Milton Nascimento, and the Breezy Sounds of Brazil

I've been getting back into the 60's/70's Brazilian tunes, which I was strongly into back in the college days, but now over 10 years later have been grooving on all my old Brazilian stuff, from Arthur Verocai, to Edu Lobo, from Jorge Ben, Os Mutantes, and Caetano Veloso, to Lo Borges, Marcos Valle, and Milton Nascimento.  There's something about the sounds from Brazil that speaks to me more than most music---it has an otherworldly, breezy quality to the recordings that can leave me transfixed.  Of course, the Portuguese language is so beautiful to listen to when sung, even though I have no understanding of the Portuguese language when spoken or sung.  Put on the first few tracks from Arthur Verocai's self-titled album and you'll see what I'm talking about in terms of the breeziness and beauty from one of Brazil's best.

  

I enjoy the eclectic-ness and everything but the kitchen sink approach to Lo Borges's music.  His self-titled album from 1970 has some good tracks, although not very consistent as some of my favorite Brazilian albums (Jorge Ben's self-titled album, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, and Arthur Verocai's first albums, and Milton Nascimento's Clube Da Esquina album, to name a few).  Here's a track from Lo Borges that I enjoy:

As I mentioned above, I love Milton Nascimento's Clube Da Esquina album, but unlike the other Brazilian artists I mentioned, Milton didn't grow on me until recently.  I've listened to a few Nascimento albums in the past and didn't quite feel him like I thought I would...until I picked up 1972's Clube Da Esquina.  This is an absolutely stunning album.  Nascimento's vocal work is some of the most breathtakingly beautiful singing that I've ever heard.  The track below, "San Vincente", gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it, and now about six months later after I purchased this album, it still gives me goosebumps to this day: