Luiz Gonzaga, Jr. (aka Gonzaguinha) (1945-1991) was the adoptive son of pioneering Northeastern dance musician Luiz Gonzaga, whose career spans back to the 1940s, when he helped popularize and refine the baiao and forro styles. Gonzaguinha's career took a much different path than that of his father... Working his way up through the MPB song competitions of the late 1960s, Gonzaguinha became known as a pop composer of note, following in the path laid down by ornate MPB composers such as Ivan Lins and Joao Bosco. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Gonzaguinha's work -- his own recordings are mostly too slick and syrupy for my tastes, although there are songs here and there that are quite lovely. (Although many of his songs, as covered by other MPB stars, can be quite nice...) Anyway, he was one of the most significant Brazilian songwriters of the 1970s, and is certainly worth having on your radar.
Gonzaguinha "Luiz Gonzaga, Jr." (Universal, 2001)
A nice chunk of once-lost MPB history. These lively early sessions, recorded around 1971 for the Forma label, after Gonzaguinha had built up his reputation as a song festival performer, have remained out of print for decades. Indeed, I think this is the first time they've been released in album form... amazing, considering Gonzaguinha's stature as a songwriter and performer in the years to come. One the most obvious level, these tracks reveal an almost comical debt to the rock-based experimentalism of the tropicalia scene, with spaced out, loosely structured songs, lavish, languid feedback and psychedelic sound washes galore. But there's also a gentleness and searching depth to them as well. I've never been much of a Gonzaguinha fan, but I think this is a disc worth having, or at least checking out, both to fill in a few blanks on the tropicalia-era pop scene, and to get a sense of the early creative range of this later rather bland performer.
Gonzaguinha "Luiz Gonzaga, Jr." (Odeon, 1973)
Gonzaguinha "Luiz Gonzaga, Jr." (Odeon, 1974)
(Produced by Milton Miranda & Maestro Gaya)
Opening with "E Preciso," a mellow acoustic song styled after the Portuguese fado, this is a relaxed, gentle album, highlighting Gonzaguinha's strength as a songwriter, amid mild, fusion-tinged arrangements. A few tunes will be familiar from subsequent versions by the MPB elite, the album as a whole has a quiet, gauzy feel, with little of the frenetic, overt experimentalism or blatant commercialism of his later work. Remarkably reserved yet rather engaging; worth checking out. Tracks include:
1. E preciso (Gonzaguinha)
2. Piada Infeliz (Gonzaguinha)
3. Meu Coracao E Um Pandeiro (Gonzaguinha)
4. Uma Familia Qualquer (Gonzaguinha)
5. Pois E, Seu Ze (Gonzaguinha)
6. Rabisco N'Areia
7. Assum Preto (Luiz Gonzaga - Humberto Teixeira)
8. Amanha Ou Depois
9. Galope
10. Desesperadamente
Gonzaguinha "Plano De Voo" (Odeon, 1974)
Gonzaguinha "Comecaria Tudo Outra Vez" (Odeon, 1976)
Gonzaguinha "Moleque Gonzaguinha" (Odeon, 1977)
A pretty cool album. Spacy psychedelic jazz-pop-samba, with an obvious heavy debt to Gilberto Gil, particularly in Gonzaguinha's scatty vocal delivery. Although the founders of tropicalia had pronounced the movement dead years earlier, the spirit of the music was obviously alive in the work of artists such as this... And this really is an interesting, consistently engaging album, with a restless, searching quality. Although at times it feels like he's trying too hard, it also seems like a very personal album, distinctive in its own way, while also very much "of its time," as they say. Folks who are into the avant-psychedelic sound of Brazilian pop in the '60s and '70s will definitely want to check this out... It's a keeper, as far as I'm concerned.
Gonzaguinha "Recado Gonzaguinha" (Odeon, 1978)
Gonzaguinha "Gonzaguinha Da Vida" (EMI, 1978)
When he does straightforward samba, it's pretty nice. But he doesn't do it often. Mostly this album is packed with rather syrupy ballads -- you can see why he became one of Maria Bethania's favorite songwriters: stylistically, they are very similar. Nana Caymmi guests on one song, and Luiz Gonzaga the elder also performs on a couple of tracks, which is cool. Overall, though, this is an album you can live without.
