A Cool Taste of Brazil
Samba Suave @ Garage Bar
7:30pm, Mon 4 Mar 2002
Score: 5
Short Review: Street’s Vanilla
Hmmmmm. After the Tango of El Tango, we lept into the more laid-back Samba of “A Cool Taste of Brazil”.
I confess to knowing nowt about Samba Suave, and this six-member troupe gave me no sparks to encourage me to investigate further. The male vox were overloud, the female vox too quiet (but, when they were evident in the mix, were hoarse and smoky). The electric guitar was also lost in the mix and, when it did come to the fore for solos, it was treated such that it sounded like a trumpet (or flute, or steel drum – it doesn’t matter, they all sounded pretty ordinary). In fact, I could’ve done without all the solos, really.
To be fair, maybe it was the laidback gentle grooves of Samba that didn’t light my fire, rather than this performance. Why “Street’s Vanilla”? Well, it’s just that the performance was pleasant, without being offensive or memorable. Plain vanilla, as opposed to the really nice Sara Lee deluxe stuff.