MR.BONGO releasing the 1977 self-titled album from legendary Brazilian artist, Tim Maia
A fusion of soul, boogie, disco and MPB, featuring ‘E Necessario’.
Tim Maia is rightly recognised as one of the biggest icons in Brazilian music. He was born in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro 1942, and released over 30 albums during his extensive and well-publicised career, touching on funk, bossa nova, disco, MPB, rock, soul and jazz. In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American soul and Brazilian music with elements of samba and baião. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement and producing artists such as Toni Tornado, Banda Black Rio alongside Maia.
Maia's funky style was still at its best when he released this album in 1977. It was his first and only recording for Som Livre, the legendary Brazilian label. Recorded across three studios, featuring top session players and produced by Maia himself, this self-titled tour de force deserves to be shortlisted among his finest albums.
It was a milestone recording in the black movement and epitomises the synergy of American and Brazilian sounds and styles. It combines soul, funk, MPB and jazz with Latin influences, disco and pop. The album features classic tracks, such as ‘E Necessario’, one of the best of his career and a favourite of ours for many years, and the boogie gem, ‘Verão Carioca’. These soulful, funky tracks sit next to beautiful, heart-wrenching ballads and the equally funky instrumental ‘Flores Belas’.
Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on limited edition apple red and brown coloured vinyl.
FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW: