Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle was the Renaissance man of Brazilian pop, a singer/songwriter/producer who straddled the country's music world from the early days of the bossa nova craze well into the fusion-soaked sound of '80s MPB. Though his reputation in America never quite compared to contemporaries like Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, or even Tom Zé, Valle is one of the most important and popular performers in the history of Brazilian pop.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, Valle studied classical music as a child but listened to many different types of music, especially jazz. He began writing songs with his brother Paulo Sérgio – Marcos was the tune writer, Paulo the lyricist – in the early '60s, and after Tamba Trio found a hit with his "Sonho de Maria," Valle was named Brazil's Leading Composer of the Year at the age of 19. A recording contract soon followed, and in 1964 he released his first album, Samba Demais, for EMI Brazil. A tour with Sergio Mendes & Brasil '65 the following year brought his first show business connections in America (via Merv Griffin), and in 1966 Walter Wanderley took Valle's song "So Nice (Summer Samba)" into the U.S. Top 40. Valle soon earned his own American contract, and in 1967, Warner Bros. released the instrumentals album Braziliance! One year later, his Verve debut, Samba '68, became a Brazilian classic thanks to simple, infectious pop songs like "Batucada," "Chup, Chup, I Got Away," and "Crickets Sing for Anamaria" (all of which featured spot-on harmony vocals by his wife, Anamaria).

Despite the incredible promise revealed by Samba '68, it was his last American album to date. That same year, the Brazilian-only Viola Enluarada became a big hit in South America, thanks in part to the title track (with vocals by a young Milton Nascimento). The rock & roll era that had already influenced tropicalistas like Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil soon began inspiring Valle as well. With albums like the irresistible 1971 classic Garra, he moved away from native Brazilian forms like the bossa nova and samba and into a rock-influenced sound that played up groove-heavy bass and smooth funk even while courting his amazing melodic sense. He continued recording for EMI until he moved to America in 1975. There, he wrote and arranged tracks for Eumir Deodato, Airto Moreira, and Chicago. He continued to record solo albums during the early '80s, adding electronics and smooth production techniques to the mix with surprisingly solid results, but also moved into writing music (often with Paulo) for films and novellas, including the theme to Brazil's version of Sesame Street.

During the late '80s, the rare-groove craze centered in London resurrected and relentlessly compiled dozens of crucial overlooked tracks from the '60s and '70s, including Valle's "Crickets Sing for Anamaria." In 1995, the British label Mr. Bongo released a two-volume series (The Essential Marcos Valle) dedicated to his work. One year later, Valle appeared on the jam session compilation Friends from Rio, and in 1998 returned with a new album, Nova Bossa Nova. That same year, the Lumiar label released The Marcos Valle Songbook, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, including new versions of Valle standards by Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania, Edu Lobo, Joyce, Chico Buarque, Joao Bosco, and Azymuth, among others. The new millennium heralded another studio album, Escape, as well as prescient Japanese reissues from his late-'60s/early-'70s peak. Additional albums followed during the 2000s, including Contrasts (2003) and Jet Samba (2005), as well as the live Conecta ao Vivo No Cinematheque (2008). He entered the new decade with another new studio album, 2010's Estática.

Biography by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle's first album, Samba Demais, introduced one of Brazil's most refreshing talents of the 1960s and '70s, a subtle interpretive singer and an excellent songwriter (with brother Paulo Sérgio). Still, label and performer hedged their bets by having Valle mix his originals with a few perennials, including Jobim's "Vivo Sonhando" and "Ela é Carioca," plus the ballad "Moça Flor" and the Roberto Menescal set-closer "A Morte de um Deus de Sal." Boasting some easy, breezy help from Tamba Trio and a spring-like atmosphere throughout, Valle makes his debut an umitigated triumph, pausing over and treasuring his words on the Jobim songs and the originals "Amor de Nada" and "Sonho de Maria." If Valle's performance skills were already at an astonishingly high level, though, his compositional skills weren't quite as good as they'd be in 1965.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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O Compositor e o Cantor, one of Marcos Valle's earliest albums, presents the composer and singer working through a collection of songs (many written with his brother, Paulo Sérgio) that would later become Brazilian standards and Valle favorites on his later LPs. But since one of the most important elements of Valle's later artistic successes was his mastery of production and arrangement, these rather spare recordings never quite reach the peaks of his late-'60s and early-'70s material. However, the seeds of his production style are clearly visible on several tracks, including the highlight, "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só." He strains a bit with the vocal parts on "Gente" and "Seu Encanto," but for the most part these are incredibly well-conceptualized songs for 1965. Fans of Astrud Gilberto will recognize the early versions of songs she later recorded with added English lyrics, including "Seu Encanto" ("The Face I Love") and "Samba de Verâo" ("So Nice").