Gonzaguinha "De Volta Ao Comeco" (Odeon, 1980)
Gonzaguinha "Coisa Mais Mejor De Grande-Pessoa" (Odeon, 1981)
Gonzaguinha "Caminhoa Do Coracao" (Odeon, 1982)
Luiz Gonzaga & Gonzaguinha "A Vida Do Viajante" (EMI-Odeon, 1982)
A live double-LP release, featuring father and son cruising through a mix of both their compositions. The slick Gonzaguinha-style production dominates the first part of this album, then gradually gives way to the more relaxed, down-home feel of Pop Gonzaga's baiao and forro oldies. It really starts to get good when the audience starts to sing along, although that only happens towards the very end. Although Gonzaguinha's material largely leaves me cold, this disc is a nice document of the bridge between old and new, and leaves you feeling kind of warm and fuzzy at the end. Re-released on CD as A Viagem De Gonzagao E Gonzaguinha.
Gonzaguinha "Alo Alo Brasil" (Odeon, 1983)
Gonzaguinha "Gravido" (EMI, 1984)
Yucky. Heavy-handed, overly-ornate pop of the soft-soul variety. He's trying very hard to sound "funky," but it really doesn't work at all.
Gonzaguinha "Olho De Lince Trabalho De Parto" (Odeon, 1985)
Gonzaguinha "Geral" (Odeon, 1987) (LP)
Gonzaguinha "Moleque" (WEA, 1988)
Gonzaguinha "Coracoes Marginais" (WEA, 1988)
Gonzaguinha "Luizinho De Gonzaga" (Som Livre, 1989)
Gonzaguinha "Cavaleiro Solitario - Ao Vivo" (Som Livre, 1991)
Gonzaguinha "Mestres De MPB" (Warner, 1996)
Gonzaguinha "Preferencia Nacional" (Copacabana/EMI, 1998)
This best-of is a mixed bag of mild, but passable, samba and pop ballads. In the early 1970s, Luiz Gonzaga, Jr. ("Gonzaguinha") emerged as one of a new crop of songwriters providing material to stars such as Maria Bethania. The best tracks on this collection are slick samba-pop -- not as electrifying as early Martinho da Vila or old Almir Guineto, but in the same general range. On the flip side, his poppier material is almost unbearably cheesy.
Gonzaguinha "Serie Raizes Do Samba" (EMI, 1999)
This best-of is a mixed bag of mild, but passable, samba and pop ballads. In the early 1970s, Luiz Gonzaga, Jr. ("Gonzaguinha") emerged as one of a new crop of songwriters providing material to stars such as Maria Bethania. The best tracks on this collection are slick samba-pop -- not as electrifying as early Martinho da Vila or old Almir Guineto, but in the same general range. On the flip side, his poppier material is almost unbearably cheesy.
Gonzaguinha "Meus Momentos, v.1" (EMI, 1999)
Gonzaguinha "Serie Bis" (EMI, 2000)
Gonzaguinha "Serie Identidade" (EMI, 2002)
Gonzaguinha "Para Sempre" (EMI, 2002)
A more modest, 14-track selection... Perhaps ideal for anyone who just wants to sample his work.
Luiz Gonzaga & Gonzaguinha "Juntos" (BMG, 1999)
Gonzaguinha "Brasil A-Z" (EMI, 2002)
Not really a "best-of," per se, but rather a straight reissue of three of his early albums: Gonzaguinha Da Vida (1979), De Volta Ao Comeco (1980), and Caminhos Do Coracao (1982). They come bricked together with a paper slipcase, and full liner notes in each CD. (This is letter "G" in the A-Z series...)
Gonzaguinha "The Essential Gonzaguinha" (EMI, 2003)
Gonzaguinha "Retratos" (EMI, 2004)
Gonzaguinha "O Talento De..." (EMI, 2004)
Gonzaguinha "Teletemas" (EMI, 2005)
