Mercer...............Essential South American Rock

Five Essential South American Psychedelic Rock Albums By Ian Mercer

Several years ago, while bored during a high school summer vacation, I was surfing through the histories of my favorite musicians’ Twitter accounts. With Grizzly Bear being my favorite band at the time, my course inevitably took me to the page of Daniel Rossen (their fantastic guitarist).

Near the beginning of his Twitter career, he’d posted a YouTube link to a Brazilian track called “Trem de Doido” by Clube Da Esquina. Since Rossen is one of my favorite guitarists, singers, and lyricists of all time, I took his musical recommendation quite seriously. I listened to the track. I listened to it again. All of a sudden, years had passed and I was still listening to the track. It’s a marvelous piece of work, and it sent me down a rabbit hole of late ‘60s and early ‘70’s Brazilian and Argentinian rock music that I’d love to share with you herein.

These following albums are all quite long, but most of them consist of dozens of tracks that are all no more than three minutes long. It’s pretty easy to fathom what a lot of these tracks sound like before you listen. Imagine the music that a band would make if it formed in 1967 in Buenos Aires after falling in love with, and attempting to emulate the sound of, The Beatles. It’s a truly wonderful brand of music in that it combines common pop melodies and song structures with brilliant Latin and Brazilian harmonies.

Clube Da Esquina – Clube da Esquina (1972, EMI)

This is the most famous and influential of any of the albums that will be mentioned here. “Clube da esquina” translates to “corner club,” and once you’ve listened, the meaning behind the name couldn’t be any clearer. It’s so easy to imagine bandleader Milton Nascimento and all of his friends settling down at a table on a ‘60s Belo Horizonte corner and just letting in all of the musical culture that passed them by. Clube da Esquina is the Brazilian equivalent of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in that it pulls a disparate array of musical genres together into one cohesive whole. Bossa nova, jazz, classic rock, American folk, Hispanic, and classical contributions are all present (just to name a few). Seriously, just listen to “O Trem Azul” and “Nada Será Como Antes” back to back and you’ll be able to see the diversity that Clube da Esquina offers. On the vocal front, Milton Nascimento delivers earth-shattering performances. His nimble, full-bodied voice is heaven to my ears. The wide range and unorthodox melodic choices lend a power to his ability that few vocalists have matched in my listening experience. Most notably, he is an absolute expert when it comes to allocating the right amount of dissonance. For example, that final cadence of “Os Povos” might just be the best blue note that I’ve ever heard. While Milton might be the star front man and lead vocalist, my favorite element of the band comes from the band’s main guitarist, Lô Borges. His exceptional ability is apparent from the very beginning of the whole album, when Lô crafts an ascending guitar chord progression that gives me frisson every time. His style is hyper-malleable, spanning from passionate strumming to smooth jazz tones to “21st Century Schizoid Man”-style shrieking guitar fuzz. Despite my tone thus far, Clube da Esquina isn’t perfect. There are a few tracks that completely miss (the strange “Saídas E Bandeiras” suite irks me every time) and a slow cooker (“Cais”) that should’ve been relegated to bonus track status, (especially when considering the fact that this album is already well over sixty minutes long). In the end, none of this previous criticism matters (both positive and negative), because of the track “Clube da Esquina 2.” Words can’t describe it. You need to listen to it. If every other track on the album were absolutely worthless, it would still be a great project because of the presence of this track.

I’ve got a 3-step process for you. Step 1: take everything positive that I said in the previous review about Clube da Esquina and multiply it by 10. Step 2: take out everything negative that I said about Clube da Esquina and remove it entirely from your mind. Step 3: consider what’s left and you’ll be witnessing what I think of Clube da Esquina 2. It’s a marvel of the 20th century. If all you knew was the context, it’s possible that this album could’ve been horrendous. After all, Milton had ditched several of his strongest collaborators from the previous project, and he’d made 10 albums in the last 9 years. You’d think that his creativity would’ve run out, but then he defied all odds with the release of this masterpiece. It’s the only double-album that isn’t too long for my taste. There isn’t an excessive track or out-ofplace note throughout the 90-minute runtime, feats that are especially impressive considering the sheer density of the album. Take “Pão E Água” for example; it’s got some of the hardest working rhythm players, most acrobatic guitars, and most difficult vocal harmonies, but the virtuosity (in songwriting, production, and performance) keeps the track totally pristine. The same goes for “O Que Foi Feito Devera / O Que Foi Feito De Vera,” which is a stunning centerpiece among centerpieces. Seriously, the twenty-three tracks that make up Clube da Esquina 2 will be some of my favorites until the day I die. The album is flawless, which I know is hard to believe when you take its length (twenty-three tracks!) into account. Clear your afternoon schedule, sit back, and let Milton swaddle your soul with the aloe vera of his voice.

