Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas: Tropicalia Psychedelic Masterpieces 1967-1976

In the late '60s, where Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes headed, many other groups followed. Thanks to the good folks at World Psychedelic Funk Classics, we have 16 more tracks to file right beside the best of Os Mutantes. Most of them are spot-on examples of the form, complete with wall-of-guitar fuzz, piercing lead guitar, reverbed vocals, psych organs, drum kits bashed beyond belief, and numerous references to pop culture or drugs (the opener is a cover of the Batman theme). Lloyce e Os Gnomes get in the best Mutantes impression, with a song from 1969 called "Era uma Nota De," but there's much more quality material than that, including Fabio's funky "LSD (Lindo Sonho Delirante)," rough-hewn Brazilian soul with Serguei's "Ourico," and the psychedelic female pop "Cinturao de Fogo" by Marisa Rossi. Some of the tracks here from the '70s feature a bluesier, funkier backing than Mutantes -- in similar company to their earlier volume, Psych Funk 101 (1968-1975) -- often sounding as much like Rare Earth as Sly Stone. And, although virtually all of the tracks come from a four-year window between 1968 and 1972, the compilers wisely chose an odd track from 1976 that turns out to be a mostly unrecognizable cover of "God Save the Queen" by a group named 14 Bis (likely not the same 14 Bis that formed later in the '70s). ~ John Bush