Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Look Around (1995)

"Sergio Mendes took a deep breath, expanded his sound to include strings lavishly arranged by the young Dave Grusin and Dick Hazard, went further into Brazil, and out came a gorgeous record of Brasil '66 at the peak of its form. Here Mendes released himself from any reliance upon Antonio Carlos Jobim and rounded up a wealth of truly great material from Brazilian fellow travelers: Gilberto Gil's jet-propelled 'Roda' and Joao Donato's clever 'The Frog,' Dori Caymmi's stunningly beautiful 'Like a Lover,' Harold Lobo's carnival-esque 'Tristeza,' and Mendes himself (the haunting 'So Many Stars' and the title track). Mendes was also hip enough to include 'With a Little Help From My Friends' from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper LP. As things evolved, though, the one track that this album would be remembered for is the only other non-Brazilian tune, Burt Bacharach's 'The Look of Love,' in an inventive, grandiose arrangement with a simplified bossa beat. The tune just laid there on the album until Mendes and company performed it on the Academy Awards telecast in 1968. The performance was a sonic disaster, but no matter; the public response was huge, a single was released, and it become a monster, number four on the pop charts. So much for the reported demise of bossa nova; in Sergio Mendes' assimilating, reshaping hands, allied with Herb Alpert's flawless production, it was still a gold mine."