Brazzil
January 2001
Music
She started her career in her late teens when she joined the Mutantes, a rock band from São Paulo from the late sixties. Her big break with the band was participating in a 1967 pop festival alongside Gilberto Gil in which for the first time, electric instruments were used, to the outrage of the more conservative anti-rock audience who thought that electric guitars in Brazilian music were a symptom of the "Americanization" of local culture. It is good to point out that many intellectuals were outraged by the then recent military coup, which changed the course of Brazilian politics.
A year later, Gil and Caetano Veloso recorded a manifesto album that would go into history: it was the Tropicalia, which was Brazil's response to Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band—they didn't admit to that at the time, but 30 years later Veloso finally gave in. In that album, alongside Gil and Veloso, were Tom Zé, Nara Leão—who was also involved in the bossa nova craze ten years earlier—, the Mutantes and classic maestro Rogério Duprat.
However, Rita did not fit in with the ego battles of the other members of the band, so in 1973 she finally left the Mutantes and started a career of her own. And what a career she's had! In the seventies, backed by a band called Tutti-Frutti, she recorded a number of albums that made rock and roll history in Brazil. In the late seventies, Rita met her soul mate, guitarist Roberto de Carvalho, who had earlier worked with Ney Matogrosso and other musicians. From then on, they were inseparable, and started writing songs and living together.
Although many do not agree, Rita lived her best moment in the early eighties, although her albums, then with songs fully written by Lee and Carvalho became more and more commercial, and her albums "rocked" less and less. During the eighties, her career declined a bit. She went through problems with booze and other drugs, and the insistence in pushing Carvalho as a solo composer and singer—her albums in the eighties were all credited to Rita and Roberto—made the quality of her music fall.
Enter the nineties and Rita Lee goes acoustic. 1991 came and with it her acoustic Bossa and Roll, which was an awesome album recorded live, in which she played an acoustic guitar augmented just by another guitar played by a relative—not Roberto. The best moment of that album is surely her version of "Every Breath You Take" by Sting. For the first part of the nineties she remained quiet. There was a studio album simply labeled Rita Lee, in which Carvalho also did not participate. The couple were then separated, and Rita Lee was addicted to tranquilizers.
The turnaround for her career came in 1995. The Rolling Stones were coming to Brazil, and Mick Jagger insisted that Rita supported the tour. She did not have a band then, so she invited Roberto de Carvalho and their son, Beto Lee, to form a band to do the show. I remember that back then, the press labeled Roberto de Carvalho her "ex-husband". The results were great, and they decided to go on tour and to release a live album.
The album, Marca da Zorra, was an incredible and very electric live album, which highlighted the best moments from her career, including the years with the Mutantes. At that time, I finally was able to see Rita Lee live for the first time in my life (before that, I recall being strangely unable to attend). Although there was some sound system failure during her Fortaleza gig, the show was great to see. I purchased the live CD right after that.
At around that time, Rita and Roberto reconciled, and finally got officially married. 1996 came with Santa Rita de Sampa, her first studio outing—produced by Roberto de Carvalho, who seemed happy to be out of the limelight—after some time. I must admit the album was not exactly very good. When I heard it, I remember thinking how musically bad the two soul mates sounded as composers. And I wished for another live album.
1998 brought her MTV Unplugged album. Again it spanned her full career, and this time she chose an orchestra and a full-blown acoustic backing band instead of just guitars, plus presence of some friends. Which brings us to the new album, 3001. For years I hadn't heard such a tight, great-sounding album by Rita Lee. It is not exactly heavy, but it sure is electric! I immediately purchased it after hearing it in a local store.
Roberto de Carvalho and Beto Lee are present, but, like in the previous album, they are just supporting musicians. However, both son and husband co-wrote a handful of tracks. One of the best tracks is "Pagu", in which she duets with Zélia Duncan with great verses:
"...not every Brazilian woman is a bottom
my breasts are my own
and I'm tougher than many men are"Another great one is "O Amor em Pedaços" (Love in Pieces), penned by Fernanda Takai and John, which are from a young Brazilian band, Pato Fu. The couple guests in backing vocals and guitar. At the time Pato Fu appeared, many noted Takai's resemblance to Rita Lee's early style. In this album, they are together and sound as if they've always played together, despite the adolescent-sounding lyrics. Who cares? It sounds great!
There are a few weak tracks: The opening track, "3001", is directed to the dance floor completely, despite of the intelligent lyrics co-written with Tom Zé. It is too long and too electronic. Another recording of "Poison Ivy" in Portuguese was completely unnecessary, even though the band did try to make it sound good. It only sounds better that Linda McCartney's version, which was never intended for release anyway.
Bottom line, it is an album to be appreciated completely, even despite its weaker moments. Long live the Brazilian queen of Rock and Roll.
Ernest Barteldes, the author, was born in Michigan USA and has been a teacher of English in Brazil for over ten years. He is a graduate from Ceará State University and recently married a Brazilian. Barteldes has been a regular columnist for the Greenwich Village Gazette in New York City and has also collaborated to a number of magazines and newspapers in the US and in Brazil. He can be contacted at ebarteldes@yahoo.com