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
Abbey Road cover

Abbey Road

The Beatles
Headquarters cover

Headquarters

the Monkees
The Yellow Balloon cover

The Yellow Balloon

The Yellow Balloon
Ventura cover

Ventura

Los Hermanos
Clube Da Esquina cover

Clube Da Esquina

Lô Borges, Milton Nascimento
Rain Dance cover

Rain Dance

Naná Vasconcelos
Obnoxius cover

Obnoxius

José Mauro
Tomorrow cover

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Keith West