With the release of this historic album (the first in a handful of eponymous releases that would follow), Caetano catapulted from the mellow bossa nova mood found on his 1967 debut album with Gal Costa, "Domingo," and delivered a lively mixed bag of sounds that boldly established the arrival of Tropicalism. Featuring backing by members of Os Mutantes and Roberto Carlos' RC-7, these songs burst forth with a carefree spirit and unrestrained creativity. Sporting cover art that's very reflective of the times (his name in a psychedelic font, Caetano stares out from an egg-shape being held by a nude Eve-like girl with a dragon and flowers), the disc boasts such classic numbers as "Superbacana" (Supercool), Gilberto Gil's "Soy Loco Por Tí, América" (I'm Crazy For You, America), "Alegria, Alegria" and the movement's manifesto, "Tropicália." The only drawback to this CD is that it ends too soon, clocking in at just over 35 minutes. These selections mark the creative beginnings of a young man who would go on to become one of his nation's greatest artists (along with João Gilberto and Tom Jobim) and earn comparisons to Bob Dylan and Bob Marley for his level of musical influence on Brazil. This album was followed shortly by the equally-historic collaborative release, "Tropicália - Ou Panis et Circenses."

After a pretty-sounding, but rather tame debut album as a bossa nova songwriter ("Domingo"), Caetano finally finds his mad-cap, eclectic, "musicofagiac" groove on this 1968 2nd album; this recording, along with the original "Tropicalia" record, Gal's first solo effort "Gal Costa" and few other discs are the classic "texts" of Tropicalia. This record laid the tracks for the next 15 years of pop music in Brazil. By 1968 Brazilian pop had become so staid, conventional, contrived, and conforming to a standard paradigm of bossa nova, that this record and the recordings of Caetano's contemporaries literally shook the nation out of its slumber. These records truly were - and still are - wildly revolutionary.... and superbacana.

This is the first Caetano Veloso CD I have bought and this is a really good one. Some of the songs are really typical brazilian music but please, listen to "Clarice", the best one.