Before long 1977 rolled around, and without batting an eye
Sergio Mendes updated the name of his act to
Brasil '88.
Mendes is still chasing the North American charts -- to no avail -- but at least he does not desert Brazil, splitting his time between the music of his homeland and humdrum U.S. commercial material, the latter usually coming from the pens of either
Michael or John Sembello. Predictably, the Brazilian material goes over better, though not always as well as it could.
Milton Nascimento's breathtakingly beautiful "Bridges" receives only a workaday reading here, and
Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March" gets a remake, a bit brighter in texture than
Mendes' Bell version made less than four years before, yet not substantially different enough to justify another recording. The best track is a rare instrumental for
Mendes during this period, a cooking takeoff on
Airto Moreira's "Misturada" in 7/8 time. The female vocalists du jour,
Marietta Waters and Carol Rogers, sing in tune and seem comfortable with
Mendes' American and Brazilian sides. Two familiar collaborators from the Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 days, arrangers
Dick Hazard and
Dave Grusin, are back to elaborate upon the competent sessionwork from the usual L.A. suspects. Although
Mendes doesn't quite regain the altitude of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 or even
Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil '77, this album ranks a cut above the bulk of his output from the mid-'70s to the late '80s. ~ Richard S. Ginell