Gilberto Gil: 1969 album gets special blue vinyl version

Universal Music released this Tuesday (3) an edition of the iconic album Gilberto Giloriginally published by the singer and composer from Bahia in 1969. The new version is made on blue vinyl.

Also known as “Electronic Brain”, the artist’s third LP brings rock in the style of Roger Dupratwho is responsible for the musical direction.

The repertoire, however, is anchored in references of affection and humanity in two classic songs: “That Hug”one of the country’s biggest hits in 1969, and “Electronic Brain”current as never before, even after 55 years.

Created in a historical context full of expectations and novelties that ranged from the conquest of space to counterculture, the album expanded tropicalism by bringing influences from other rhythms. The rock of guitars Lanny Gordin also has doses of blues and psychedelia, which add to the Brazilianness of the drums Wilson of the Snows and his own guitar Gil.

More about the LP Gilberto Gil

Produced by Manuel Barenbeinwith arrangements of Roger Duprat and Chiquinho de Moraesthe album was recorded in Salvador, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, between April and May 1969. Gilberto Gil was under house arrest and banned from performing, after having spent two months incarcerated in Rio — the first week, in solitary confinement.

Three of the songs – “Electronic Brain”, “Futurable” and “Showcases” – were composed in the Deodoro barracks (west zone of Rio), according to Gil“under scientific-esoteric focus or delirium”, with the guitar lent by one of the guards.

Ready for exile in England, Gil remembers family motorcycling trips in Bahia, leaving messages for his father and mother in “Volks-Volkswagen Blues”. He maintains the blues-rock style in baião “17 and a Half Leagues”of Humberto Teixeira.

The last song to appear on the album was a samba inspired by the impact of leaving prison on Ash Wednesday and passing through a city still in carnival costumes: life in Rio continued as normal, continued to be beautiful. Gil came from the comedian’s catchphrase Lilicowhich was on the lips of the people of Rio, but which he only knew from the mouths of his jailers: “That Hug”.

Released as a single in August 1969, the song became an immediate hit. Before becoming the unofficial anthem of Rio de Janeiro, the song echoed throughout the country as a popular phenomenon. From “That Hug” and this LP, Gilberto Gil assumed the role of icon of Brazilian music and culture.

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