The Top Five success of "The Girl from Ipanema" by
Stan Getz and
Astrud Gilberto in 1964 paved the way for
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 two years later, establishing a fashion for Brazilian samba with cool female vocals in English.
Mendes, a Brazilian-born pianist, was launched by
Herb Alpert's A&M Records, and after recording his own version of the
Getz/
Gilberto hit (heard here as "Garota de Ipanema") went on to a series of hits in the mid- to late ‘60s in which he applied Brazilian pop arrangements to covers of familiar pop songs with
Lani Hall usually handling the
Gilberto-like vocals. The
Mendes treatments of
Bacharach/
David's "The Look of Love" and
the Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill" even reached the Top Ten. This two-CD set presents the highlights of
Mendes' popular heyday, including his 1983 comeback hit "Never Gonna Let You Go" (on which the vocals were taken by
Joe Pizzulo and
Leza Miller). All the hits are included, and toward the end of the second disc,
Mendes' first chart entry, "Mas Que Nada," is even transformed into a rap by
Black Eyed Peas, among other remixes and remakes. ~ William Ruhlmann