Beth Carvalho - Primeiras Andancas - Os 10 Primeiros Anos [5CD Box Set] (2010)

This boxset is a labor of love from Discobertas, a relatively new reissue label who appear to have acquired the rights to the whole Tapecar Records back catalog. Although I might gripe a little about the remastering from Ricardo Carvalheira (I think my vinyl sounds better, alas), the love and attention to detail on this package make up for it. Of the three studio albums presented all but one ('Pra Seu Governo') contain a few bonus rarities tacked to the end, an extra treat that hardly seems necessary given the two full discs of rarities that are part of the package. The studio albums are the most gratifying in terms of straight-through listening experience - they highlight Beth Carvalho fully blossomed into her musical identity and her genius in pulling together so much musicality in her choice of compositions and musicians. (The album 'Pandeiro e Viola' is a bit of a disappointment and falls in the category of "contractual obligation album," as she had already been lost by Tapecar to RCA Records but still owed them an album).

The two discs of rarities flesh out her trajectory as a recording artist, at times in search of her musical identity. A bit off-putting in their diversity on first listen, they are brought to life by the truly great liner notes by Marcelo Fróes, some of which is based on interviews Beth gave exclusively for this boxset. They trace her career beginning with her unassuming middle-class life as a young guitar instructor who was persuaded to appear performing on television, soon recorded a single (the flipside of which was a song given to her by Roberto Menescal and Ronôldo Boscoli, "Pra Quem Morreu de Amor"), and from there took off into a dozen different directions. In a time period when the clique-ish cohort of bossa nova was breaking up and fragmenting, Beth moved through a variety of musical circles and personalities, reflected in the impressive variety of names that appear in the songwriting credits on these two discs: the aforemention Menescal/Boscoli, the brothers Valle, Arthur Verocai, Danilo Caymmi, Nelson Motta, Paulinho Tapajós, Milton Nascimento, Antonio Adolfo & Tibério Gaspar, Carlos Lyra & Chico Buarque, and of course - as she transformed into a reigning queen of samba during the 1970s - composers like Paulinho da Viola and especially her mentor Nelson Cavaquinho and his partner Guillherme de Brito.

The tracks on these two discs are culled from a variety of singles and album cuts that were recorded for telenovelas, music festivals, radio broadcasts (like the Project Minerva radio series, which is apparently *also* being reissued by Discobertas, to my great delight), and some of the carnaval-season releases like the 'Samba de Enredo' albums that would appear every year in the 70s.

In a musical marketplace where a lot of bullshit career-boxsets have been released on major labels in Brazil, ones that only present the main albums by an artist (most of them already available to some degree) with no rarities included, this simple, focused box by Discobertas is a breath of fresh air. If you come across it, buy it! It's worth every penny.