He was born 75 years ago in Niteroi, a municipality of Rio de Janeiro. But Mendes’ own musical history goes back much further. The group’s name makes the 50th anniversary easy to remember. On November 1, Mendes will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brasil ’66 with a concert at Solana Beach’s Belly Up Tavern. With consistent Top 40 hits, launched by the groundbreaking single,”Mas Que Nada,” Brasil ’66 was a fixture on AM radio, television variety shows, and concert stages around the globe. Alpert’s hunch about the group would eventually exceed all expectations for the remainder of the decade, the sound of Brasil ’66, a tempting mixture of bossa nova/samba and “Bacharachesque” arrangements, was seldom out of the spotlight. The album’s back cover featured straight forward liner notes by Alpert and the creative wordplay of Beatles’ Publicist Derek Taylor. Musician Herb Alpert, co-founder of the highly successful A&M record label (see San Diego Troubadour, March 2016), was so keen on a newly signed act, that he lent his name to the group’s debut LP Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66. Out West, a gentler but still innovative musical revolution was taking take place in 1966. It was, of course, “Good Vibrations.” Bob Dylan, one of the earliest of rock artists to release a double album, continue to rattle the cage of his traditional folk audience with Blonde on Blonde, an audio runaway train where the Bard is gleefully breaking up furniture in order to keep the locomotive moving. Brian Wilson followed up his magnificent statement on love’s peaks and valleys (the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album) with a single that floated along gently in an infinite universe of possibility. The Beatles, about to bring their increasingly dangerous life on the road to a (for them) merciful conclusion, were able to produce in the safe confines of Abbey Road Studios, their most sophisticated LP to date: Revolver. In 1966, all the major players of contemporary popular music at the time were able to deliver the goods.
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