112. Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes (June 1968)

1. Panis et Circensis*

2. Ah Minha Menina*

3. O Relogio

4. Adeus, Maria Fulo

5. Baby

6. Senhor F

7. Bat Macumba

8. Le premier bonheur du jour

9. Trem Fantasma*

10. Tempo no Tempo

11. Ave Gengis Kahn

A

You only have to listen to a Sepultura album to know Brazil has had its problems. Of course I didn't really realise how severe some of those problems were until I decided to read up on the background of this album. Thankfully, Os Mutantes (their name means "The Mutants") decided to react against the oppressive military dictatorship established in Brazil in 1964 by releasing an album of flamboyant psychedelic rock and pop guaranteed to piss-off the largest number of people possible without actually doing anything that might land the band in a concrete cell. Really, this album has to be heard - words cannot do it justice.

Of course, as I've mentioned before, I don't speak Portuguese. However there is a very handy website which provides translations of many of the songs. I was glad to find it, as I've been fond of this album for many years but had no idea at all what the lyrics were. As it turns-out, they're mostly surreal and oblique critiques of contemporary Brazilian life, or else psychedelic love songs of the somewhat melancholy variety. But in any case, the main reason this album is remembered is for the fearlessly "out there" nature of the music. You don't really need to understand the lyrics to enjoy this album - it's a bizarre mixture of psychedelic rock and pop, Brazilian music, tape effects, homemade guitar effects (the fuzzed-out descending riff on album highlight "Ah Minha Menina" will stay with you till you die), and music concrete, all held together by a great sense for a catchy song. 

There are also quite a few covers - Caetano Veloso's "Baby", a reworking of a Mamas and the Papas song into "Tempo no Tempo", and a truly off-the-wall version of "Le Premier Bonheur du Jour" sung by Rita Lee that loses none of the melancholy prettiness of the Francoise Hardy original. But one of my favourites here would have to be original composition  "Trem Fantasmas", which starts with Brazilian flutes and drums before slowly morphing into a warped, drawn-out, harmonised groove that gets stuck in my head for days every time I hear it. And now I know what the lyrics mean I like it even more.

I really can't explain the mix of borderline-excessive studio trickery and downright catchy songs that is this album. It's obvious that Os Mutantes had heard and absorbed a huge amount of different music, and wanted to try and put everything they loved into an album, along with a few ideas of their own. Sometimes this doesn't work, but the acid-tinged, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach holds together perfectly. Even if you don't much enjoy it, it's worth listening to this album just because it's highly unlikely you'll ever hear anything else quite like it.