BEBETO AO VIVO

It's no use trying to dissociate São Paulo native Bebeto from his matrix, Jorge Ben, the king of swing. But who can deny that the 70s balls in the suburbs of Rio would have been a lot less fun without him? Nobody who knows him a bit. After a long while playing the underground circuit and making albums no one ever heard of, Bebeto makes a comeback with this live CD, a seemingly inevitable format, these days, but fit to let him show his skills. The singer and songwriter starts out with four of his greatest hits: Menina Carolina, Salve Ela (the most Jorge Ben of all), A Beleza É Você Menina and Minha Preta. Bebeto's honest swing is magnified with the help of a flammable brass section, bass and drums and the arrangements written by Ricardo Leão, while the singer reinforces the punch with a nylon-string guitar, long forgotten by the master Jorge Ben.

Apart from his classic singles, Bebeto radiates empathy and swing in songs like Praia e Sol, Lua Nova (Pra Balançar) and the delicious Neguinho Poeta. At the same time, he doesn’t let it drop in slower songs like Monalisa (another one that is dangerously inspired by the matrix) and Esperanças Mil. Nonetheless, he slips and almost falls in Nega Olívia and Jéssica. The new songs in the disc aren't very exciting, either, such as Amiga and Reflexão. But they dissolve into the big party suggested by this CD, which is a lot more legitimate than most of the live albums that have come out in 2000. (Silvio Essinger)