Caetano Veloso has been tied in a kind of historical knot for decades with Gilberto Gil, with whom Veloso helped spur the Tropicalia movement in the 1960s. And just as Gil's moved on to reference and discuss a panoply of themes in his music, so too is Veloso on an extended foray into nonmusical subjects. The sprawl of this package, with its lengthy, swirly-painted accompanying booklet, is aided by Veloso's essay on pop culture in his native Brazil. And while the points he makes--mainly about what literary theoreticians call the "simulacrum"--are cogent, you can't really hear the mark of his ideas in the music. No matter, really, since the music itself is a vertical stack of styles that's both tall and thick. On top of Bahian rhythms, frequently played in the style of drum troupe Olodum, are strong, swaying samba elements. On top of that are riffing, sometimes mellifluously floating horns, and on top of that is Veloso's smooth voice, which moves at an eased speed that counters the thronging sound of all the instruments under his voice. As a whole, the sound is aptly luxurious, with flügelhorns and double reeds and strings, but there's always a rhythmic parade underneath. --Andrew Bartlett