at a glance...

Hometown: Rio de Janiero, Brazil
First Recordings: 1965

Members:
Caetano Veloso -composition, vocals, guitar
Jacques Morelenbaum -conducting, cello, arrangement, vocals
Luiz Brasil -guitars, berimbau, vocals
Orlando Costa -percussion
Jorge Helder -bass, vocals
Ronaldo Silva -drums
Joatan Nascimento -trumpet
Rowney Scott -saxophone
Roberto Silva -trombone
Eduardo Josina -percussion
Moreno Veloso -percussion

Related artists:
Maria Bethania, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento, João Gilberto, Carlinhos Brown, Virginia Rodrigues, Tom Zé, Daniela Mercury, Moreno Veloso, Jorge Ben Jor, Tropicalia

Caetano Veloso owns Brazil, but he is generous with his ownership. He's always putting out great albums, touring behind them, and then releasing the results of that tour on gorgeous CDs like 1997's Circulado Ao Vivo, and this year's Prenda Minha. Unlike any other "living legend" you could name, Veloso is always a cunning and exciting live performer, and this album does everything to prove that he deserves to be worshipped here in the U.S., which is really the only place left he has to conquer.

Prenda Minha was recorded in Rio de Janiero over four nights in September 1998, hot on the heels of the Brazilian release of Caetano's album Livro and his book "Verdade Tropical," so this is an important occasion in front of a reverent and psyched-up crowd. When he opens the concert with Jorge Ben's classic samba "Jorge de Capadócia," everyone in the house is clapping out the beats along with Caetano's acoustic guitar and sexy tenor voice long before the three percussionists kick into a thrilling carnival beat. The backing band, led by Jacques Morelenbaum (the world's coolest cellist), is never less than on point - but it's not the band that people came to see, it's the headliner.

And Caetano really shines here. He covers songs by some of his old buddies (Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque), plays some of his old hits, but with crisp new arrangements that make them burn and swing all over again; a good example is "Terra," now stretched out to eight minutes of samba-fied Kurt Weill cabaret reggae, which is appropriate considering it is a song about the entire world. And when the band drops out and it's just Caetano alone with the guitar, he bossanovas like no one's business. What could we do without? Well, probably "Na Linha do Equador," a song co-written with Djavan that manages to encapsulate everything wrong with Djavan (empty intensity, sappiness), and if you don't speak Portuguese then you probably won't much care for the two minutes where Caetano reads from his book. But overall this is just as good an introduction to late-model Veloso as any other disc out there, and it's paced like a Broadway show: tight, smooth, big peaks followed by mellower stuff, building up again to hot rave-ups.

I've heard this album criticized for being slick, or overintellectual, or not somehow populist enough, or whatever - but they're all wrong. Caetano Veloso is a great musician who happens to be a very smart man and a cultural hero to most of the world. He was jailed and exiled for his music and his beliefs, and rather than resting on his '60s laurels has continued to innovate and stimulate, and serves as a beneficent uncle to some of the greatest modern talents in Brazil today: Carlinhos Brown, Virginia Rodrigues, Chico Science, and the list goes on. He has an unbeatable track record as an innovator and a great man. So if he wants to dress in a really nice suit and sing his songs to people who love them, people whose lives were bettered because he took a stand back when he couldn't afford a really nice suit, let him, and don't jump all over his ass. He still sings better and writes better than anyone else, and this album is proof for all time that he is one of the great people of modern music.

If you like Caetano Veloso, check out:
Caetano Veloso Livro
Caetano Veloso Circulado ao Vivo
Bob Marley Live!
Gilberto Gil Acoustic
Virginia Rodrigues Nós
Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges Clube da Esquina
Os Mutantes Everything Is Possible

-- Matt Cibula