Os Incriveis
Band members Related acts
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Line up 1 (1962-64) as The Clevers - Manito -- keyboards, sax - Mingo (RIP 1995) -- vocals, guitar - Neno -- bass - Netinho -- drums, percussion - Risonho -- lead guitar
Line up 2 (1964-) as Os incriveis - Manito -- keyboards, sax, - Mingo (RIP 1995) -- vocals, guitar - Nenê -- bass (replaced Neno) - Netinho -- drums, percussion - - Risonho -- lead guitar
Line up 3 (1973-74) - Mingo (RIP 1995) -- vocals, guitar - Nene -- bass - Risonho -- lead guitar
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- Casa das Máquinas (Netinho) - Som Nosso de Cada Dia (Manito) - Manito (solo efforts) - Os Incríveis (Manito. Nene, Netinho, Risonho, Sandro)
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Genre: rock Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Os Incrivies Company: RCA Victor Catalog: BBL
1500 Country/State: Brazil Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: 823 Price: $80.00
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One of my first forays into Brazilian rock and roll ... There's a ton of material about this band on the web, but virtually all of it is in Portuguese which doesn't do me a great deal of good.
In a nutshell, here's what I know about them. Originally known as The Clevers, in 1964 they changed their name to Os Incrivels (which I think translates into 'The Incredibles'), when they broke up with an early manager and discovered he owned the band name (the name was lifted from the title of their second LP). Stretching back to the early-'60s the group's generated a significant recording catalog, with over 20 albums and scores of singles. Like many of their American and British contemporaries, they gone through various musical phases, starting out as a Ventures-styled surf band, and taking stabs at various popular styles including pop, psych, blues-rock, and progressive genres. Most of their material is in Portuguese, but they've also recorded in Spanish and occasionally in English.
Released in 1969, the clever-titled "Os Incriveis" was the band's eighth studio album (including the two LPs released under The Clevers nameplate). It's kind of hard to give this one a fair review for a number of reasons including the fact I know next to nothing about Brazilian rock and with the exception of an instrumental cover of 'See Saw', the performances were all in Portuguese. At least in theory the album could have sported some amazing deep and thought provoking lyrics, though I'm guessing most of this was pretty insipid pop - I doubt a song with a title like 'Vendedor de Bananas' (which I'm guessing translated to something along the lines of 'banana vendor') was up for a Pulitzer Prize. 'Course I could be wrong ... Anyhow, based on what little I'd read about these guys, I have to admit I was surprised at how pop-oriented and derivative much of the set was. They'd clearly been listening to lots of American pop and soul and while there were clearly some local touches, if you'd recorded English lyrics over the melodies, you could easily have mistaken some of these tracks for bands like The Association, The Classic IV, Herman's Hermits, The Rascals etc. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anything particularly original across these grooves with the two best performances recalling mid-'60s blue-eyed soul ('Renascera') and mid-'60s psych-era Beatles ('Que Coisa Linda').
"Os
Incriveis" track listing: 1.) Vendedor de Bananas (Jorge Ben) - 3:51 The Stax-styled horns that punctuated the song were a bit disconcerting, but given the song's breezy, tropical flavor you got acclimated to them pretty soon ... and the end-of-song sax solo was pretty dynamic. Besides, Neno's propulsive bass line was the song's secret weapon. I'm guessing the song title translated as 'Banana Seller' ? rating: *** stars 2.) Renascera (Los Brincos - Mingo) - 3:35 Apparently a cover of a song by Les Brincos, based on the insidiously catchy 'Renascera' who knew there was such a thing as Brazilian blue-eyes soul ? Great Nene bass line and breezy group vocals gave it a goofy, 'fun' vibe. I'm surprised an American band didn't jump on this one for a quick hit. rating: **** stars 3.) O Vagabundo (Giramondo) (Leva - Bardotti - Reverberi - Scomegna) - 2:50 'O Vagabundo' started out with a James Brown vibe and then switched gears into throwaway slice of top-40 MOR pop. Decent, but nowhere near as impressive as the earlier tracks. YouTube has a clip of the band lip synching the tune for what looks like a Brazilian television show. The sound quality is poor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfu9OezVC10 rating: ** stars 4.) Quando Vejo O Sol (Nenen - Ravel) - 2:45 Ever heard one of The Classic IV's hits - 'Spooky', or 'Stormy' ? Well, that's what the easy-going ballad 'Quando Vejo O Sol' recalled (right down to the sax solo). Quite pretty and radio friendly with some nice pseudo-jazzy lead guitar moves. rating: *** stars 5.) See Saw (instrumental) (Steve Cropper - Don Conway) - 2:58 Ever wanted to hear what 'See Saw' would sound like in Portuguese? Well you'll have to look elsewhere since their version was an instrumental. Nice enough, but hard to imagine anyone would pull this one out when you could hear Aretha's version. rating: ** stars 6.) Voce Nao Fio Aquilo Que Pensei (Mingo)- 2:58 One of a handful of originals on the album, 'Voce Nao Fio Aquilo Que Pensei ' was a painfully sentimental ballad complete with overwhelming string arrangement ... yech. rating: ** stars
(side
2) 'Que Coisa Linda' started side two out with a heavily orchestrated slice of Beatle-esque pop. Very '67 vibe that I found pretty entertaining. Guess Portuguese was a great language for psychedelic moves. Shame this one wasn't a bit longer. rating: **** stars 2.) Vendi Os Bois (Dom) - 2:30 Brazilian country-rock ? Maybe it was Brazilian folk ? Beats me, but with strumming acoustic guitars it didn't sound anything like the rest of the LP. rating: *** stars 3.) Embora (Nenen - Brancato Jr.) - 3:50 Geez, this one sounded like a bad Partridge Family number ... sickly sweet pop. Nothing that appealed to my ears. rating: ** stars 4.) Jurema (Tim Maia-vers - Ravel) - 3:09 Giving credit where due, 'Jurema' started out with a gorgeous Nenê bass line which served to propel what was a decent slice of '60s-styled harmony-rich pop-psych. Imagine The Association hangin' out in Rio. rating: *** stars 5.) Pra Onde e Que Eu Vou (Dom) - 5:25 Probably the album's best ballad, 'Pra Onde e Que Eu Vou' had a nice melody; nice vocal; and some cool organ riffs. rating: *** stars
Unfortunately, by the mid-'70s the band had saddled up to close to the military dictatorship running Brazil and their fan base rapidly dropped off. By 1972, they'd decided to call it quits.
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