Jorge Ben (album)
Jorge Ben | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1969 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 38:35 | |||
Language | Portuguese | |||
Label | Philips | |||
Producer | Manoel Barenbein | |||
Jorge Ben chronology | ||||
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Jorge Ben is the sixth
Ben recorded the album alongside producer Manoel Barenbein, the vocal/percussion band
Jorge Ben was a commercial comeback for Ben and featured several
Background
Jorge Ben began his professional recording career with
For the next few years, Ben performed as an independent artist. His only album during this period, O Bidú: Silêncio no Brooklin, was released in 1967 on the São Paulo-based, small-market label Artistas Unidos and sold poorly. While continuing to refine his idiosyncratic samba-based style, he occasionally recorded singles for Artistas Unidos and wrote songs, some of which were recorded by mainstream acts such as Os Mutantes, Wilson Simonal, and Elis Regina. This caught the interest of Philips, which was under the new leadership of former Odeon Records executive André Midani. In early 1969, Midani re-signed Ben after musicians Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso promised to promote him whenever possible.[1]
Recording and production
Jorge Ben was recorded at C.B.D. in Rio de Janeiro and Scatena in São Paulo.[2] For the album, Ben chose songs he had been working on since the previous year or two.[1] In the studio, he was accompanied on several performances by Trio Mocotó,[3] a vocal/percussion group he had met while touring São Paulo's nightclub circuit in the late 1960s.[1] Philips Records enlisted pianist José Briamonte to arrange an orchestral section for the majority of the songs, with the arrangements for only "Barbarella" and "Descobri que Eu Sou um Anjo" done by Rogério Duprat.[4] According to Verve Records, the album was produced with sound effects that were "state of the art" at the time.[5]
Music
The album's music is defined by what Brazilian music aficionado Greg Caz called a "patented hard-strummed
According to AllMusic's Thom Jurek, Briamonte and Duprat's arrangements on the album are essential to Ben's fusion of American soul music with the samba and Brazilian folk song structures from his past work.[2] The website's Alvaro Neder adds that this album and Ben's follow-up Fôrça Bruta (1970) represent his involvement in Brazil's Tropicália cultural and musical movement.[7]
Lyrics
Thematically, the album explores romances with women and everyday Brazilian life, including
Some songs reflect a burgeoning self-awareness in Ben's songwriting. According to Robert Leaver of
Jorge Ben is strongly informed by African-American soul music's "ethos of racial pride, self-determination, and collective struggle", according to Brazilian culture scholar Christopher Dunn, who cited "Take It Easy My Brother Charles" as a prime example.[10] Ben offers partly English-language words of caution to his "brother of color" in the song,[9] which Caz said expresses a contemporary ethos in an unconventional manner.[1] According to one translation of its Portuguese-language verse, Ben sings:
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The character of "Charles" is revisited on "Charles Anjo 45",[1] one of several songs on the album that make allusions to the favelas of Brazil's poor non-white population.[9] In the song, he is depicted as an underworld criminal figure from a Rio favela ("Robin Hood of the ghetto"). The narrative follows his melancholic departure for prison and his celebrated return to the neighborhood.[1]
Packaging
The album cover was designed by Brazilian artist Guido Alberi. It is a cartoon illustration of Ben surrounded by a psychedelic collage of tropical plants, samba musicians, superhuman women, and the flag of Brazil. Ben is pictured with broken manacles around his wrists, a toucan resting on his bare shoulder, and an acoustic guitar in hand. The guitar is decorated with the logo of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, Ben's favorite football team.[11] Caz has described Alberi's artwork as "an iconic psychedelic Tropicalia-style cover painting",[1] while art designer Pablo Yglesias said it "remains the favorite cover" for many listeners of música popular brasileira (MPB).[11]
According to Yglesias, either Ben or Alberi had drawn inspiration from Rio de Janeiro's
For the back cover, liner notes expressing approval of Ben were written by Philips producer Armando Pittigliani. Pittigliani had signed and later dropped Ben during the singer's first stint with the label.[1]
Release and reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Tom Hull – on the Web | A−[12] |
Jorge Ben was released on LP in November 1969 by Philips Records, and became Ben's commercial comeback. In the months leading up to the album's release, several of its songs had become hit songs for other recording artists, including Wilson Simonal ("País Tropical"), Os Originais do Samba ("Cadê Tereza"), and, as a duo, Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa ("Que Pena").[1] These songs later became commercial successes for Ben when released as singles from this album.[7] "País Tropical" and "Que Pena" in particular have remained among his most famous songs.[13] According to Leaver, Jorge Ben became Ben's "most significant and commercially successful album to date".[9]
