Items12The creator’s order
  1. 1Tropicália: ou Panis et CircencisTropicália: ou Panis et CircencisThe 1968 group manifesto, and the best first stop because it introduces everyone at once: Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Tom Zé and Nara Leão, with Rogério Duprat's arrangements tying it together. Panis et Circenses, sung by Os Mutantes, is the track to start with: a lovely…0
  2. 2Caetano Veloso (1967)Caetano Veloso (1967)Released Jan 1, 1967Caetano Veloso's 1968 solo album is the most song-friendly of the movement's records. Alegria, Alegria, a breezy pop song stuffed with news headlines and brand names, is the easiest way in, and the track Tropicália, which gave the movement its name, piles up images of Brazil over Duprat's dramatic…0
  3. 3Gilberto Gil (1971)Gilberto Gil (1971)Released Jan 1, 1971Gilberto Gil's 1968 album, made with Os Mutantes as his backing band, is where north-eastern rhythms meet psychedelic rock head on. Domingo no Parque tells a story of jealousy and murder at a fairground through capoeira rhythm, orchestra and sound effects, and still works as a pop song. Frevo…0
  4. 4Os Mutantes (2018)Os Mutantes (2018)Released Jan 1, 2018The 1968 debut by brothers Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias with Rita Lee. It is the most fun record here: fuzz guitars, home-made effects and playful studio tricks applied to tunes as sweet as any 1960s pop. Panis et Circenses opens it, and their cover of Jorge Ben's A Minha Menina shows how…0
  5. 5Gal Costa (1969)Gal Costa (1969)Released Jan 1, 1969Gal Costa's 1969 solo debut catches her moving from the soft, bossa nova style she started with towards a louder rock voice. That shift is what makes it inviting: Baby, a gentle Veloso song, sits beside Divino Maravilhoso and Não Identificado, where the arrangements get stranger around her. Choose…0
  6. 6Tom Zé (1970)Tom Zé (1970)Released Jan 1, 1970Tom Zé was the movement's satirist and its most restless experimenter, and this 1970 album, his second, keeps his odd ideas in short, catchy songs. Dry humour, jerky rhythms and spoken asides sit next to sing-along choruses. It is a gentler way into his work than the more radical records he made…0
  7. 7Mutantes (1969)Mutantes (1969)Released Jan 1, 1969Os Mutantes' second album, from 1969, is more ambitious in the studio and just as tuneful. It runs from manic rock to almost baroque ballads, with jokes and sound collages in between. Dom Quixote is the track to start with, a song that swerves between styles without losing its hook; it shows why…0
  8. 8Caetano Veloso (1967)Caetano Veloso (1967)Released Jan 1, 1967Caetano Veloso recorded his voice and guitar for this 1969 album in Salvador while confined there after his arrest, and Rogério Duprat added arrangements in the studio afterwards; soon after, Veloso left for exile in London. The mood is more inward than his 1968 record. Irene, a tiny, joyful song…0
  9. 9Gilberto Gil (1971)Gilberto Gil (1971)Released Jan 1, 1971Gilberto Gil made this 1969 album before he too left for exile in London, and it is his most futuristic record of the period, with songs about computers and space travel. Cérebro Eletrônico is the track that shows that side. Aquele Abraço, his warm farewell to Rio and Brazil, became one of his…0
  10. 10GalGalGal Costa's second album of 1969 is the loudest record of the movement, built around Lanny Gordin's wild electric guitar and her own screams, growls and soaring high notes. It is the most experimental album on this list, but her voice makes it gripping rather than difficult. Choose it after her…0