Transa (2012 Remaster)

Caetano Veloso recorded *Transa* in 1972, near the end of a period of political exile in London. Although the sound of ’70s guitar rock dominates the album, Veloso’s weave of traditional Brazilian music—heard in percussive berimbau playing and pattering samba rhythms—give songs like “Neolithic Man” and “Mora Na Filosofia” a nostalgic potency. Although Veloso’s political messages are subdued throughout the album, the gently undermining “It’s a Long Way” later became an understated anthem of political subversion. Still, it’s the hazy melancholic imagery and laid-back acoustic sway of “Triste Bahia” (a song based on a text by lyrical 17th century poet Gregório de Matos) that possesses the most powerful emotional resonance.