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Gimme a Sergio Mendes Top 5

skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
edited December 2012 in Strut Central
No Mas Que Nada.
Top 5 tracks.

Non ironic, SM is full of pap but when he got it right there was nobody did it better.
I steer more to the cheesier end of the spectrum.

In no order:

One More Lie
Shakara
Funny You Should Say That
Love Music
Dream Hunter

  Comments

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
  • jmjmjmjmjmjmjmjm 31 Posts
    Cheesier stuff mostly came in the 70s. He did some top quality bossa in the 60s.

    No order.

    -Primitivo
    -Nana
    -Coisa No 2
    -Roda

    Not Bossa or 60s but I'd put it in the top 5
    -For What Its Worth
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    That whole side of that record is great. Primo Sunday-morning play-through.

    Also: "Real Thing (12" mix)" (you can't front on Lani Hall cooing "Let me hear you say 'Baby / everything's gonna be all right...'") and Terry_Clubbup favorite "Alibis." Sergio's unlikely cover of what was originally a pretty good Edgar Winter song, "Tell Me In A Whisper," is to be avoided.
  • minimini 880 Posts
    First thing that came to mind after reading the topic title. Great song.
    HarveyCanal said:

    I also like this: Superstition
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Righteous Life
    After Sunrise
    Promise Of A Fisherman
    Watch What Happens
    The Real Thing
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    It's all about the live '72 or whatever it's called. Orange- red color with most tracks culled from "stillness".
  • neil_somethingneil_something 993 Posts
    Off the top of my head, I'd say perhaps the album he did with Wanda de Sah which has nice versions of "Berimbau" and "Reza".

    But I can't help but feel that, deep down, he really is just tepid easy listening though, right? The Brasilian James Last?
  • caicai spacecho 362 Posts
    Don't own a lot of mendes records but I like 'My Favourite Things'
  • ppadilhappadilha 2,244 Posts
    whenever I hear Sergio Mendes it makes me wish I was listening to Jorge Ben
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    who else rides for this one? i think its a uk import, sort of slept on:





    he was way more than just a brazillian james last...
  • DanteDante 371 Posts
    i don't know if i could come up with 5 songs i would consider 'top' but i really liked this one when i was first gettin' into brazil stuff, now not as much:

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    neil_something said:
    But I can't help but feel that, deep down, he really is just tepid easy listening though, right? The Brasilian James Last?

    That's what he is on the surface.

    Deep down he's a very talented Bossa/Jazz pianist - he was considered one of the best in Brasil before left for greater fame in the US. It's worth noting that Primal Roots was the album he was most proud of and it was certainly the least commercial record he ever made.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,952 Posts
    My dad is a big fan, all these remind me of happy days in the 70s, living room full of smoke, Dynatron stereo pumping out the SM, Jobim, Francis Albert and er, Perry Como, IIRC. "Fool On The Hill" is the one I remember best, I like "Upa Neguinho" from that. It must be years since I heard it.

    You can't knock SM for the hustle, and musically, just look at the company these people were keeping at the time. Most of them have "Legend" status. I just googled the lineup of Brasil '66 on this set, you see folls like Oscar Castro-Neves and Dave "GRP" Grusin up in there. It's not like the f*cker did a Kenny G.

    Can anyone tell me if Jo??o Donato was ever in Sergio's band? I love his playing, but I don't know if they have recorded together.
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,390 Posts
    ya mele

    Donato's credited on Sergio's 'Favourite Things'.... but on percussion.
  • neil_somethingneil_something 993 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    neil_something said:
    But I can't help but feel that, deep down, he really is just tepid easy listening though, right? The Brasilian James Last?

    That's what he is on the surface.

    Deep down he's a very talented Bossa/Jazz pianist - he was considered one of the best in Brasil before left for greater fame in the US. It's worth noting that Primal Roots was the album he was most proud of and it was certainly the least commercial record he ever made.

    "Primal Roots" is new to me. I listened to most of it yesterday and would pick it up if I came across it.

    As for the rest, some slight hyperbole on my part, I'll admit. Although I will say that, while his piano bossa roots are unmistakeable, he never seemed to hit as hard as the likes of Bossa Tres or the routinely cheesy Milton Banana Trio.
  • PlantweedPlantweed 394 Posts
    Of what I know, I like these as much as any...

    Agua de Beber
    Slow Hot Wind
    Laia Ladaia
    Batucada (the Beat)
    The Waters of March
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