VARIOUS ARTISTS - Brazil 70

If Soul Jazz's Tropicalia comp uncovered little for those familiar with the genre, they acquit themselves with this fine follow-up. Avoiding a Rio samba soul barrel-scrape or the dull wallpaper of Nascimento's Clube da Esquina gang, focusing on the Northeast explosion: a hotbed for young long-hairs bent on bringing folk forms like forro, baiao, and frevo into the new decade, absorbing and at times surpassing the prevailing sounds of the time. Along with the usual suspects we find Alceu Valenca, Jards Macale, Raul Seixas and, the criminally overlooked Novos Baianos, merely hinting at their greatness and influence.