Os Mutantes - The Prog Years

Myself as well.

 

I got a cheap copy of the cd/dvd set, it's nice and people clearly enjoyed the night, but that's all

 

Be aware that Rita does Not sing on this. She refused to participate so they had another singer fill in. It's a tight set but they don't attempt to exactly duplicate the originals. You can check samples at Amazon.

 

THIS isn't cheap, but it's a great set. You still need "Bossa'n'R0ll", which wasn't included.

 

Zelia Duncan is a successful singer in her own right in Brazil, so it was a nice touch to have her in Mutantes.

 

They all do a creditable job, it's just that people sometimes expect reunions to exactly duplicate legacy material. That wasn't done here either with the singing or the arrangements although they are not wildly different.

 

I found a vinyl original of Rita e Roberta and yes it is better than the other collaborations IMO probably because of the rock basis. It is 80s flavored rock to be sure but harder edged than the typical 80s pop. Thanks.

 

This is the gig I refer to above. I've found a review of it that I wrote just after the gig, back in 2006. Here it is, typos and everything (and I *still* haven't bought a proper album of theirs, 12 years later!):

"As a precursor, I shall hold my hands up and say I am utterly ignorant with regards to the finer political points of the movement, prime instigators (Gilberto Gil? Gal Costa? Tom Ze? Caetano Veloso? Sadly they’re just names to me) or its’ aims (it seemed to be a dual protest to the pervasiveness of American pop culture and the Brazil’s own traditionalism, effected by intertwining the two disparate cultural strands into something more bizarre- all whilst tearing down the restrictive boundaries enforced by the ruling classes at the time…right?) ; all I know is that I heard ‘Bat Macumba’ on the Nuggets II box set and bought a best of. And from there, I might buy an album or two. So, this is all from a perfectly musical point of view.

To set the scene, the venue is the rather stuffy Barbican which, while Festival Hall undergoes a facelift, is the now hip n happening centre for all things arty and funky (B&S’s recital of …Sinister, John Martyn’s complete performance of Solid Air, booked in for 11th September this year etc.). And it’s heaving with people ready to party. There’s an overwhelming contingent of Portugese and Brazilian folks here- the students, the wealthy folks who’ve flown over especially, the aficionados, all colourfully contrasting with the native middle-aged Rock Historians in their faded rock t-shirts.

Up first were Nacao Zumbi. They were pretty fun at first- a singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer, percussionist and THREE additional drumming percussionists, who played a sort of rock-rap with a bit less aggression (but still some attitude- the guitarist seemed to think he was Liam Gallagher), and their drummer is ace- but they outstayed their welcome by about five songs. The high proportion of home-crowd fans got well into it though, and they played a couple of songs that were quite possibly hits, judging by the rapturous reception they received. I wasn't too fussed and I imagine on record they sound a bit too much like Rage Against The Machine.

The crowd was then made to wait about 50 minutes due to Sergio's home-built effects pedals having some sort of difficulty (to be fair, they are nearly 40 years old), and apparently cost Devendra Banhart his support slot. The compere sensed the boredom seeping in and told the crowd; ‘you’ve waited 33 years…what’s a few extra minutes?’. At one point, Sergio himself had to come out and sort his gear out. Even in this brief interlude he was given a welcome normally reserved for royalty.

When the band finally came out, the anticipatory audience went absolutely bonkers; I have seriously never seen a level of rapture so great at any gig, ever. It was just this wave of joy that I imagine would be the kind of reaction if Ringo, Paul and George had done a gig in similar circumstances. The three principal members- Sergio Dias on guitar, his brother Arnaldo on keyboards and drummer Dinho (none of whom have played together for 34 years or something)- were fleshed out with a bassist (who may have been Mutantes veteran Liminha), an additional two keyboard players (one of whom also played guitar), two backing singers, a fantastic female percussionist who would have been worth seeing even if this wasn't a big deal and singer Zelia Dunca filling in for Rita Lee, whose absence wasn't even mentioned. In fact, I reckon that if she had turned up, half the audience would have exploded with joy. I didn't even notice, to be honest. It was interesting to see the interplay between the principal members; Arnaldo nervously taking centre stage, Sergio looking on like a proud father, Zelia eager to impress and Dinho just sitting at his kit looking pretty damn cool.

The actual set was a bit flat to start with (I’ve cribbed the setlist from Mojo’s review), but that may have been me; I didn't recognise the first five songs. Some of them were obviously favourites with the home crowd, and there were the very obvious first-night nerves. However, once they got on a streak of familiar stuff, everything got turned up a notch and everyone got into it. The unbroken run of Cantor De Mambo, El Justiciero (with a sly reference to Blair and Bush- of course), Baby, Top Top, Desculpe Baby (done as I'm Sorry Baby), Dia 36, (which Arnaldo sang, and had one of the musicians playing a bass like a cello- very clever), Fuga No. 2, Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour (complete with bug spray-wielding backing vocalists), 2001 and Ave Lucifer was, for most of the crowd, one long Tropicalia-flavoured orgasm. The Brazilians were already on their feet, the kids down at the front, everyone else was pretty close behind as well.

The climax of the set was a song I don't know but came across (and went down as well) as a sort of anthem- having checked the set, it can only be A Hora E A Vez Do Cabelo Nascer (Cabeludo Patriota). I can't remember anything about it, but I imagine from the reaction, it was akin to having The Beatles doing Hey Jude. It went into an absolutely storming version of Ando Meio Desligado (again sung as I Feel A Little Spaced Out), with a super extended wig out guitar solo, and the percussionist going crazy (in a good way). After the band took a bow (and considering it was now just past 11), I thought that was it, but no! They simply go back to their instruments and do A Minha Menina, Bat Macumba (during which, Devendra Banhart and some other fella pointlessly comes on to sing backing vocals, then buggers off again before he can ruin things) and finally Panis Et Circenses. To describe the reaction as pure ecstasy would honestly be an understatement, and Belle & Sebastian's limp attempts to liven up the Barbican last year with their Sinister set were truly shown up by the amount of people who simply did not sit down or stop dancing through the entire set. Abolsutely joyous."

 

When I saw them in London the year afterwards, they started "Ando meio desligado" in English, but after a lukewarm response from the audience, they switched to Portuguese... and the place erupted!

By the way, wouldn't the anthemic song have been "Balada do louco"?

 

I can't remember now, but looking at the tracklist for the gig, it's entirely possible I was conflating it with A Hora E A Vez Do Cabelo Nascer (Cabeludo Patriota) as the two songs appear close to each other in the set.

 

There are four different cd releases for "Ao Vivo." 1994, 2000, 2006, and 2016. The latter two are compressed to hell. Does anyone know how the former two fare?

 

So people have mentioned the Baratos Afins 80s reissues as "represses" and in mono but did they actually use the original metalwork to press from or is it just a reissue, and on Discogs its stated as Stereo reissues, so is it not Mono?

Example:
Mutantes* - Mutantes

 

The 2000 release is a DR11, probably the best version to have on CD.

The 1994 one bizarrely uses the original image from the back cover as its front cover, a really awful job. Never heard it though, could be the best mastering, who knows...