A Foreign Sound
studio
ArtistCaetano Veloso
CoverCaetano Veloso - A Foreign Sound.png
Released6 April 2004
Recorded2003
StudioAR Estúdio, Rio de Janeiro
GenreJazz · pop · bossa nova
LanguageEnglish
LabelNonesuch, Mercury, Universal
ProducerCaetano Veloso, Jaques Morelenbaum[1]
Prev year2002
Next year2005

A Foreign Sound is the thirtieth studio album by Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist Caetano Veloso, released on 6 April 2004 on the record label Nonesuch. The recording consists of Veloso's interpolations of songs from the Great American Songbook, including compositions by a variety of writers, ranging from Tin Pan Alley standards by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter to works by David Byrne and Kurt Cobain, being Veloso's first album performed entirely in English.[2] The album title comes from a verse in Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)": "So don't fear if you hear / A foreign sound to your ear".

Background and recording

Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were exiled from Brazil and went to London from 1969 to 1972, during the military dictatorship in Brazil, falsely accused of performing a parody of the Brazilian National Anthem to the tune of "Tropicália" at the Sucata Club in Rio de Janeiro.[a] During Veloso's time in exile, he was exposed to a variety of Western musical traditions that broadened his artistic perspective and deepened his appreciation for international music. He considered recording an "Anglo-American" repertoire when he returned to Brazil.[3] In the 1990s, while visiting New York City, Nonesuch Records president Robert Hurwitz encouraged Veloso to record an album with songs by Cole Porter and Bob Dylan, believing that Veloso was uniquely capable who could interpret both artists in one album.[4] The reflections on Brazilian identity and its representation on the global stage, exemplified by Portuguese singer Carmen Miranda, also influenced the creation of the album.[5]

During the album's production, Veloso was navigating his separation from Paula Lavigne, whom he married in 1986.[6] The recording took him nine months to complete—a process characterized by protracted studio sessions and persistent challenges, including pitch instability and bouts of depression.[7] Veloso intended A Foreign Sound to serve as a response to the prevalent anti-American sentiments at the time.[8]

Veloso states that the album's foreign tracks mainly refer to his childhood and memories.[9] He also described it as an "alien disk" because "the English-speaking world is a somewhat uncomfortable intrusion due to its claim to intervene in a critical way".[10] In his memoir, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music & Revolution in Brazil, he explains that he discovered some American jazz singer-songwriters and musicians—such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Modern Jazz Quartet—by following the influence of his primary musical inspiration, João Gilberto.[11] The album title comes from a verse in Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)": "So don't fear if you hear / A foreign sound to your ear".[12]

Musical style

A Foreign Sound consists of 23 tracks predominantly featuring American standards from the Great American Songbook,[13] blending various musical styles and genres such as North American jazz,[14] pop music[15] and bossa nova.[16] While many songs are Tin Pan Alley standards, the album features compositions from Kurt Cobain, Stevie Wonder, and DNA;[16] Veloso has cited rock music as being a vital influence for him.[17] Veloso described his approach to the American Songbook as "atypical", mixing different styles and periods of composition.[18]

Exceptionally, "Feelings" is a cover by a Brazilian musician, Morris Albert, and Veloso himself commented that the song was "a fake American song written by a Brazilian".[19] Conversely, "Carioca" is a song about Brazil, but it was originally an insert song for the American film Flying Down to Rio, to which Veloso said it was "a fake Brazilian song written by Americans".[19] In the album's liner notes, Veloso writes that "people all over the world would like to find a way of thanking American popular music for having made their lives and their music richer and more beautiful. Many try. So do I."[20]

Critical reception

A Foreign Sound was met with mostly mixed acclaim from various music critics. John Bush gave the album a score of four and a half stars out of five on AllMusic, noting that "Veloso transforms these standards by a clever combination of his subtle interpretive gifts, his precise, literate delivery, and his ability to frame each song with an arrangement that fits perfectly with either song."[21] Stephen Deusner, in his review for Pitchfork, gave the album an 8.8 out of 10, noting that "Veloso aims to reinterpret these songs, to make them sound new and foreign to American ears. And for the most part he succeeds."[22] According to Don Thrasher from In These Times, the album "reveals the depth and diversity of American music as filtered through the eyes and ears of this knowledgeable outsider".[23]

Pedro Alexandre Sanches, writing for Folha de S.Paulo, described A Foreign Sound as a work steeped in contradictions, highlighting how Veloso transforms "foreign" standards into "false Brazilian" creations in the spirit of tropicália. Sanches noted that tracks like "Feelings" by Morris Albert serve as a "conceptual centerpiece", blending "kitsch with sophistication" to craft a "tacky aesthetic". Sanches remarked that Veloso's reinterpretations of songs such as Paul Anka's "Diana" and Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" juxtapose conventions with inventive subversions, resulting in a "chessboard, labyrinth, and Rubik's cube" of musical ideas.[14]

Robin Denselow from The Guardian gave the album two stars out of five, noting that while some tracks "do justice to Veloso's famously cool and intimate vocals", others are "pleasant but dull" or even "downright dreadful". The reviewer praised the simplicity of his acoustic renditions, particularly "Summertime" and the Latin-edged "There Will Never Be Another You", performed with Gilberto Gil. However, they criticized the album's less successful experiments, including a "ghastly arrangement of Paul Anka's 'Diana' " and a "dirge-like treatment of Stevie Wonder's 'If It's Magic' ".[24]

