When I first heard Brazil 66 in, you guessed it, 1966, they seemed to my naïve ears to be very kitschy. Faux Brazilian versions of "Scarborough Fair" and "The Fool On the Hill" --are you kidding me??
So when the library bought the Greatest Hits, I checked it out just for laughs. Well I'm certainly glad I did. Guess what? I was SO wrong. Yes, a Brazilian version of "Scarborough Fair" IS loungey, but that's what so great about it, and I'm not being facetious. Why did I think in 1966 that songs by the Beatles or Paul Simon were holy writ, not to be tampered with? Turns out that Sergio Mendes had the bona fides back in the day, lots of Brazilian studio work and albums.
Funny thing is, in retrospect, I hear a lot of Stereolab in Brazil 66, and of course it's the other way around. Listening now, I find Mendes' arrangements to be clever -- and fun. Just goes to show that an old coot like me can still be humble enough to admit he was wrong, and glad of it.
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