Artist: Astrud Gilberto
Album: Beach Samba
Year: 1967
As I had heard on Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto's collaborative effort a few days back, Astrud Gilberto was the Brazilian vocalist on "The Girl From Ipanema" who struggled and mumbled her way through the English lyrics. It was kinda cute and endearing then, but imagine my surprise to find she would record Beach Samba three years later, an album with almost exclusively English-language tunes.
Here, the songs retain the tropical feel of Brazilian bossa nova jazz, but the arrangements fall more in line with American pop. Gilberto sounds great on this album, relaxed and confident in her English through the bulk of the proceedings. There isn't the level of sophistication on this album that there was on Getz/Gilberto but it's all very pleasant, and mostly worth listening to. "The Face I Love," "I Think of You," and the opener "Stay" are super relaxing yet insidiously catchy pop songs. "Parade" is a truly stupid song that should have been cut from the album on later editions, and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" is Schmaltz City. The best songs are the ones that stay closest to Gilberto's bossa nova comfort zone, but she definitely proves herself as a capable English vocalist on this release.
I have to think this album was influential upon other non-native English vocalists. Dominique Durand of the band Ivy comes to mind, as does Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab. Sadier would mine the scat singing of "Nao Bate O Coracao" on a number of songs "The Groop" would play.
Nothing masterful, nothing world-changing, but Beach Samba is a nice little album, relaxing and pretty and all that jazz.
Rating: Worth a listen
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