A Foreign Sound
On this new studio CD, Brazilian composer/singer/author Caetano Veloso reinterprets classic and contemporary American pop songs. Veloso's feathery, Miles Davis-like, Portuguese-inflected vocals negotiate the English language with silken skill with a 28-piece orchestra led by his long-time arranger, cellist Jaques Morelenbaum--featuring Carlinhos Brown on percussion and Veloso's gifted son Moreno on guitar--over Afro-bossa rhythms and spacey, echoplexed synth/guitar strains. Veloso sings the melody straight on the stunning string-accompanied "Feelings," and on a  brave a capella reading of Cole Porter's "Love For Sale."  But the fun begins when he reggae-fies Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," sings "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" with boppish sax lines and offers a twangy  take on Kurt Cobain's "Come as You Are."  From Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" to Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" and Arto Lindsey's edgy "Detached," Veloso shows that he's a master of sonic subversion.--Eugene Holley, Jr.