CE - CAETANO VELOSO
Brazil’s gift to popular music, Veloso has crossed many stylistic borders in his prolific career, from straight-up bossa to rule-breaking tropicalia fusion. But on “ce,” he shifts gears with robust vitality and delivers what he calls his “clandestine rock album.” Conceived while he was preparing to record a collection of sambas, the disc spotlights Veloso blasting off with raw, beat-driven fuel in the company of a band of youngsters who animate and invigorate him. He breaks out of the gate with the high-voltage “Outro/Other,” which opens with the lines, translated into English: “You won’t recognize me/Even when I go right by you.” Recorded without postproduction Pro Tools fidgeting, “ce” features 12 originals (a first for Veloso) that run the pop gamut from dance-crazy rockers to quirky new-wave soundscapes to lyrical slow songs, all sung in Portuguese. Highly recommended. (Nonesuch). Billboard