Marcus Preto from Rolling Stone Brasil said that the album sounded "bureaucratic", "long" and "drawn out", stating: "Far from any piece one could expect from Caetano Veloso. The artist's worst work, perhaps".[25] Matt Fink for Paste described A Foreign Sound by Caetano Veloso as "ambitious" and noted its wide-ranging selection of American pop classics, bringing together Cole Porter, Kurt Cobain, Irving Berlin, Bob Dylan, and Stevie Wonder under "one conceptual umbrella".[26] Achy Obejas from Chicago Tribune describes the album as a "whole mess", saying that the only two that stand out are "Jamaica Farewell", which Veloso mostly leaves alone, and "The Man I Love", which is here "full of light and grace".[27] The album was the subject in the critical-analytical music series 33+1⁄3 Brazil, titled Caetano Veloso's A Foreign Sound by Barbara Browning, written and published in 2017 as the first book in the series.[28]

Personnel

The process of creating A Foreign Sound attributes the following credits:[29]

Musicians

Production

Charts

Weekly chart performance for A Foreign Sound
Chart (2002)Peak
position

Release history

CountryDateFormatLabel(s)
Brazil[30]6 April 2004CDMercury
USA[29]Nonesuch
Japan[31]21 May 2004EmArcy

Notes

  1. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[32][33][34][35][7]

References

  1. ^ Ferreira, Mauro (2023-10-16). "Caetano Veloso ganha Prêmio UBC pelo conjunto da obra, uma das mais completas traduções do Brasil" (in Brazilian Portuguese). G1. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  2. ^ Ponso, Fabio (20 July 2017). "Ícone da Tropicália e MPB, Caetano Veloso foi preso e viveu no exílio na ditadura" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Acervo. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  3. ^ Browning 2017, viii.
  4. ^ Browning 2017, pp. viii-2.
  5. ^ Browning 2017, pp. 8–9.
  6. ^ Sanches, Pedro Alexandre (2022-08-05). "Caetano Veloso chega aos 80 transformado pelo século 21" [Caetano Veloso reaches 80 transformed by the 21st century] (in Brazilian Portuguese). ELLE Brasil. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  7. ^ Blitzer, Jonathan (2022-02-07). "How Caetano Veloso Revolutionized Brazil's Sound and Spirit". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  8. ^ Farber, Jim (2004-04-11). "Brazilian velvet Caetano Veloso makes America's pop classics his own". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  9. ^ Galilea, Carlos (2014-05-21). "Caetano Veloso: "Criou-se uma imagem positiva do Brasil totalmente exagerada"" (in Brazilian Portuguese). El País Brasil. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  10. ^ "'Abril vermelho' do MST expõe contradições do governo Lula, diz 'Libération'" (in Brazilian Portuguese). BBC Brasil. 12 April 2004. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  11. ^ Auclair, Sue (2010-03-30). "Jazz news: Caetano Veloso in Boston on April 12". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  12. ^ Mirkin, Steven (2004-10-18). "Caetano Veloso". Variety. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  13. ^ "Caetano: "belo, soberano, mas inofensivo"" (in Portuguese). Deutsche Welle. 2004-11-19. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  14. ^ Alexandre, Pedro Sanches (2021-10-22). "Antena do cantor capta anticonvenções" [Singer's antenna captures anti-conventions] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Folha de S.Paulo. 34.511 (103). ISSN 1414-5723. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
  15. ^ Wald, Elijah (2007-11-13). "Caetano Veloso just gets younger". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 2165-1736. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  16. ^ Pareles, Jon (2004-04-11). "MUSIC; Exile on 57th Street". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  17. ^ "Para Caetano, seu novo CD 'é esquisito' e pode 'atrapalhar'" (in Brazilian Portuguese). BBC Brasil. 22 April 2004. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  18. ^ Browning 2017, 2.
  19. ^ Culshaw, Peter (2004-07-10). "A tropical take on Kurt Cobain". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  20. ^ Klein, Joshua (2004-05-25). "Veloso and Lindsay: Echoing the Sounds of Brazil". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  21. ^ Bush, John, "A Foreign Sound - Caetano Veloso", AllMusic, retrieved 2025-01-10
  22. ^ Deusner, Stephen M. "Caetano Veloso: A Foreign Sound". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  23. ^ Thrasher, Don (2004-06-18). "Brazil by Bus". In These Times. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  24. ^ Denselow, Robin (2004-07-02). "Caetano Veloso, A Foreign Sound". The Guardian. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  25. ^ Preto, Marcus (2012-08-07). "Um homem chamado Caetano" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Rolling Stone Brasil. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  26. ^ Fink, Matt (1 October 2004). "Caetano Veloso – A Foreign Sound". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  27. ^ Obejas, Achy (2004-08-03). "Caetano Veloso - A Foreign Sound (Nonesuch)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  28. ^ de Paula, Alexandre (2017-09-14). "Coletânea 33 1/3 lançam livros que analisam discos clássicos brasileiros" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Acervo. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
  29. ^ Veloso, Caetano (2008-05-29). "A Foreign Sound". Nonesuch Records Official Website. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  30. ^ Veloso, Caetano (2017-10-02). "Biography". Caetano Veloso Oficial. Archived 2 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  31. ^ "カエターノ・ヴェローゾ / 異国の香り～アメリカン・ソングス" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  32. ^ Lichote, Leonardo (2020-09-14). "A ditadura brasileira contra Caetano Veloso: os arquivos completos da repressão" (in Brazilian Portuguese). El País Brasil. Archived March 8, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  33. ^ "Exile of Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil | We Cannot Remain Silent". library.brown.edu. Archived March 9, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  34. ^ Briso, Caio Barretto & Phillips, Tom (2020-07-29). "'It's just madness': Brazil music legend Caetano Veloso on Bolsonaro". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived March 26, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  35. ^ Gregorio, Rafael (2018-12-26). "Há 50 anos, prisão de Gil e Caetano elevava terror pós-AI-5 e matava a tropicália" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Folha de S.Paulo. 34.511 (103). ISSN 1414-5723. Archived March 24, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 January 2025.

Bibliography