Arthur Verocai lived in the golden age of the Brazilian music, composing and arranging for some of the most famous Brazilian artists of the 60′s and 70′s like Jorge Ben, Marcos Valle and Gal Costa. It’s important to inform people of this because his self-titled album is a result of all these years working with Brazilian greats.

Arthur utilizes a perfect mix of styles to compose this album. Picking up his knowledge about Brazilian music, Verocai uses samba, tropicalia and bossa nova elements to build up grandiose songs filled with beautiful orchestration and influences of American soul and funk. With such ear-blowing sound, it’s not a surprise that the album was sampled so much in hip-hop music, from the soulful beats of 9th Wonder, which uses the amazing horns of “Na Boca Do Sol” to construct an energetic beat for Ludacris, to the strange sound of DOOM in his “Passion Flower” beat.

Actually, this is one of those albums where it’s hard to point out what could have been done different that would make it sound better. The present percussion, the pompous horns and orchestration, the angelical vocal harmony. Everything here fits perfectly, which only makes us conclude that Arthur’s work here is essential and very well executed. You can check this, factor in tracks like “Na Boca do Sol” and “Caboclo”, which features one of the most beautiful harmonies in the history of Brazilian music.

For a long time, this album was rare and hard to find, but with a re-issue edition in CD released by the label Luv N’ Haight in 2003 I really recommend you to get your copy and enjoy it. Because after all, you can’t go wrong with a guy that has such an awesome name.

by Arthur