Elis Regina - Falso Brilhante (1976/2022)

Review by Alvaro Neder
In 1975, Elis Regina opened her solo show, Falso Brilhante, where she launched the career of another new composer: Belchior. One year after she recorded the repertoire of the show on an LP; this is the CD reissue. The album opens with the two Belchior tunes made hits: "Como Nossos Pais" and "Velha Roupa Colorida," both being folk-influenced rock tunes, dealing with the post-hippie delusion face to the abandonment of the peace and love values in favor of the old bourgeois way. The album also has two Spanish songs, "Los Hermanos," a milonga by Atahualpa Yupanqui, ode to fraternity and freedom with an implying urge for Latin American union, and "Gracias a la Vida," the old chamamé composed by Violeta Parra and made famous for younger generations (at the time) by Joan Baez; the hit "O Cavaleiro E Os Moinhos," "Um Por Todos," and "Jardins de Infância," all by the duo also discovered by her, João Bosco/Aldir Blanc, delivered as fusion rock; "Fascinação," an old romantic valse that, depending on the subject, can bring one to tears or to dismiss it as corny; "Tatuagem," with a strong melody and lyrics, of a dramatic romanticism, by Chico Buarque and Ruy Guerra, already made famous by Maria Bethânia; and "Quero" (Thomas Roth).