Rita Lee - Hoje é o Primeiro Dia do Resto da Sua Vida (2006)

This is former Os Mutantes member Rita Lee's second solo album, recorded in 1972, the same year as Mutantes recorded their E Seus Cometas No País Dos Baurets album (the group's last album with the original bandmembers). To an even higher extent than on Lee's first solo effort, Build Up, fellow Mutantes front figures Arnaldo Baptista and Sergio Dias have made significant contributions to this album, performing on the tracks and writing much of the material. As one might expect, then, the sound and style of this album bears much resemblance to the sound and style of the official Mutantes albums. There is plenty of cheeky inventiveness, psychedelic and goofy sound effects, fine melodies, and loving parodies of other musical genres -- for example, bossa nova. And in the midst of all this playfulness, there is also room for gloomier emotions and undertones. The album definitely contains several very fine moments; as for example the keyboard dominated "Vamos Tratar da Saúde" and the space rock of "Superfície do Planeta." But in spite of all the obvious merits of this album, on a few occasions it seems to lack some of spontaneity that characterized earlier Mutantes albums. It also feels natural that this album was the last occasion on which Lee and Baptista would team up to make a recording. Hoje É o Primeiro Dia do Resto da Sua Vida is a very fine album indeed, but it doesn't quite reach the same overall class as Mutantes' brilliant first three albums. Nevertheless, any fan of the music of Mutantes or psychedelic rock should find great pleasure in listening to this album.