The album was released at the height of the controversial Tropicália movement[5] and sociopolitical turmoil in dictatorial Brazil, whose government was censoring and arresting the movement's more explicitly political artists. Veloso and Gil were jailed temporarily before going into exile in England, while Ben had some of his songs banned from radio play. At a music festival, Ben was heckled for his performance of "Charles Anjo 45", but the song entered the record charts and remained a staple of his repertoire.[9] The album improved Ben's standing in Brazil's music community. As Jurek later wrote:
While he was already an established veteran in Brazilian musical circles, he refused to align himself with either the Jovem Guarda or MPB movements because he found both camps willing to abandon samba in favor of popular styles from North America and England. That ambivalence hurt him professionally but not creatively — until the release of this self-titled classic. When the new tropicalia crew heard the set, they were floored and they attempted to draft the brilliant singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist into their fold.[2]
Jorge Ben was not well received in Veja, however. Reviewing for Brazil's leading news magazine in December 1969, music journalist Tárik de Souza argued that Ben had failed to project himself as a singer, composer, and guitarist. He largely faulted Philips for disregarding the rhythmic appeal of Ben's past success by hiring Bríamonte, whose excessive preoccupation with melody and harmony resulted in orchestrations that suffocate the songs, although Duprat's few arrangements were seen as "magnificent".[4]
The album was reissued on
Track listing
All songs were written by Jorge Ben.[15]
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Crioula" | 3:30 |
2. | "Domingas" | 3:35 |
3. | "Cadê Teresa?" | 3:26 |
4. | "Barbarella" | 3:19 |
5. | "País Tropical" | 4:16 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Take It Easy My Brother Charles" | 2:36 |
2. | "Descobri que Eu Sou um Anjo" | 4:05 |
3. | "Bebete Vãobora" | 2:38 |
4. | "Quem Foi que Roubou a Sopeira de Porcelana Chinesa que a Vovó Ganhou da Baronesa?" | 3:10 |
5. | "Que Pena" | 3:05 |
6. | "Charles, Anjo 45" | 4:55 |
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[15]
Musicians
- Jorge Ben – guitar, vocals
- José Briamonte – arrangements (side one: tracks 1, 2, 3, 5; side two: tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- Rogério Duprat – arrangements (side one: track 4; side two: track 2)
- Trio Mocotó – featured performance[16]
Production
- Manoel Barenbein – production
- Stelio Carlini – engineering
- Ary Carvalhaes – engineering
- Didi – engineering
- João Kibelestis – engineering
- Célio Martins – engineering
Packaging
- Alberi – artwork
- Lincoln – layout
- Armando Pittigliani – liner notes
- Johnny Salles – photography
Charts
Chart (1970)[17] | Peak position |
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Brazil LP's – Rio de Janeiro (Billboard) | 3 |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Caz, Greg (15 December 2011). "Brute Force: A Look At Jorge Ben's Recorded Work". Revive. Okayplayer. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d Jurek, Thom (n.d.). "Jorge Ben – Jorge Ben". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ISBN 978-8585934545.
- ^ a b de Souza, Tárik (19 November 1969). "Discos". Veja (in Portuguese). p. 12.
- ^ a b Anon. (26 October 2018). "New Releases – 10/26/18". Grimey's. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ Hull, Tom (8 December 2012). "December 2012 Notebook". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ a b Kurek, Thom (n.d.). "Jorge Ben – Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ISBN 978-0520279094.
- ^ a b c d e f Leaver, Robert (n.d.). "Jorge Ben – Biography". Amoeba Music. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1469615707.
- ^ ISBN 156898460X.
- ^ Hull, Tom (3 May 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
- ^ a b Anon. (2 November 2018). "Brazilian Music Innovator Jorge Ben's First U.S. Vinyl Pressing Of His Influential Self-Titled 1969 Album Released Ahead Of 50th Anniversary". PR Newswire. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- ^ Anon. (September 2008). "World Music record reviews". Slipcue E-Zine. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ a b Pittigliani, Armando (1969). Jorge Ben (LP liner notes). Jorge Ben. Philips Records. R765.100L.
- ^ Anon. (n.d.). "Jorge Ben – Jorge Ben: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ Anon. (24 January 1970). "Hits of the World". Billboard.
Further reading
- Anon. (25 July 2016). "Snapshots: 'País Tropical' Jorge Ben, 'Zé Canjica' Força Bruta". The Art of the Mixtape. An essay on Jorge Ben and Fôrça Bruta.
- Spice, Anton (25 August 2016). "Jorge Ben's incredible self-titled LP gets long-awaited vinyl reissue". The Vinyl Factory.