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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This is one of Valle's better-known albums north of the Orinoco – classic easy-listening instrumental music, from the tail-end of the bossa era. This is an all-instrumental set (with a few ooh-aah choruses and scat vocals an a couple of tracks. Some of it has more sonic and textural depth than your standard-issue muzak album, although much of it seems fairly formulaic, as well. You have to be into this kind of stuff to get excited by this disc. I liked the opening track, "O Grillo," but wasn't too hyperventilate-y about the rest of it. Features arrangements by Eumir Deodato.

Slipcue.com, Guide to Brazilian Music

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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A beautiful, mellow album, with arrangements by Dori Caymmi, Eumir Deodato and Oscar Castro Neves, and guest vocals by a young Milton Nascimento on couple of tracks. The jovem guarda group, Golden Boys, provide understated backing on one track; otherwise this is pretty much all about Valle and his lyricist brother, Paulo Sergio Valle. Overall, a very lovely little album, and an interesting followup to their more perky outing recorded up in the U.S. that same year. Recommended!

Slipcue.com, Guide to Brazilian Music

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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"Mustang Cor De Sangue" (Blood-Colored Mustang) was Marcos Valle's 1969 followup to the introspective and moody "Viola Enluarada," and is much sunnier and upbeat than its predecessor, although perhaps a bit less profound. The songs, however, show Valle to be every bit the equal of the US pop songwriters then making the Top 40 such an groovy place, with the added advantage of authentically Brazilian elements as bossa nova, frevo and toada. All of this is scored and orchestrated with a cinematic flair, along with Valle's patented finger-snapping catchiness. Basically, this is just another Marcos Valle must-own album, one designed to snap you out of a bad mood very quickly!

– Greg C, Amazon

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle's self-titled LP from 1970 finds the Brazilian maestro slowly making his way from the poignant bossa nova ballads of Samba '68 to the juiced-up electronic-funk of his mid-'70s masterpieces. Consequently, for every ballad like "Que eu Canse e Descanse" or "Êle e Ela" (the latter complete with giggling and nearly audible lovers' talk), Valle throws in a track like "Pigmalião," featuring a brassy orchestra and tilting rhythms continually being interrupted by jack-in-the-box studio effects, or the final track, "Suite Imaginária," a four-part work of experimental woodwinds, baroque vocal choirs, and soft arrangements. Preceding the suite, however, are two of his finest pop songs: "Os Grilos" and "Freio Aerodinâmico." Definitely not a seamless listen, and since the best tracks are covered well on his hits collections, Marcos Valle is a pick only for you'll-buy-anything collectors floored by everything his hand touches. [The 2001 reissue includes a rarely heard (and radically different) single version of "Os Grilos" from 1967.]

