On his 1973 eponymous album, Guilherme Lamounier makes a post-tropicália mpb, containing some psychedelic influence, but also incorporating more popular, folk and soul elements. The interesting result lies somewhere between Arnaldo Baptista’s Loki?, and Ronnie Von’s Ronnie Von, perhaps closer to the first, without the same instrumental refinement but with greater popular appeal……~
A super-cool album, with very listenable light-psychedelic/groovy-folkie MPB material from festival performer and soundtrack composer Guilherme Lamounier. This isn’t as kooky and out-there as Os Mutantes and the tropicalista crowd, but also not as wanky or unlistenable. It’s a very good example of the mellow, eclectic vibe of the time, and Lamounier comes off as a very nice, relaxed performer, and there are some seriously “heavy” acid rock touches, along with some lighter, sweeter material. Definitely worth checking out. Also worth noting is that all the songs were co-written with Tiberio Gaspar…..~
The few copies of the vinyl made available on June 21 have already sold out on the label, although some dealers have yet to sell. For those who can not buy, Mad About offers the digital album in Bandcamp, on sale for 9 euros. All the work was done by the label with Warner of Portugal.
“I bought this album from Lamounier on my first visit to São Paulo, I think in 2003. A friend i was shopping with for vinyl caught my eye and suggested it to me,” says Joaquim Paulo, owner of the label, who had never heard of Lamounier. And ended up taking the LP as soon as many people heard about the album, through downloads
ON THE PLATFORMS
In addition to the album in Bandcamp, Warner, only the Brazilian, encouraged to put Guilherme Lamounier (or Guilherme Lamounier 1973, as he became known among fans) on the platforms. Some admirers of the album criticize the sound of the disc on Spotify, preferring the version published on Bandcamp. The album was remastered for a CD release a few years ago, but did not hit stores because, consulted at the time, Guilherme did not agree to the re-release contract.
Guilherme’s widow Marcia Weber says there are still no plans for new releases, although the singer has left a world of singles and EPs on record labels such as Continental, Som Livre and Philips. Guilherme’s third LP, also with his name in the title, came out on CD a few years ago by the label Discobertas. The first, released in 1970 by Odeon (a candy for those who guess the title) is on digital platforms without the original cover.
PSYCHEDELIC
Guilherme Lamounier is touted as “psych rock” on sales sites, but really lysergic only the last track of the album, Cabeça feita, a hard rock with participation of Lanny Gordin on guitar. The album is full of ballads, from the most delicate (Patricia, Roofs in the world, Paper Captain) to the most intense (Spend years, pass Anas, a blues ballad whose sound atmosphere reminds, two decades before, the records of Black Crowes).
The record was William’s second attempt to work, after a failed start as a protégé of Charles Imperial. The singer came to be booed at a festival in 1970, but because Imperial, behind him, appeared dressed as an Indian, in a costume of the Chief of Ramos. The bounies were not for Guilherme, but the singer was extremely traumatized and disappeared for a few years, until returning with the new album.
The repertoire of the 1973 LP was composed by Guilherme and Tiberius Gaspar, former lyricist of Antonio Adolfo. Antonio left Brazil and Tiberius, who had known Guilherme since he was a teenager from Copacabana, had been amazed by his friend’s new melodies. The repertoire of the two was influenced by the new names of bittersweet: James Taylor, Carole King, Carly Simon, in addition to the Woodstock climate of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. A trend that there was no here.
TOOK
Tiberius and Guilherme began comcomming in 1971 and soon managed to get the attention of Philips’ André Midani, who became interested in the record. There were problems with the censorship “Years pass were to be Between years, between Anas, because Ana was a recurring name in my work. Censorship cut because it thought it was a reference to anal cit,” said Tiberius, who died in 2017. Head made, even with verses like “the head made not silly mark”, passed.
