Antonio Carlos Jobim - Wave

Pretty cool artwork, too.

I gotta be honest with you, I was FAR from being a fan of Bossa Nova before I heard this album by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Actually, I thought Bossa Nova was just a cheap, commercialized branch of jazz, soaked in some warm, radio-friendly samba vibes as a lubrication for the ears of those who are too unsophisticated (in terms of music taste that is) to acquire a good taste in jazz.

(Music snob much? Maybe, but I do think a good taste in jazz is to be acquired, one does not simply walk into enjoying a half-an-hour-long composition.)

Well, tell me about those turning points in life. I had only decided to listen to this album because it was released from one of my favorite labels, namely CTI Records. And again if there's one guy who can weigh your talent and your marketability, and then put you in a place where you can produce all the while not contradicting your own tendencies as an artist and sell records to help fatten a couple of wallets, it's Creed Taylor.

This album, gotta be a prove of that point. Why not get Mr. Jobim to make an album with this label, when you can add the CTI touch of jazz-fusion to Jobim's Bossa Nova and explore new heights? This flash of thought would lead Antonio Carlos Jobim to reach the climax of his career, and give some people something to smoke pot and relax to.

Overall the album is mellow as a walk on a summer morning, with soothing rhythms and catchy compositions, ones that get stuck in your head for a long long time. The dark timbre provided by the string section adds a bittersweet touch to some of the songs in the album though, and I'm alright with that.

But as far as the concept of this blog goes, I don't post albums but songs. So I'll post a couple.

First one is the only song in the album that features vocals. A tune that sounds as blue as you can get. I have looked through the lyrics and after a short conversation with GoogleTranslate I'm guessing it's about saying farewell to the loved one. I wish a Brazilian native would post a comment to help me out with the lyrics, but I'm sure they have better things to do, such as enjoying the weather, and avoiding shitty blogs.

The second one I had a tough time deciding. Eventually I decided to go with my initial favorite. Plus it's the longest song in the album so this is actually superior to other tracks in a certain way. Right now I can't tell whether you'll like it or not cause I have kinda worn it out by having listened to it a million times since the end of the summer, but who cares about what you like anyway? I'm trying to keep this as esoteric as possible so this might actually be a nice shibboleth to determine who's down or not.

This is some "chill stuff" at worst, folks. Sound of cloudy yet warm weather. Something to feed to your cloudy yet warm state of mind.