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Tempering his funkier inclinations to create a Baroque masterpiece of easy listening Brazilian pop, Marcos Valle recorded the most entertaining album of his career, and perhaps the best Brazilian pop album of all time. Garra begins with the elegant "Jesus Meu Rei," with a magisterial men's choir echoing Valle's sentiments while textured piano and organ complete the rich sonic palette. Second track "Com Mais de 30," only the first of several ingenious transitions, offers a light, breezy alternative, bouncing back and forth from main melody to an excellent bridge. Indeed, nearly every song has a bridge as strong as – or stronger than – the main melody, and Valle proves himself a master at weaving together the various studio musicians at his disposal. Valle moves briskly and assuredly from piano lines to acoustic guitar and back for "Com Mais de 30," combines flutes and a Mellotron for a tight bridge on the title track, and coaxes all manner of emotions from a symphonic orchestra – hushed yet gradually building strings, bleating brass – for the unabashed "Black Is Beautiful." Every song is excellent, most in the easy-pop vein of Samba '68. "Wanda Vidal," "Vinte e Seis Anos de Vida Normal," and the perfectly done closer, "O Cafona," are seamless blends of funk and easy listening; the last features a rangy bassline, organ, and wah-wah guitar working together with handclaps and separated men's and women's backing choruses while Valle breathily repeats words and phrases several times before climaxing at the end of nearly every line. Continually besting symphonic seducers from Esquivel to Brian Wilson, Marcos Valle recorded his masterpiece with Garra. [Previously only spottily available, occasionally as a badly mastered CD bootleg, Garra made its first appearance on legal CD courtesy of a 2001 Japanese import, with the bonus track "Berenice."]

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle made his first mark in the recording world with bossa nova and samba. But by the time of this early-'70s album, he was just about a rock artist, even if much Brazilian pop (and some jazz) remained in his music. It's possible to hear some influences from art rock in the harmonies and arrangements of cuts like the opening "Revolucao," with its dancing flute and hard rock guitar, though in other respects the album is more in the tropicalia style. Some of the vocal harmonies, whether intentionally or not, stray rather close to wistful Beach Boys-type sounds (particularly on "Mi Hermoza"), and the instrumental "Bodas de Sangu" sounds a little like the wordless miniatures that Brian Wilson was composing in his Baroque period. Wah-wah guitar, flutes, harpsichord, and demonic spoken recitations pull the title track away from the rather ordinary jazz-rock fusion it would be otherwise. It's an attractive album on the whole, though it also leaves the impression of someone not entirely sure of what directions he wants to explore.

Review by Richie Unterberger, Allmusic.com

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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A real delight! Valle was clearly just out to have a good time with this goofy, funky album, singing super-hummable tunes like "Mentira" and "Previsao Do Tempo," the chirpy title track. Along for the ride are arranger Waltel Branco and Valle's brother, Paulo Sergio Valle, as well as Jose Roberto Bertami and members of his band, Azymuth, lending some sweeping, playful monster Moog riffs. This is certainly one of the catchiest and most memorable of Valle's albums, packed with playful songs and a lighthearted vibe that will keep the tunes echoing in your mind for hours on end… Recommended!

Slipcue.com, Guide to Brazilian Music

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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Marcos Valle - Tudo: A Discografia Completa de 1963 a 1974 (2011) 11CD Box Set

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This is actually the "last" disc in the boxset but I am sharing it out of respect for several regular blog readers, particularly pawylshyn, who know much more about Marcos than I do and who are being tortured by the long wait for this disc of 'unreleased' material. In fact quite a few tracks appeared on the expensive Japanese pressings of the normal albums (which I believe he has, all of them..) but this album's release is still a blessing to the world This is the album Marcos was working on when his second album – containing the hits of the title track (Preciso Aprender Ser Só) and *especially* "Samba de Verão", which was covered in the US by Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, and Ruben & The Jets – blew up on the record charts and he became an internationally-known name. Enter Ray Gilberto, most famous for writing that lovely song "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah", but who at the time was writing English lyrics for Tom Jobim's compositions to be released stateside. So basically they convinced Marcos to stop what he was working on, record a mostly instrumental album that I don't think is very good (Braziliance!, although we've established opinions differ on that one) and then go to the US and make 'Samba 68' (which IS good). The abandoned album has had tracks show up here and there, mostly on the expensive Japanese reissues of some of his original catalog. But here is the original albumas it was when Marcos abandoned it. I'll hremark again how cool I think it is that he left things just as they found them when they dug out the master tapes. No additional overdubs or studio trickery. The result is a somewhat spare but beautiful record that leaves it to our imaginations to 'complete'. It would have come between two of Marcos' most profound albums (O compositor e o cantor and A viola enluarda) had he not embarked on his "American journey".