Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66-'86 - Classics, Volume 18 (1987)

WISH LIST WEEK* (AUGUST 10-16, 2015)

A very enjoyable compilation of Mendes' most popular songs from the late '60s - early '70s, plus two top 40 hits from '83 & '84. The former are samba classics and covers (including some tasty Beatles and Bacharach tunes), the later ones are unabashed American pop songs with fantastic vocals by Joe Pizzulo. The liner notes describe this music as a "delicately-mixed blend of pianistic jazz, subtle Latin nuances, cool minor chords, a danceable beat, gentle laughter and a little sex." Agreed.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Year	Easy Listening	Hot 100
Mais Que Nada	1966	4
Scarborough Fair	1968	2	16
With A Little Help From My Friends	1968	31
The Look of Love	1968	2	4
Fool On The Hill	1968	1	6
Going Out Of My Head	1966
Look Around	1968
Like A Lover	1968
One Note Samba/Spanish Flea	1966
Bim Bom	1967
Never Gonna Let You Go	1983	1	4
Pais Tropical	1971
Promise Of A Fisherman	1972
Pretty World	1969	4	62
So Many Stars	1968
Song Of No Regrets	1969
Alibis	1984	5	29

17 tracks, 54⅓ minutes, including Mendes' 5 singles that reached the US Top pop 40 (Mendes placed 27 hits on the Adult Contemporary charts). Only one skippable track: Promise Of A Fisherman.  The over-produced tracks from the '80s seem out of place in the strange sequencing, but I like those two so much it doesn't bother me.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I own the later A&M albums: 1983's self-titled album on both CD and vinyl, 1984's Confetti on vinyl. Back in the days of Napster (ca. 2000), I made my own bootleg Mendes compilation. It was 24 tracks (below) with 11 tracks appearing on both my compilation and A&M's.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sergio Mendes (1983)
Crystal Illusions (1969)

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*My money earned for teaching summer school usually pays for the family summer vacation. This year, however, we decided to forgo the usual vacay and spend money updating things around the house (the wife has been watching a lot of HGTV). Anyway, there was a little money left over, so I went over to Amazon and bought every CD available on my wish list, some of which had been on said list for over four years. This week, I'll be featuring some of these new-to-me discs; listening to many of them for the first time.