“LIFE AQUATIC STUDIO SESSIONS”
I found the Wes Anderson movie Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) to be a bit of a disappointment. Fortunately, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Seu Jorges’ Portuguese covers of David Bowie tunes stole the show. Now they’re all finally on CD. Jorge has a couple of older albums and his sound is reminiscent of Caetano Velaso and Milton Nascimento. On this latest album, Jorge heats up the icy emotion of Bowie’s original songs with a little fiery island flavor. The music is simultaneously exotic and familiar. Jorge’s renditions of Bowie’s recognizable melodies are transformed. The listener knows the tunes but sung in Portuguese, they take on a different, alien quality, providing a mysterious and enjoyable juxtaposition. With just one man and a guitar, the sparse, bare-boned production exposes the seductively pretty chords that Bowie created. Bowie liked it so much, he wrote the liner notes for the album. —Hollywood Records 2005
Andrew Shkolnik works at Request Records, 10 N. Market St., Wailuku, 244-9315, and is not really snobby but knows way more about music than is necessary. MTW
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