Desafinado - Joao Gilberto

Advantages: composition, vocals
Disadvantages: none

...Anybody can recognize "The Girl From Ipanema", it's a classic. But where did it come from? Where did Bossa Nova spread its roots? Pianist Tom Jobim is credited for the composition of most of the classic Bossa Nova standards, but is was João Gilberto who took these standards, and interpreted on the guitar what we now identify as Bossa Nova. By harmonizing the chords on the guitar with the traditional Brazilian Samba rhythm, Gilberto evolved Jobims' compositions and popularized the style. Gilberto's guitar playing is virtuous, but what really captures me is his voice. He sings with a "blown" quality as if he is blowing air from his gut, which produces an intimate close-to-the-microphone sound. It's possible to hear his lips smacking dryly during the pronounciation of certain words, and he has an excellent vocal amplitude, using... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful lullaby voice, subtle but effective jazz backing
Disadvantages: None, all the songs are classics

...Astrud Gilberto is, in my opinion, the best female Latin-American singer to ever grace the face of the earth. Her voice is completely relaxed, free and easy; it is as if she isn’t even trying! Just hearing her voice conjures up images of Rio, sandy beaches, and the carnival. Astrud Gilberto sings Bossa nova and Samba. She first came to prominence in the mid sixties, when she sung the famous ‘Girl From Ipanema’ with her husband of the time Joao Gilberto. She recorded several albums with Joao and also jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, which all had critical acclaim. Most of the albums were recorded under the infamous Verve jazz label. Which brings us to this album. The Astrud Gilberto Album is a collection of her recordings on the Verve label from the mid to late 60’s, when she was in the prime of her career... Read review

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Advantages: easy to follow, interesting read
Disadvantages: not something everyone can be interested in

...Joao Magueijo is a scientist at the top of his field. This book describes how he tried to come up with a theory that improves upon the "inflationary model" for the creation of the universe. ----------------------------- The Theory ----------------------------- The theory is actually quite simple. Instead of saying "The speed of light is constant and therefore what we observe means there must have been a fast expansion of the universe early on" he reasons that "perhaps early on, the speed of light was not the same as it is today, thus it would appear that it expanded rapidly when it didn't". This has huge implications on the whole of the cosmological model - if the speed of light is different, then the theory of relativity is effected! This is the basis of the theory in this book. It goes through to describe some scenarios... Read review

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