Acustico MTV Ao Vivo [CCCD]

Rita Lee is widely recognized as a great live performer with a virtually magnetic charisma, and at 58 years of age she shows absolutely no sign of either slowing or cooling down. But amazing shows don't necessarily translate into amazing live albums, and this is an example of that. MTV Ao Vivo could be viewed as a follow-up to Lee's (commercially very successful) live album Acustico MTV, from 1998. Just as then, the repertoire here consists of some of Lee's most popular songs -- though not the same ones as on the acoustic 1998 effort. There can be no doubt about the inherent quality of the songs, of course, but they simply don't sound as good here as they do on the studio albums. The biggest general stylistic difference between the versions of Lee's songs here compared to the original versions is that they have been given a harder and heavier rock sound. It all works pretty well, but the most worthwhile moments on the album come from the two entirely new songs that appear on it: "Meio-Fio" and "Coracao Babao." "Meio-Fio" is a fluent, catchy guitar pop song, while "Coracao Babao" is more of a jumpy pop/rock tune. Both are very nice and clearly demonstrate that Lee hasn't lost her songwriting touch (if anyone thought she had). Apart from these two new songs, there is one other track that stands out a bit from the rest, namely "Eu Quero Ser Sedado," which is a version of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated," sung in Portuguese. Rita Lee is an extraordinary rock artist who has had a fantastic career, but this particular album is neither extraordinary nor fantastic. Just good. ~ Philip Jandovsky