgtzqNN-U

buzza, Friday, 11 October 2019 07:30 (five years ago) link

the fact that it's 2019 and there is still not an astrud gilberto boxset offends me deeply.

this is the closest thing i could find. smh.

Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 11 October 2019 20:47 (five years ago) link

three years pass...

Book I’m reading recommends her record with the James Last Orchestra!

Beatles in My Passway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 10 April 2023 01:09 (one year ago) link

one month passes...

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GF1CcPtKeU

buzza, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 08:53 (one year ago) link

Oh shit! Will admit I'd thought she'd passed already. Great vocalist.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 10:31 (one year ago) link

Rest In Peace. Always found her voice lovely. I also didn't know until recently how sad her story in the music business is/was. And Stan Getz...what a tool.

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 10:40 (one year ago) link

She managed to have some kind of career despite the naysayers. RIP.

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 11:34 (one year ago) link

awww RIP Astrud, such a beguiling voice.
I was just playing her album "I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do" the other day (and thinking of posting the cover on the I've Got My Own Album to Do thread)

( X '____' )/ (zappi), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 11:48 (one year ago) link

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/astrud-gilberto-death-girl-from-ipanema-b2352188.html

Her son also asserts that her reputation in Brazil never reflected her massive contribution to the country’s music scene. She once stated that she was “very hurt” by the attitude of the Brazilian media.

“Brazil turned its back on her,” said Marcelo. “She achieved fame abroad at a time when this was considered treasonous by the press.”

After a concert in 1965, Gilberto never performed in her native country again.

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 12:19 (one year ago) link

Her fame was a curse, she was only in the studio as João's translator but was encouraged to take the lead vocal.

I was able to see her in Santa Barbara at a small venue and it was magical.

RIP.

citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 12:33 (one year ago) link

RIP

Love her so much. Look to the Rainbow and The Astrid Gilberto Record albums are transporting for me.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 13:28 (one year ago) link

Steve Shasta OTM. Whenever I go and actually listen to her records she always sounds really good. Reminds of the famous talent report on Fred Astaire: “Can’t sing, can’t act, can dance a little.”

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 13:30 (one year ago) link

(Forgot “balding” sorry)

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 13:37 (one year ago) link

a pillar of my life long listening diary. completely captivating voice. innovator by accident and someone i doubt i'll ever get tired of hearing. the best ever. much respect. rest well, astrud.

my beard exists more than i do. (Austin), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 14:48 (one year ago) link

One of my favorite singers, for real. R.I.P.

She was partly the inspiration for a thread I started years ago about a specific contemporary vocal style: birth of the flattened cool: the origins of the indie voice?

She's one of the touchstones of a kind of singing I think of as flattened cool, that whole urbane sophisticate thing. Flirtatious but inaccessible.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, July 21, 2005 11:23 PM (seventeen years ago)

otm then and now, my friend.

my beard exists more than i do. (Austin), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 15:04 (one year ago) link

Lol didn’t even scroll back but yeah

RIP
No Space-Age Bachelor Pad is complete without a copy of A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness (the Walter Wanderley collab).

one of a kind!! Rip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYnBFvEf708

brimstead, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 21:28 (one year ago) link

Reminding me of a novel that starts out with her that I might tell y'all more about later.

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 23:02 (one year ago) link

Jamming this right now. The precision and lightness of her notes, like a skipped stone that never sinks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Ot7vjuFvc

posted this one on the gil evans topic recently -because, like i said, she's always in rotation- and it's some pretty serious business-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH7JdtXrWQM
"maria quiet" (1966)

also there's a lot less of it, but her 70s material is awesomely all over the place. disco "girl from ipnamea", jorge ben covers in japanese, the cti record with stan turrentine - it's all great!

my beard exists more than i do. (Austin), Wednesday, 7 June 2023 15:45 (one year ago) link

RIP -- fell in love with her voice in college and spent countless nights studying to it.

Indexed, Wednesday, 7 June 2023 16:27 (one year ago) link

always loved her version of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYr9yhCE2xc

buzza, Thursday, 8 June 2023 09:15 (one year ago) link

I met the guy who produced and arranged that. Haven't seen him since a while before the pandemic though.

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 June 2023 12:12 (one year ago) link

That is lovely. Who was the producer/arranger if I may ask?

Josefa, Thursday, 8 June 2023 14:49 (one year ago) link

Guy named Al Gorgoni. Who was a session guitarist on some big hits in the early sixties, then did some producing and songwriting with his business partner Chip Taylor, notably for Evie Sands, which album sort of disappeared into the void for a while because of the Red Bird fiasco (Record man George Goldner etc.). He finally ended up in the jingle business. I met him because he was working on his classical guitar chops with the father of Julian Koster.

CeeLô Borges (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 June 2023 15:03 (one year ago) link

Thanks. The name does ring a bell, probably from reading it on record labels.

Josefa, Thursday, 8 June 2023 15:16 (one year ago) link

one year passes...

Whenever I hear her '60s albums on the Verve label in the wild I think, these records are really perfect in an uncanny way. She didn't have a showcase voice but the recordings are such that they always sound amazing in any environment and you can't really imagine them being better.

Josefa, Friday, 13 December 2024 01:39 (one week ago) link

Some of my favorite winter sunny Sunday morning music.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 13 December 2024 03:16 (one week ago) link


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