Black Rio 2: Original Samba Soul 1968–1981 2009 album by Strut Records. Featuring various artists such as Pete Dunaway, Super Som Lord, Emilio Santiago, and more!
Review:
The funk and soul scene in Brazil in the late 1960s, '70s, and early '80s
fed off of a hybrid mix of Afro, Latin, and American influences, and while the
result was a dance music that was relentless and infectious, it somehow added up
to less than it should or might have been, maybe because the scene lacked a
defining artist, a Bob Marley, a Fela Kuti, or a James Brown, to provide a
template, a direction, and an iconic face to the whole thing. Put together by DJ
Cliffy, the man behind “Batmacumba,” the longest running Brazilian club
night in London, this set is the second volume of “samba soul” from Strut
Records (the first volume was released in 2002). It's a fun compilation, full
of bright grooves and irresistible energy, but yet nothing really leaps out
here, and listening to this anthology is a bit like dancing all night in a club
and then not remembering a single song or melody the next morning. Not that
there aren't cool tracks here – sides like Super Sam Lord's horn-drenched
“BR Samba” hit hard with a samba-on-steroids force, and Emilio Santiago's
“Bananeira” has a groove and flow so natural and easy one could just float
away on it. But no international hits came out of the Brazilian soul scene
because there just wasn't that big, defining record that put all of it on the
map. What's here is interesting, and no one will have a difficult time tapping
their toes to it, but most of it just isn't memorable in the long run.
All Music Guide – Steve Leggett