(originally posted on Facebook)
This was officially the hardest album for me to acquire for a listen. Despite being critically praised and probably the most popular album by a renowned artist, this album has been out of print for years. As a result I had to scrape every corner of the internet and piece the songs together. Thanks to Amazon.co.uk, which had an MP3 version of the album for sale (but only for customers in the UK) I was able to confirm I had the right music. It was a tediuos process that took me a couple months to complete, but it was worth it.
Africa Brasil is popular for fusing Ben's usual Brazilian samba and African influence with American funk and rock. I've lambasted previous attempts at fusion before, but those were mostly hip-hop or teeny-pop artists singing their cliched genre trash over your standard Casio keyboard "samba" beat. Mr. Ben works with real instruments composing a fun lick with a catchy beat and blends the elements- his soft tenor voice, Brazilian-Portuguese lyrics, a peppy funk band, and soulful backup chorus. The result is funk music of the mid-70s in all its kitchy charm with layers of soul and feeling. I only wish I could understand the lyrics. 3 stars.
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