Showing posts with label Astrud Gilberto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astrud Gilberto. Show all posts

9/28/13

Luna - Breezewax




           This is one of the most beautiful instrumentals I have had the pleasure of listening to. In fact I have known about this song for months, maybe since the beginning of the year. I think it is finally time to write about it. It is a track that lifts me higher and also brings me down. Maybe one way or the other I'm just better after listening to it. It is truly a journey for me. It is funny to think I have only owned the track for a month now. I enjoyed it a great deal in my last week home. It is another piece of music that I cherish and play with reserve. It is the longest track on the album, and it is definitely the sweetest to me.
           Right away the dialogue captures magic. I'll even type it out just because the words make me so happy.





"Where did you get your ideas from?"
"The ideas? Oh man I got a million dreams, that's all I do is dream, all the time"
"I thought you played piano?"
"No! This is not piano, this is dreaming"

Prefacing "Luna" with that was the absolute right thing to do. The mind is instantly on the topic of dreaming. You equate piano to dreaming through the man's words, and so as the piano comes...you dream. 

Beautiful.

         And it'd be right for a beautiful song to come in slowing. The piano followed by Astrud's vocals from her famous "Corcovado". Quiet nights of quiet stars, floating on the silence that surrounds us. That is again another beautiful idea put into our head. Breezewax masterfully picked not only relaxing and thought provoking vocals but the words to match the music. Luna is a track for thinking, dreaming, quiet nights of quiet stars. Luna is a track to float on with the silence that surrounds us.
         The percussion is great too. The beat is there but not too overpowering, boom bip, but not something that takes full control. The piano is the strongest element I feel. Although the bass line is incredible too. I remember how lovely it is. Dah doo doo dah doo doo. Back at home (where the bass could be played loudly) I would sometimes be tranced by just that simple loop.
         This track is really something for dreaming though. As I mentioned above it blessed me that last week in August I had home. This was bumped through several drives in the wee hours of summer nights. I also remember I played this with friends at different times. I'd sit on the floor of my room and dream, just dream, reminisce, hell thinking in any form. What is important is that the music presented my mind for a beautiful canvas with which I could paint my thoughts; my thoughts were all positive because of that. The song makes me incredibly light and happy. It even takes me back to another night, I sat with a girl I love and I layed on the floor; she on the bed. I turned off the lights and let the song play. I was again tranced by the bassline and taken away by the piano and drums, Astrud, all of it! I am still so happy that was one of the last beautiful moments we shared before we left each other for school, the last night.
          I suppose that is something else that comes up. Love. Dreaming involves a lot of thoughts on love for me. It is something I am always gonna want and have. It simply depends on what forms of love I may lack; dreams are shaped by what I lack. After all, a dream is the idea of want, no matter how realistic.


          Thank you Breezewax. I have played this track through all the evening. And I know I'll be happy to enjoy it as I return home, whether in the Winter, or when I am driving around aimlessly in the Berkshires once again, home for the Summer.



7/26/13

So Nice (Sambe De Verano) - Astrud Gilberto


           Picked up a bunch of CDs at a shop down in the Cape. The funny part is that store was Barnes n' Noble. However, I found a ton of classics for like five dollars. The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Astrud Gilberto, The Spinners, Marvin Gaye, and Barry White. Also I stopped in at Newbury Comics, which is a store I'm liking less and less. All I picked up there was Nat King Cole, couldn't find much else, delightful nonetheless!
           This lovely woman is what I listened to first when I returned home (the trouble with buying CDs while away on vacation). And considering the stores I go to never carry much of what I am looking for; I am often in the minority; I am stuck buying "greatest hits". However, I still have 20 beautiful tracks from Ms. Gilberto. I am loving it, and it has already accompanied many quiet evenings and romantic drives.
           So Nice....her voice is. Bossa nova is receiving a warm welcome in my library. This tune is very light and romantic. Gilberto wants what many desire, someone to accompany us in life. And I am just in love with her voice and all these jazzy tunes. The whole CD feels like I am enjoying a beach stay at my Summer home. Luxury paints the whole vibe for me. These works are elegant and high class.
And as the song progresses there are often breaks. You can enjoy what feels like an instrumental then be pleasantly reminded Gilberto is still here. In and out with voice and instrument is incredibly effective. I know that is rather vague and so much music does that, but these songs really do flow well.

I am very glad I picked this up. So many lovely songs for multiple occasions.