DE TANTOS AMORES
Gal Costa (2001)
Crítica
Cotação: 
Gal Costa is tired of inventing and now decided to reinvent - herself. It’s not that simple. The fact is that, apart from one or two bolder moments (like on 1993’s O Sorriso do Gato de Alice, or even on 1998’s Aquele Frevo Axé), the singer from Bahia has been stationed in a comfortable cover and tribute niche for at least 20 years. It’s not time to demand a turn-around in her career or a bolder approach from a mature artist. However, one feels that in Gal de Todos os Amores, the singer wants to change, but nothing really changes. While re-recording a bunch of standards from her own past repertoire, getting a version here and there, modifying the arrangements… Gal wears "new clothes", but essentially doesn’t modify anything. As a result, she came out with a very well done album, which lacks any surprises or emotional raptures. And what’s worse, it dilutes the singer’s own history.
The unreleased tracks (or kind of, since all the songs on the album had been presented one way or another) feature - or mean to - an "adult", chic Gal, a great chanson dame. She injects bossa nova in Dama Sofisticada, Brazilianizing the jazz of Duke Ellington (composer of the original Sophisticated Lady); and firmly rides the complicated harmony of Apaixonada, by Ed & Nelson Motta. But what really stands out, at the end, is the frailty of the beautiful and moving recreation of A Última Estrofe.
Nevertheless, a sensation of redundancy permeates the album. One of her favorite composers, Jorge Ben, is interpreted twice. Gal transformed Que Pena in a hybrid samba-funk with reggae, which she repeats (with a more Latin flavor) in Que Maravilha. Although the re-recordings of Outra Vez and Folhetim were well done, with the singer’s good performance and careful arrangements (including strings in the first and a brass section in the latter), it’s frustrating to compare them to Gal’s originals. The same happens with Índia, recorded for the third time, now with a cool arrangement that doesn’t fit well. It’s as though Gal wanted to remake her glorious past more elegant, refined way. But the result sounds too cool. And what’s worse, it gives the impression that the singer sees her past work as something that needs to be fixed. If it wasn’t broken, why fix it?
(Marco Antonio Barbosa)
The unreleased tracks (or kind of, since all the songs on the album had been presented one way or another) feature - or mean to - an "adult", chic Gal, a great chanson dame. She injects bossa nova in Dama Sofisticada, Brazilianizing the jazz of Duke Ellington (composer of the original Sophisticated Lady); and firmly rides the complicated harmony of Apaixonada, by Ed & Nelson Motta. But what really stands out, at the end, is the frailty of the beautiful and moving recreation of A Última Estrofe.
Nevertheless, a sensation of redundancy permeates the album. One of her favorite composers, Jorge Ben, is interpreted twice. Gal transformed Que Pena in a hybrid samba-funk with reggae, which she repeats (with a more Latin flavor) in Que Maravilha. Although the re-recordings of Outra Vez and Folhetim were well done, with the singer’s good performance and careful arrangements (including strings in the first and a brass section in the latter), it’s frustrating to compare them to Gal’s originals. The same happens with Índia, recorded for the third time, now with a cool arrangement that doesn’t fit well. It’s as though Gal wanted to remake her glorious past more elegant, refined way. But the result sounds too cool. And what’s worse, it gives the impression that the singer sees her past work as something that needs to be fixed. If it wasn’t broken, why fix it?
(Marco Antonio Barbosa)
Tracks
MetaMusica