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
Gilberto Gil cover

Gilberto Gil

Gilberto Gil
Acabou Chorare cover

Acabou Chorare

Os Novos Baianos
Caribe cover

Caribe

Soledad Bravo
Sorcerer cover

Sorcerer

Tonstartssbandht
Clear Light cover

Clear Light

Clear Light
Circo Beat cover

Circo Beat

Fito Páez
Chico Buarque cover

Chico Buarque

Chico Buarque
Present Tense cover

Present Tense

Sagittarius
Ventura cover

Ventura

Los Hermanos