Erasmo Carlos - Carlos, Erasmo...

Erasmo Carlos - Carlos, Erasmo... is a new 180g vinyl edition of a landmark 1971 Brazilian album where Jovem Guarda, Tropicália, psychedelic rock, soul and funk collide. Although Erasmo Carlos was never formally part of the Tropicália movement, this record places him in direct conversation with many of its most important musicians, arrangers and songwriters, producing one of the boldest and most exploratory albums of his career.

The sessions were produced by Tropicália veteran Manoel Barenbein, with arrangements by Rogério Duprat. The musicians include Os Mutantes members Sérgio Dias, Dinho Leme and Liminha, alongside the extraordinary psychedelic guitarist Lanny Gordin. That line-up gives the record much of its restless character: distorted guitars, eccentric arrangements, Brazilian grooves and adventurous studio choices constantly push the songs away from conventional pop structure.

The songwriting is equally remarkable. Erasmo’s long-running partnership with Roberto Carlos sits alongside compositions by Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben and Marcos Valle. The album opens with Veloso’s “De Noite na Cama”, written especially for Erasmo, and moves through the provocative “Maria Joana”, Marcos Valle’s “26 Anos de Vida Normal”, “Sodoma e Gomorra”, “Ciça, Cecília” and “Masculino, Feminino”. The result can be raw and hard-rocking one moment, intimate or soulful the next.

More than a psychedelic diversion, Carlos, Erasmo... is a meeting point for some of the most creative currents in early-1970s Brazilian popular music. This Vampisoul pressing presents the complete thirteen-track album on 180g vinyl, restoring a record whose mixture of counterculture, Tropicalia experimentation and pop songwriting remains strikingly distinctive.