Guilherme eventually walked away – an erratic behavior that would mark his career, and which many credit to psychological problems. And Philips gave up the record. It wasn’t until 1973, when Tiberius and he didn’t even make up together anymore, continental became interested and hired the singer. Tiberius reappeared to be photographed with his friend for the inner cover, somewhat upset that the release took place on a record label much more modest than Philips. “That sound was going to burst here,” he lamented. The album was recorded in São Paulo, but with almost all of Rio’s team of musicians – including Luiz Claudio Ramos (guitar) and Oberdan Magalhães (wind).
RADIO SUCCESS IN PORTO ALEGRE
Guilherme recorded until 1975 on Continental – came to come an EP in 1975 with the same cover of the LP of 1973, bringing a mixture of tracks of compacts (as Me lets live as an animal on earth) with songs from the album. But the artist who became popular rolled from 1977, when Enrosca burst on the trail of the novel Locomotives. The 1973 album found little space on radio and TV.
“I remember listening to William on World Radio, but my memories of him are more dancing. But I remember the names of the songs Did I put a cricket in your head? and Head made”, says the Carioca radio host Selma Boiron. The gaucho journalist Emilio Pacheco, however, says he heard enough GB in high relief and Mini-Neila in Porto Alegre, executed by the historical Continental Radio, which belonged to the Globo Radio System, transmitted at the frequency 1120 AM and was successful among the young people of Rio Grande do Sul. And that, by the way, he had a programming style similar to that of the World Cup.
OWN CHOICES
“The Brazilian songs that played on Continental were rarely the ‘work’ indicated by the record companies with that stamp of the setinha. Programming director Marcus Aurelio Wesendonk made his own choices. So, Sergio Sampaio, I played I traveled by train. Jorge Ben, among others, Errare humanum est. The version of Fear airplane, the Belchior, which Continental played in 1979 was the slowest, with the partnership of Gilberto Gil”, recalls Emílio, who heard Mini-Neila in December 1973, on a clock radio in his parents’ room.
“The announcer always had something to say at the beginning of each song and, in this case, I remember well that he said: ‘Brazilian jewel’. So I already knew that a Brazilian song would come. It was Mini-Neila. Continental always said the authors of the Brazilian songs, so the announcer said at the end: ‘Guilherme Lamounier, his and Tiberius Gaspar, Mini Neila’. I fell in love with music,” recalls he, who considers the album one of the best Brazilian music records of all time, but was not very attracted by the continuity of the singer’s work.
Emilio did not buy the album at the time, but remembers the album exhibited in the windows of the stores of Porto Alegre. “What played on Continental generally turned out to be a hit among young people, but I don’t remember seeing the LP on any of the local newspaper bestseller lists. My brother had the LP and brought it to play our ‘dance meetings’,” he says. “In a way, I remembered the Elton John formula, in which accessible songs brought sophisticated lyrics. And William had a great voice.”
RECENT FANS
The price of Lamounier’s album since then has varied considerably. Copies of 1973 have been seen on sale for more than R $ 1,000. The Discogs website brings sales of the relaunch of Mad About for prices between R $ 150 and R $ 200. “I’ve only had three copies of this William LP in 25 years. He barely showed up around here. His price would be something around R $ 2 thousand, right?” says Eduardo Lemos, owner of the store of records Melômano, Maringá (PR). Guilherme’s EP with the same cover of the LP, incidentally, can be found in the hands of some sellers for the same price of R $ 2 thousand.
In 2003, Guilherme Lamounier, the album, turned 30. Those who listened to the album from there to here, took advantage of a typical wave of the beginning of web 2.0: mp3 blogs, in addition to the old Orkut communities also dedicated to disseminating files from old discs – zipped and shared on sites such as Rapidshare and Sendspace. It is impossible to specify how many disk downloads were done this way. This rediscovery encouraged even kid bee to record one of the tracks on the album, Did I put a cricket in his head?, in 2005.
The broadcaster and journalist Bruno Capelas is one of those fans who knew the album already in the digital age, taken from vinyl and transformed into MP3, and is frightened by the fact that such a work has gone unnoticed when it came out.
