Eu Não Peço Desculpa

by Philip Jandovský This record is a collaboration between Caetano Veloso and Jorge Mautner, a comparatively unknown poet and songwriter, whose work Veloso has admired since the '70s. Eu Não Peço Desculpa has a much more spontaneous air to it than Veloso's two previous albums, Noites do Norte and Livro, with their thematic ambitions. The sound is simple and free from any superfluous frills. The production brings a delicate electronic sound to the album, which also contributes to it sounding quite different from Veloso's recordings during the preceding ten years or so. Compared to the more serious tone on Livro and Noites do Norte, the lyrics on "Eu Não Peço Desculpa" are quite playful and happy, often spiced with ambiguities and ironies, though there are also songs (as for example "Assim Se Morre") touching such serious and sad topics as death and violence. The smooth, elegant "Tarado," with its deliciously funny and colorful lyrics is a highlight of the album. Musically Veloso and Mautner jump between very different styles, shifting from the light pop of the opening track, "Todo Errado," to the electronics of "Manjar de Reis" and a new interpretation of Veloso's beautiful and Nordeste-inspired "Cajuína." The album also contains a fine version of the percussion-driven "Maracatu Atômico," one of Jorge Mautner's most famous songs (previously recorded by artists like Gilberto Gil and Nação Zumbi). Veloso and Mautner sound very inspired throughout this album, and Eu Não Peço Desculpa is Veloso's most fresh-sounding studio album since the 1991 recording Circuladô.