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
Almendra cover

Almendra

Almendra
Rubber Soul cover

Rubber Soul

The Beatles
Lóki? cover

Lóki?

Arnaldo Baptista
Gorilla cover

Gorilla

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Dusk at Cubist Castle cover

Dusk at Cubist Castle

The Olivia Tremor Control
Quarteto Novo cover

Quarteto Novo

Quarteto Novo
Vol. 3: A Child’s Guide to Good & Evil cover

Vol. 3: A Child’s Guide to Good & Evil

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Build Up cover

Build Up

Rita Lee