Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits

This CD provides a wonderful snapshot of a truly unique kind of music. Sergio Mendes captured the strange mood of a genuinely bizarre era in which musical experimentation flourished and no combination of sound was considered too outlandish. Mendes and his talented group managed to combine elements of jazz, rock, pop and samba, creating what can only be described as an exotic listening experience. It's a shame that all of their various albums aren't available on CD. Whenever I hear their music, I'm back in the '60s, when everything seemed possible and there were no limits on the creative mind.

This cd has an ultimate sound for it's era. There is nothing finer than the smooth, silk voices on "The Look of Love" and "Fool on the Hill". I can see my old A&M 45's spinning now. Ah, to be young again! This one takes me back, spinning with delight.

This CD is an excellent compilation of 60s Brazillian lounge pop. If you think Stereolab have an original sound, you should listen to this CD. This CD is not cheesey at all. The melodies are superb, and the rythems are complex, the production is tight. I recommend this CD all the time. Especially to Stereolab fans. no joke.

the first 3 songs were as expected but the rest of the CD wouldn't play tried cleaning it still wouldn't play

Only the very first song on this album is unique, and sung in Brazilian Portuguese. The rest are covers of bland pop songs of the period - beatles covers, etc. It's blatantly obvoius when you listen to phrasing that the singers have little or no idea of what the words mean, they are enunuciating clearly and singing pretty in a language that's foreign to them (English.) A disappointment.

Herb Alpert and his friends at A&M should be ashamed for putting out a 12-selection album claiming to be someone's greatest hits and then leave off four of the sixteen hits Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 had from 1966 to 1970 under that title (two more would be added under the billing Sergio Mendes & Brazil '77 in 1973, and from 1977 to 1976 Mendes would add nine more, including one under the billing Sergia Mendes & Brasil '86).

But this is supposed to cover his Brasil '66 "greatest" so where are Constant Rain [Chove Chuva], which was their second charter in early 1967 [# 11 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 71 Billboard Pop Hot 100] after Mas Que Nada (# 4 AC/# 47 Hot 100), For Me [# 16 AC/# 98 Hot 100 in April 1967], (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay [# 12 AC/# 66 Hot 100 in July 1969], and Wichita Lineman [# 34 AC/# 95 Hot 100 in December 1969]? These all fit into the category "greatest" by any definition of the word since they charted on both the AC and Hot 100 lists.

The same cannot be said for Like A Lover, Goin' Out Of My Head, Look Around, So Many Stars, and Day Tripper. With the exception of Like A Lover, which backed The Look Of Love in 1968, these weren't even the B-sides of hits! At least their cover of Joe Cocker's With A Little Help From My Friends did go to # 31 AC in spring 1968.

That's not to say they aren't great performances, but come on folks. How hard would it have been to include at least all those that made the more lucrative Billboard Pop Hot 100 along with their B-sides and turn it into a 20-selection CD? I don't know whether you've noticed or not, but not many people are buying 10-12 selection CDs these days. Something else we like to see are informative liner notes. This has none at all.

A shoddy product from all angles.

A bridge between bossa nova and 1960s pop, Sergio Mendes' music was easy listening, vaguely psychedelic pop, light jazz, and bossa nova all rolled into one. Mendes and Brasil '66 (which featured Mendes on keyboards and a revolving cast of two female vocalists, bass, guitar, drums and percussion) had a number of hits from the mid-'60s to the early-1970s that are included here. Getting his professional start playing and arranging for Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto, Mendes typically filled out his proper albums with updated versions of popular songs written by the Brazilian masters as well as some of his own tunes ­ his tunes "Look Around" and "So Many Stars" are included. But this collection really surveys his interpretations of pop tunes of the day, some of which were never hits for Mendes. The small combo's light touch and rich vocal harmonies make for pleasant if kitschy covers of hits like the Beatles' "Fool On The Hill" and "Day Tripper," Burt Bacharach's "The Look Of Love," and others. ­ --Tad Hendrickson