After publishing my latest post on Gal Costa, it dawned on me that we lost in the space of a few months arguably the greatest ladies of Brazilian popular song: Gal Costa in November, Rita Lee in May, and Astrud Gilberto in June. I thought it'd be a good idea to dedicate the rest of the month to them; after all this is exactly the appropriate kind of music for a hot summer like this one.
To be honest, this doesn't represent any of my favorite Rita Lee moments; those would be during her time with Os Mutantes (1966-72). I remember being disappointed when I first listened to this CD, thinking it was just mainstream pop and not that interesting at all. So I put it away for many years, but then I thought it'd be interesting to hear it again with fresh ears so I took it out for another spin. What I didn't remember about it is that it's not a proper best-of covering this particular period in her career (1975-1983). Rather, it is a medley of hits taken from albums of that time, either solo or under the name of Rita Lee and Roberto (De Carvalho, her husband). As expected, the DJ chose the most upbeat songs, with a preference for disco, latin pop, and rock and roll. Suffice it to say that the late 70's and early 80's saw Rita Lee leave her past as an acid folk and psychedelic rock singer behind to embrace the commercial sound du jour - but then again, didn't most of her contemporaries all over the world do the same? As a result, while her earlier music with Os Mutantes remains interesting, these songs sound quite outdated albeit still pleasant as commercial pop of that period goes. The thing is that, even if one feels nostalgic for that era, I honestly can't think of any use for a collection of truncated versions such as this. I do remember that when I was a kid there were some mix LPs like Stars On 45 or Jive Bunny & The Master Mixers that people would play at parties; the DJ would put on a vinyl and let the whole side play on (something like 15 songs in 22 minutes) while he went to the loo or for a drink or to chat up some girl. I guess this compilation may have had a similar function at some time. But this isn't 1984 any more, so I can't think of any reason to recommend it. Somewhere there must be a regular Rita Lee compilation with entire songs. Or, better yet, get anything by Os Mutantes. Seeing as we only get excerpts here (most of them less than 90 seconds each) it's no use grading individual songs. Therefore I'll just mention the tracks and the albums they were taken from. These are, in chronological order, the following:
Esse Tal De Roque Enrow (Fruto Proibido, 1975) / Arrombou A Festa (Refestança by Rita Lee & Gilberto Gil, 1977) / Jardins Da Babilônia, Miss Brasil 2000 (Babilônia, 1978) / Corre-Corre, Papai Me Empresta O Carro, Mania De Você, Doce Vampiro (Rita Lee, 1979) / Bem-Me-Quer, Orra Meu! , Baila Comigo (Rita Lee, 1980) / Saúde, Atlântida, Mutante (Saúde by Rita Lee E Roberto, 1981) / Flagra, Barata Tonta, Só De Você (Rita Lee - Roberto De Carvalho, 1982) / On The Rocks, Desculpe O Auê (Bombom, 1983) / Caso Sério, Lança Perfume (Baila Conmigo by Rita Lee Y Roberto, 1983)
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