Track Listing

1. Amor I Love You
2. Nao Va Embora
3. O Que Me Importa
4. Nao e Facil
5. Perdao Voce
6. Tema de Amor
7. Abololo
8. Para Ver as Meninas
9. Cinco Minutos
10. Gentileza
11. Agua Tambem e Mar
12. Gotas de Luar
13. Sou Seu Sabia

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122131 in Music
• Released on: 2000-08-15
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
2000 release from the Brazilian sensation. Recorded with the help of new and old friends. Highlights include: 'Agua Tambem E Mar', 'Abololo', and 'O Que Me Importa'. ( a Cover Version of an old Tim Maia song). EMI

Amazon.com's Best of 2000
Brazilian superstar Monte's fifth album is arguably her most daring yet, as she makes her art-pop leanings more explicit than ever. Memories is also her most beautiful and sensual disc; while it doesn't easily fit a radio format, it nevertheless begs the question of why Monte isn't better known in the States. --Rickey Wright

Amazon.com Music Reviews
Marisa Monte, one of the strongest voices of Brazilian popular music, has one of the sweetest and most seductive voices you'll ever hear. But since the early 1990s, she's kept close ties with the downtown New York scene, connecting with people like David Byrne, guitarist Marc Ribot (who guests here), and producer Arto Lindsay, who's behind the board again for this record of romantic songs. Unlike some past outings, there are no unusual covers this time, just self-penned material and pieces by Jorge Ben, Carlinhos Brown, and other native talents. Monte manages to inject a wistfulness even into an outright love song like "Amor," and the despair of memory is never far below the surface throughout. Ranging from utterly acoustic to gently electric, Monte doesn't try to rock your world, but lets her voice slip into the bloodstream and the heart on songs like "Tema de Amor." If only all pop music were as good as this.... --Chris Nickson

Customer Reviews

A BRAZILIAN DIVA'S MUSICAL INFATUATIONS
A lot of excitement surrounded Marisa Monte's new release,"Memórias, Cronicas e Declarações de Amor", since it had been five years since her last studio album, "Rose and Charcoal" (Her most recent one, "A Great Noise", was a live collection of previous hits).

After all, Marisa Monte is one of the rare musical unanimities in Brazil. Everyone admires her work, regardless of class or education. She is as "pop" as she is "cult", and most agree that she is one of Brazil's best female voices.

Whilst listening to the CD, one notices that Marisa is gradually consolidating her own style, leaving the musical mixture of her early career well behind her.

Such consolidation no doubt benefits the singer, but it leaves to the listener a feeling of déja-vu. Many of the songs, unfortunately, sound too much alike.

The concept of the album, as its Portuguese title suggests (Memories, Chronicles and Love Stories), is love, and happiness, sadness and bliss that are an integral part of love are present on every track.

The opening song, "Amor I Love You", which is tirelessly playing on the radio here, sums up well the idea of the album. Its concept is even more evident as Arnaldo Antunes ( a frequent collaborator of Monte's) reads a passage from "The Yellow Sofa", the anti-Victorian masterpiece by 19th Century Portuguese novelist Eça de Queiroz:

"... tinha suspirado, tinha beijado o papel devotamente! Era a primeira vez que lhe escreviam aquelas sentimentalidades, e o seu orgulho dilatava-se ao calor amoroso que saía delas, como um corpo ressequido que se estira num banho tépido; sentia um acréscimo de estima por si mesma, e parecia-lhe que entrava enfim numa existência superiormente interessante, onde cada passo conduzia a um êxtase, e a alma se cobria de um luxo radioso de sensações! "

"... she had sighed, and had kissed the paper devotedly! It was the first time that such feelings had been put on paper for her, and her pride grew to the loving heat that came from those words, like a dried body that lies itself in a tepid bath; she felt a growth of esteem for herself, and it seemed to her that she had at last entered a superior, interesting existence, where each pace led to an ecstasy, as if the soul was covered by a fantastic luxury of sensations! (my translation)"

"Amor I Love You" is actually one of the album's greatest moments. Other very interesting tracks are "Para Ver As Meninas"(To See The Girls), by Paulinho da Viola "Cinco Minutos" (Five Minutes) by Jorge Benjor and "Sou Seu Sabiá" (I'm Your Hummingbird), by Caetano Veloso.

In this writer's opinion, the best track is, without a doubt the bossa-nova styled "Gotas de Luar" (Drops of Moonlight), a standard by Nelson Cavaquinho and Guilherme Brito. Its simplicity opposes to the rest of the album's sophistication.

The remaining tracks, which were mostly co-written with Carlinhos Brown, Arnaldo Antunes and Lucas Santtana are very interesting, but as I wrote earlier they are sometimes repetitive, specially "Não Vá Embora (Don't Go Away)" and "Não é Fácil (It's Not Easy)". One sometimes wonders, by their similarities, if someone has tampered with the CD-Player.

However short, the album is great listening pleasure. the co-producer, Arto Lindsay , gave a lot of importance to the instruments, which is a rare attitude in albums by vocalists.

The inlay has all the lyrics and the guitar chords, plus pictures of things of Marisa's everyday life, such as books, CDs and the like.

In Brazil, an enlarged hardcover version of the inlay was also released in bookstores. I am not aware of its release outside the country, but never mind it, unless the reader is a collector of Marisa Monte merchandise.

In conclusion, the album is worth the price, despite of its weak moments. A good wine is an appropriate accompaniment to its listening

more subtle, but great
I challenge anyone to name another female singer anywhere with as beautiful a voice as Marisa's. This CD isn't the pop masterpiece of Rose & Charcoal, but fits quietly between that CD and her latest project "Tribalistas", which is another pop masterpiece. "Memories" is influenced by ELO, McCartney, George Harrison, but also has echoes of Miles Davis/Gil Evans. It's a real sleeper, and is guaranteed to grow on you. Well worth getting if you like Marisa's other work.

One of Brasil's most unique and original artists
Many of the seeds of the ethnomusical/sociopolitical phenomenon that is Tribalistas were sown on this CD, both in Marisa's collaborations with Carlinhos Brown and Arnaldo Antunes and the exploration of a sound which is simultaneously soft and vulnerable (sighing violins, delicately-entwined harmonies) and raw and jagged (crunchy guitars, feedback squeals, crashing percussion). The softer moments are in tender grooves like "Amor I love you," "Perdão você," the gently-lapping "Agua também é mar," and "O que me importa," the more gritty in "Não vá embora" and her jazzy interpretation of Jorge Ben's "Cinco minutos." Some pieces, like her version of Paulinho da Viola's "Para ver as meninas" (backed by Jaques Morelembaum's remarkable cello) and "Tema de amor," manage to combine the softness with the grit. It is when she strikes this balance, or when the arrangement is spare enough to let her voice predominate, as in "Abololo," Caetano Veloso's lovely "Sou seu sabiá," and the shimmering, guitar-caressed "Gotas de luar," that the brilliance of this CD is most apparent. There is no need to contemplate why she isn't a bigger star in North America. She's more than a mere "star," she's a songbird. Ela é o nosso sabiá!