This album evokes right in the title the connection with
Manual Prático Para Bailes, Festas E Afins, Vol. 1 from 1997, which sold 250,000 copies, of which this one is a continuation. It has partnerships with Blake Amos,
Rita Lee,
Ronaldo Bastos,
Zélia Duncan,
Lulu Santos, Nelson Motta, and others.
Ed Motta is an extremely competent and versatile singer, with potent vocal ranges. The album marks his return to the pop universe (according to him, due to
João Donato's influence) after his experience with an acoustic jazz trio in the sophisticated show Músicas de Antigamente E Algumas Inéditas. Defining his niche in the pop music, in spite of his comprehensive tastes (his personal CD/vinyl collection reaches 10,000 items), he nevertheless dedicates to jazz the instrumental "A Tijuca Em Cinemascope," with excellent musicians and exciting solos, in Latin style, and "Outono No Rio," taken from the mentioned show, a four-to-the-bar swing with a distinctive and longing vibraphone. But the album is dominated by the danceable soul/pop sonorities where the biggest virtue, after
Motta's inspired interpretations and the beautiful melodies, is the use of mainly acoustic instruments and discrete use of electronics, contrarily to Brazil's production trends in 2000, resulting in the best of two worlds: you can dance to it, you can sit and listen to it. ~ Alvaro Neder