“From the first times I heard this record, I was surprised by two things: the first is Guilherme Lamounier’s ability to write pop-rock melodies of a rare sensibility. The second is because damn this record went unnoticed”, he says, who presents the indie program, on Radio Eldorado. “It’s not just a matter of choruses: it’s a record with aesthetic refinement – Oberdan’s flute in GB and Neila’s choirs, as I write, won’t let me lie. It’s sophisticated, but at the same time simple. And on the other hand, there are the letters of Tiberius Gaspar, who is another amazing guy and who needs to be rediscovered, always.”
“It’s a record that didn’t even generate much noise in its time, so it makes sense that even the right record companies don’t remember it. Cooler is to think that now it has ceased to be a dusty article on MP3 and YouTube, and that it is available on streaming. It’s a small difference, but it makes a difference to the survival of a work these days. Crazy to put Mini Neila in my powerpop playlist. Now just wait to get Enrosca, in the original version, to insert in a virtual mixtape pro crush”, jokes
WORK
One of these fans of the digital age was heavily touched by the record, to the point of joining forces with Lamounier’s widow for the rescue of his work. Alípio Argeu, a 26-year-old musician from Bahia, set up the Guilherme Lamounier Oficial Instagram account, which gives an image to the singer’s life and work, with rare photos, newspaper articles and exclusive arts. He recently rescued a video with an instrumental vignette made by Guilherme at home in 2007, as well as a recording of him singing Face to Reality.
Alípio even made the text for the relaunch of Mad About, and has been looking for material from Guilherme in newspapers and record companies. “The work is going. We were able to locate Guilherme’s friends and fans in order to contribute in some way to this rescue”, says the researcher. “The contacts are happening through social networks between anonymous and famous, such as Fabio Stella, Rosa Marya Collin, among others.”…By Richard Schott….~
A beautiful album of laidback psych from early 70s Brazil – the sort of more personal, more introspective work that some of the artists on the scene were cutting after the more experimental modes of the Tropicalia years! Guilherme Lamounier has a gentle sort of majesty in his music – very much in keeping with his image on the cover – stepping out in a trippier take on singer/songwriter modes, with his own vocals, guitar, and piano as the main focus on the tunes – touched nicely with keyboard work from Wagner Tiso, flute from Oberdan Magalhaes, and guitar from Lanny Gordin – artists used in these very sparing ways to spice up the sound, and give the record a loftier vibe than if Guilherme were just recording on his own. Lyrics are all in Portuguese, but the songs have a very universal appeal – a great sense of structure and building up energy….~
Guilherme Lamounier is one of them. This guy was brilliant, a great hit-and-hitter. Here alongside another great figure, Tiberius Gaspar, also partner of Antonio Adolfo. His songs, like Zé Rodrix’s, are from the collar in his ear. After a second dose, he’s already humming. Pop music for me is that – it has to come back. Speaking of return, Guilherme is one of the great artists who has never been seen in the media again. The guy’s completely gone, a mystery that you can’t even dig deep through the web if you get information. On the other hand, his music is always in the mouths and ears of those who know how to listen. With the head made not mark silly …~
Guilherme came from a family of musicians: his grandfather, Gastão Lamounier, was a composer and his cousin, Gastão Lamounier Junior, also became a composer and musician, working with Erasmo Carlos, Banda Black Rio, Karma group and several others (“Tem ter ser agora”, recorded by Pedro Mariano in 2000, is from Gastão and Luiz Mendes Junior). Another famous cousin was Ricardo Lamounier, DJ of the northern nightclub New York City Discothéque. Before Guilherme Lamounier, Guilherme had already recorded another album, now also obscure, by Odeon – released in 1970 with production by Carlos Imperial and participation of Dom Salvador and Maestro Cipó, the album is defined by a website selling rare records as “a raw and rude version of Wilson Simonal”, containing “heavy funks” such as “Cristina” and “The house where she lives”. The 1973 album, one of the rare national albums released by WEA’s Atco label – which was represented in Brazil by Continental during the 1970s – can be defined as a happy encounter between folk, pop, rock (heavy in some moments) and the soul accent that would mark virtually everything done by Guilherme. It was a collection of 10 beautiful melodies that, heard today, are sorry that they had hardly attended the radio. Since then, this record would never be reissued.
