Grande Liquidação

Released

Tom Zé hailed from the small town of Irará in Brazil, where the arrival of running water and electricity during his childhood was a transformative event. His debut might scan as “country kid gets overwhelmed by the big city,” but Zé’s musical exuberance and keen eye for detail was already in effect. Grande Liquidação bustles with zigzagging melodies and jumpy arrangements, full of wry observations that include equating consumerism with the country’s bedrock Catholicism on “Catecismo, Creme Dental e Eu.” In the deceptively joyous musical theater stylings of “São São Paolo,” he sees the underlying solitude of its approximately eight million inhabitants. More tightly-wound, haywire albums (some made with homemade instruments) would follow, but Zé was an idiosyncratic force from the jump.

Andy Beta

Suggestions
Headquarters cover

Headquarters

the Monkees
Gorilla cover

Gorilla

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Transa cover

Transa

Caetano Veloso
Abbey Road cover

Abbey Road

The Beatles
Garra cover

Garra

Marcos Valle
Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti cover

Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti

Robson Jorge, Lincoln Olivetti
Roberto Carlos cover

Roberto Carlos

Roberto Carlos
Duet cover

Duet

Illinois Speed Press