Lilith Records have reissued Caetano Veloso’s Caetano Veloso (Irene) on vinyl, an album originally released in 1969. By then, he’d already been in jail for criticising Brazil’s military regime.
Referred to by some as “Brazil’s unofficial poet laureate” or the “Bob Dylan of Brazil,” Caetano Veloso and friend and musician Gilberto Gil are among those credited with the birth of the Brazilian Tropicalismo movement. Along with the likes of Os Mutantes, they went on to produce Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis in 1968, described as the movement’s manifesto. This fusion of Brazilian pop with rock and roll and avant-garde proved to be divisive, especially with some students, as witnessed at a competition held in 1968 when Veloso performed with Os Mutantes. Leftist students began throwing objects onto the stage, apparently provoked by his sexual stage moves and their experimental music. During the final song, for which Gilberto Gil joined him, he ended by saying, “…if you are the same in politics as you are in aesthetics, we’re done for!”
Not long after this incident, a journalist started rumouring that Caetano and Gil had sung the Brazilian National Anthem in subversive parody at Sucata club in Rio de Janeiro. They were arrested without trial. They were eventually exiled and went to live in London, England.
Veloso reportedly feels his later work is of a better quality, but this has not detracted from the interest in and popularity of his earlier albums, such as Caetano Veloso (A Little More Blue) from 1971, which Lilith Records have also previously repressed. Caetano Veloso (Irene) was originally issued in 1969, and, according to the release notes, although Veloso had already been thrown in jail once for his criticism of Brazil’s military regime, he continued to speak out against it on Caetano Veloso (Irene), with tracks like Irene, (about a machine gun-toting outlaw celebrated by the left).
If you’re looking for something more experimental, seek out Araçá Azul. It is considered his most experimental work to date and also his most controversial. The vocal-only track, De Conversa / Cravo E Canela, is probably the weirdest…
Order via Stranger Than Paradise Records (clear vinyl): https://www.strangerthanparadiserecords.com/caetano-veloso-irene-coloured-vinyl.html