Guilherme Lamounier was the result of a partnership between the singer and Tiberius Gaspar, who signed the lyrics of all the songs – the photos of the booklet, always bringing the duo, imply that Tiberius, best known for his partnerships with Antonio Adolfo (“Sá Marina”, “Juliana”) was fundamental to the development of the album. Played on the guitar and piano, with discreet guitars, the album opened with an almost Beatle ballad, “Mini-Neila”. The melody, of killing Noel Gallagher with envy, was accentuated by the beautiful arrangement of strings – credited, in the booklet, to a luiz claudio – and completed by a beautiful chorus, one of the best of the album. Then came the folk and traveler sound of “GB in high relief”, a melody full of surprises and hidden chords, which show lamounier’s excellence as a pop craftsman. “Patrícia”, another folk ballad, enters the album remembering Lô Borges and brings a lyric full of strong, sexual images. “The roofs of the world” is almost progressive, bringing percussion, sound effects, guitars, organ and a psychedelic, libertarian lyrics (“I don’t care what you think of me out there/it only matters to know who I am or what I’m not around”). All the lyrics of the album oscillated between romanticism and a young thematic species of the 70s, with images of almost hippie content.
Far removed from the “Wilson Simonal cru” of the first album, Guilherme sang in an almost black way, alternating rock tones with hoarse and shouted vocals, sometimes remembering a Carioca version of Arnaldo Baptista (with whom he even looked physically). This way of singing appeared in songs such as “Freedom”, very heavy acoustic soul, with vigorous bass lines and a strong work of brass, almost reminiscent of a film track. Or even in “Cabeça feita”, hard rock doidaralhaço that, two years later, would be recorded by the carioca group O Peso – and that closed the record with guitars in the listener’s face and a bandeirosa and libertarian lyrics. The album also featured ballads with a foot in the soul, such as “Paper Captain” (whose lyrics, well 70s, quoted characters from comic books) and the beautiful “Tomorrow I don’t know”, conducted by guitar, piano and Hammond organ and exploding into a strong string arrangement at the end. Completing, there was still the curious “Did I put a cricket in your head?” – hippie ballad with bucolic and romantic lyrics, which did not mention at any time the long name of the song – and the hard ballad “Pass years, pass anas”, six minutes of making the Black Crowes gnaw their elbows with envy (the song even reminds a little “Descending”, Amorica).
At the time of Guilherme Lamounier, the singer already collaborated with songs for soap opera tracks – he had already recorded, in the wave of brazucas singers who paid for English, the theme “What greater gift could there be” for the global soap opera The man who must die. He continued signing other themes, such as the disco-track bastard “Requebra que eu curto” (O pulo do gato, 1978) and even “Enrosca”, whose original version was a heavy pop-rock (from the novel Locomotives, 1977). Guilherme also wrote songs for films from the 70s, such as pornochanchada Cada give what he has (by Carlo Mossy). His record career is what has remained on the para-and-walk for quite a while. Also at Continental, Guilherme released a single with “Vai atrás da vida (que she espera)” and gave a left, releasing only other compacts. In 1978 another Guilherme Lamounier would come out, this time for Som Livre – revealing “Serenatas perfumed with jasmine”, from the trail of Torn Sin.
Since then, little would be heard of Lamounier – other than for one or the other re-recording. Her last album would come out in 1983, a single with the joke “I like to do what she likes”. Little is known about Guilherme’s life today, what he is doing and if he still works – searching the internet, it is impossible to find information about his life and even the site Cliquemusic, which has a good material for research on MPB, does not have a entry with the name of the singer. Gossip and rumors about Lamounier’s life pile up even among some of his former friends, as there is not much information. And Guilherme Lamounier remains unpublished on CD, even with the various projects that WEA has been doing to reissue records from the continental label catalog. For those who want to know the album, there are copies on CD-R going around…..~
