astonishingly beautiful, early 70s brazilian masterpiece. a classical piece disguised as a pop song, with a simple piano playing a wistful melody punctuated by an amazing unexpected ascending chord hook. gismonti sings the original version, with a string section and morricone-like wordless vocal backing him. for the final minute the key changes and the vocals and accompaniment stop, and the solo piano veers off into satie territory, before resolving back into the refrain. gismonti re-recorded this a few times, after finding success in europe as an avant/classical composer. this song also inspired the guitar and mandolin trio agua e vinho, who cover it on their self-titled album along with a few other gismonti compositions.
Really suprised to see this one in a thrift store recently. I was taken back by the bad cover photo of some blue cheese in tin foil with saltines and a bottle of wine.(?) Anyway, the music is fantastic, much in the vein of Jobim's CTI work from the same period. This piece grooves almost more in a Deodato way, with a nice funky nocturnal jazz bite. Nice to see the gap close on the years between his Bossa Rio stint and the records he did for Discovery.
Strangely enough it was recorded in Minneapolis MN while he was living there. On the RCA subsidary Daybreak.
Stunning, Italian, auburn chanteuse Milva sings a set of Ennio Morricone, produced and arranged by the maestro himself in 1972.
Need I "say" anything else?
Utterly brilliant, and this song is a highlight amongst highlights!
La diva Milva sings the daylights out of this swooning ballad - soaked in a downpour of strings, acoustic guitars and sci-fi background vocals.
I guarantee your heart will break in twenty-nine places as you listen.
(But I do have to ask - does anybody out there know from what soundtrack this songs originates?)
from Dedicato A Milva Da Ennio Morricone, available on CD (BMG Int'l)
25 Sep 05 ·eftimihn: I absolutely agree, Robert! This is one amazing album, check out the maestros collaboration with Mireille Mathieu (Mireille Mathieu chante Ennio Morricone from 1974) as well if you haven't done that already, it's equally impressive emotionally. To clear things up, this track originates from the "La moglie piu bella" soundtrack from 1970. 26 Sep 05 ·robert[o]: Tanx for the info - and Ms. Mathieu's LP is really great likewise - as is Milva's collaboration w/Francis Lai from 1973
What lies in the future is a mystery to us all. There may come a time when I will see that I've been wrong. But for now this is my song. And it's "Goodbye to love".
Waves of vocals raining down.
A guitar solo that refuses to die.
from A Song for You (A&M) available on CD - Carpenters Gold (A&M)
22 Mar 06 ·FlyingDutchman1971: Excellent track. A lot of fans were upset by the guitar solo at the end of the song, feeling that the Carpenters had sold out to the hard rock sound that bands like Led Zepplin were creating at the time.
