by Richie Unterberger
One of Gilberto's less impressive '60s Verve outings, primarily due to the more pop-oriented song selection. Much of this is just standard pleasant Gilberto: offhand vocals and a sumptuous Brazil pop-cum-U.S. orchestration feel (Ron Carter and Toots Thielemans are among the sidemen). And some of the pop choices work well, particularly Tim Hardin's gorgeous &Misty Roses.& No vocals or arrangements, however, could save the criminally wrong-headed military march of &A Banda (Parade),& or the exasperatingly coochie-coochie duet between Gilberto and her six-year-old son on the Lovin' Spoonful's &You Didn't Have to Be So Nice.& Which makes it all the more surprising when the next and concluding track, &Nao Bate O Corocao,& has Gilberto cutting loose with confident, sassy scats, as she rarely did before or since. The CD reissue improves matters by adding five bonus cuts from A Certain Smile a Certain Sadness, recorded in 1966 in more authentically bossa nova-style arrangements, anchored by organist Walter Wanderley.