Lô Borges - Lô Borges (1972, EMI)

If you felt sad for Lô Borges when you heard that Nascimento didn’t ask him to come back and collaborate on CdE2, I’ve got good news for you: his first solo project away from The Corner Club was also fantastic. Lô Borges (yes, another eponymous album) is quite similar to both of the CdE albums, but it comes in at a much more manageable size (30 minutes) and features Lô’s fantastic guitar work at the forefront of each and every track. It has a comparable hit/miss rate to Clube da Esquina, but when it does hit, it hits big. For example, while assembling a list of tracks that I love from this album, I realized I’d included a third of the compositions as my “favorites” (if you’re curious, the list runs as follows: “O Caçador,” “Pensa Você,” “Calibre,” “Faça Seu Jogo,” “Eu Sou Como Você É,” and “Tôda Essa Água”). Since I’m pressed for space here, I’ll only give explicit comments on one track: “Como O Machado.” It’s a track that hits me in a very subtle, hidden part of my soul. It makes me feel all warm inside while making me wish I were at home cuddling with my beloved cat. It’s only 1:45 long, but the yearning vocal harmonies, dissonant melodic line, and heavenly guitar harmonies make me feel as if I’ve spent an eternity within their folds. It’s serene and soulful, and I know that there is some far-off day where I’m in an old folks home when I hear this track for the first time in decades and shed a tear for the long-gone days of my youth. Anyways, Lô Borges holds its own against CdE2 and more than meets the challenge of CdE – it’s just a shame that fodder like “Não Foi Nada” made the cut, because when Lô Borges misses, it misses hard. 27

Almendra – Almendra (1969, RCA Vik)

It’s unfair to spend the last 1300 words talking about The Corner Club as if they were the only notable band from South America in the last fifty years. I could go on and on about Milton’s forty-odd albums, but it’s time to give another band a shot. Almendra (hailing from Argentina) released their most striking music a couple of years before The Corner Club swung into action. They harbor a distinct Rock & Roll sound that is akin to Piper at the Gates of Dawn-era Pink Floyd or “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”-style Beatles. They are decidedly more psychedelic than their contemporaries, and their songs range from three to fifteen minutes instead of the usual 0.5 to five.

Often hailed as the most influential Argentinian rock album of all time, Almendra’s debut Almendra (yep, ANOTHER eponymous debut) is a trippy counterpoint to the folksier vibe that typifies popular Argentinian music from the standard USA perspective. The two best tracks on the album are easily “Color humano” and “A estos hombres tristes.” The former is a 9-minute jam session that swirls through gyrating vortices of guitar fuzz, while the latter exhibits a bass line that is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. This is the kind of music that I can imagine David Longstreth really enjoying in his free time. Almendra are decidedly better at playing rock music than anybody else in this article. They lack the delicacy and flexibility (and studio budget) of their Brazilian counterparts but more than make up for their technical ability with smart, utilitarian songwriting and hearty vocal harmonies.

Almendra – Almendra 2 (1970, RCA Vik)

Just one year later, Almendra released their follow-up double-album, Almendra 2. (Don’t ask my why all of these albums are self-titled… I really have no clue). I imagine it as a seamless continuation of the first album. Seriously, you can queue the second project so that it will begin playing directly after the first, resulting in a glorious triple album. Almendra 2 demonstrates far superior production ability and further fleshed-out song structures. “Aire de amor” and “Mestizo” are straight up bangers that jam bands have been trying to equal for the last three decades. I somehow never tire of the fifteen-minute runtime of “Agnus dei” and the riffs of “Florecen los nardos” that sound just like Yes in their wonder years. There’s a healthy amount of genre experimentation in Almendra 2 that keeps it exciting without descending into chaos. “Amor de aire” could be a New Orleans blues track if it weren’t sung in Spanish, while “Un pájaro te sostiene” has a drumbeat that could’ve been laid down by John Bonham if it were just a bit higher in the mix. In the end, I prefer Almendra over Almendra 2 simply because of its shorter runtime (again, I’m just not a fan of double albums in general) and because of the presence of “A estos hombres tristes,” which is my favorite Argentinian track ever (Rock or otherwise). 28

Concluding Thoughts

There you have it: Five Latin and Brazilian albums that are criminally underappreciated in the USA. These are all hits in their respective countries, but never seem to come up in conversation, especially here at Carleton. If you are too busy (or lazy) to listen to any of these albums in full, I’ve included 2 resources below for you to be able to abbreviate your listening experience until it’s tailored to your schedule. Warning: these albums can be hard to track down, but I highly recommend that you put some time into seeking them out. (You can always ask to borrow my copies of the CDs if you have no luck.)

To close, I have just one request: if you happen to import the files into your iTunes account, be sure to change the genre tag from “World” to “Rock” or “Pop” or whatever you want that isn’t “World!” It’s a travesty that any music that isn’t from a predominantly white country is considered to be “World” music. What does that even mean?!

Appendix

Was too much music mentioned here? Do you not know where to start? Here, let me guide you: Start with CdE2 Like the Sgt. Pepper’s stuff? Go to CdE1 Like the subtler guitar work? Go to Lô Borges Like the Rock & Roll? Go to Almendra 1 Need more of that? Go to Almendra 2

1. TL;DR?

Here are 6 tracks by these artists that you must hear if you don’t have several hours to set aside:

Lô Borges: “Eu Sou Como Vocé É” and “Como O Machado” Clube da Esquina: “Trem de Doido” and “Pão E Água” Almendra: “Color humano” and “A estos hombres tristes”

2. TL;DR the TL;DR?

Listen to “Trem De Doido” off of Clube da Esquina.

3. A Note on Names

There are 2 examples of “Clube da Esquina” and 2 examples of “Clube da Esquina 2” in this article. It can get a little confusing, so here’s a handy guide to help you find your way.

Clube da Esquina: one is the name of a band and the other is the name of that band’s first album. Clube da Esquina 2: one is the name of a track on Clube Da Esquina and the other is the name of an album by Milton Nascimento that was released 8 years later.

All clear? That’s what I thought.