Chico Buarque’s second effort is a natural and suitable follow-up to his 1st album: music and lyrics are a continuation of what was heard before: conventional bossa nova merged with traditional samba sealed with romantic poetry of the highest quality. However one more concerned hearer could notice Buarque embarking yet timidly in a journey which should soon bring him to a serious confrontation with the severe censorship, the ‘cultural’ arm of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985 and later a direct fight with the imposed and illegitimate powers. Lyrics display a significant cluster of social criticism directed to the way the common men was losing their identity through the influence of media, propaganda, repression or simply fear. This social criticism would further give room to a more forceful political criticism. One interesting feature of this album is the presence at the backing vocals of the popular trio named Os 3 Morais, a kind of Brazilian Peter, Paul & Mary. Seeing from the present perspective this presence gives a special charm to some of the tracks, notably ‘Com açúcar, com afeto’ where Jane Morais, the trio’s female singer does the solo part – Chico Buarque later admitted not feeling then comfortable singing a ‘feminine’ song (although he composed it!). Other feature is the absence of fillers which gave this album a much more balanced and homogeneous signature. Together with the abovementioned ‘Com açúcar, com afeto’, songs like ‘Quem te viu, quem te vê’, ‘Noite dos mascarados’ and ‘Fica’ are now considered ‘classics’ of Brazil’s musical scenario. I’d like also spot other enjoyable tracks like ‘A televisão’, ‘Realejo’ and specially the pristine ‘Lua cheia’, with its magnificent lyrics. Being a plus when compared to Buarque’s first this Volume 2 deserves clearly an additional star.

Forty-five years have passed since this release and it is amazing to imagine that the then 21 yo Architecture student has become a legendary figure in the whole Brazilian scenario, not only as singer, composer and musician but also, sometimes mainly, as actor, writer, poet, dramatist, filmmaker, thinker, public figure, influential personality and even as a modern ‘celebrity’. Chico Buarque, or simply Chico, is an idol, an icon and an ideal for many Brazilians. However, his namesake first album presented just a good promise, with the characteristic approach of the LP era – brand new and fair songs mixed with fillers. The 12-track album lay-out was then a tradition in Brazil’s phonographic market. Due to familiar links Chico had some kind of friendship with names like Antonio Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, João Gilberto and singer Nara Leão, labeled as the Muse of Bossa Nova and it was natural that the bossa nova trend hit him hugely and influenced clearly his early works. Consequently this album displays a natural leaning on the Jobim’s bossa nova style crossed with some shy views of his own and a personal tribute to traditional samba beat, with references to musical myths like Noel Rosa, Geraldo Pereira, Wilson Batista and Ciro Monteiro. Interesting to know that opener ‘A banda’, a catchy-and-easy song, with metaphorical lyrics, made the parade’s top, beating the Beatle-esque tracks that were the dominating power in the radios and shops during those days. Other good songs, praised until today, are ‘A Rita’, ‘Olê, olá’, ‘Meu refrão’ and the poignant ‘Pedro Pedreiro’. Considering only the lyrics, a specialty of Chico’s cuisine, we must also add ‘Tem mais samba’ and ‘Juca’ to the list. The other tracks, as said, fill the gap but they may be enjoyable when listening to this album as a whole. An important observation is that Chico is a singer with a limited range (he should improve his singing later) but his voice suits the chosen songs. This album is merely average from the musical point-of-view but if one looks for the history behind the man and/or that particular moment in the Brazilian state-of-art then the rating shall be increased by one star.