Caetano Veloso - Transa (1972)

Unwilling to let go of the summer and think of coming cold days of autumn, I want to post more Brazilian music. Transa is perhaps my favorite album I've heard by Caetano Veloso, and the one I most frequently recommend to my friends. Not as revolutionary and excitingly eccentric as some of his Tropicália albums, it is a brilliant display of just how good a musician Veloso is regardless of genre or style he's aiming for. The first album he recorded after his exile to England, Transa exhibited some influence from British rock and roll. It doesn't get hard or heavy, rather it is a mellower, paced sound in some songs, but he does sing in English and uses more directly western patterns in some tracks. "Nostalgia" in particular shows this. "It's a Long Way" is an example of how he'd maintained the Tropicália style as well. However, my favorite is "Mora Na Filosofia" which I consider one the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Naturally, there are political messages to be found by those attuned to such matters, but they're cloaked more heavily than previous songs. After all, he did just return from a self-imposed exile because of the fears of repressions of being outspoken.

To be had here:
Caetano Veloso - Transa [256 kbps]