Os Mutantes

In the mid-sixties, cultural musical exchange flowed not only from south to north but also in the opposite direction; while Brazil gifted the U.S. bossa nova, it received a psychedelic sound in return. The Brazilians blended this psychedelia with their own local, tropical sounds, giving rise to a new genre: Tropicália. Os Mutantes were among its earliest pioneers, weaving together all the trends of the era — jazz, blues, the avant-garde, natural soundscapes, distorted guitars (achieved through homemade pedals), and the organ. Minimalism was clearly not their strong suit. The psychedelia here is pushed to the extreme; it feels incredibly raw and, at times, veers into the realm of circus music. Naturally, everything is sung in Portuguese. The record is an intriguing listen, though far from an easy one — at times, it feels as if three different songs are playing all at once. It’s safe to say they had some excellent "dealers" in Brazil!

I mean, there is nothing ostensibly wrong with this album. I can even see why a certain subculture of people would be really into it. But I found it a little opaque and hard to get into. Not my favorite lesson of the experiment.

Yes this band is on acid, no I am not on acid, but if I was I would probably like this more.

This Tropicália album feels like sitting at a dinner party where everyone keeps changing the subject, someone suddenly starts playing an instrument, another person interrupts with a strange comment, and nobody seems to notice that the conversation has completely lost its direction. The music jumps between psychedelic rock, Brazilian rhythms, pop, orchestral passages and experimental sound effects, with distorted guitars, percussion, keyboards and studio manipulation constantly appearing and disappearing. Rita Lee, Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias shift between melodic singing, harmonies and more theatrical deliveries, adding yet another personality to an already crowded room. It feels quirky, whimsical, weird, eclectic and meandering and unfocused, which makes it difficult for me to connect with. For me, that constant stream of interruptions makes it difficult to settle into any particular song: just when I start following one conversation, somebody else cuts in and takes it somewhere completely different.

Late 60’s Italian psych-renaissance-folk, with a circus flair — male lead vocal songs were very clown-like; female lead songs were pleasant. Each song also seemed to have 2 distinct halves with different styles. 1.5/5.0

The Mutants.

This album is such a gem, so interesting and hauntingly original. There are lots of little details, mixtures of different gentes (a bit of folk too), and a great psychedelic touch. Many of the songs are also pretty strong, although there is so much experimentation going on too. It’s delicate, joyful, and even beautiful at many moments. I’ve loved it.

A uniquely eccentric, lovely band of fun.

Not for me

Some interesting music mixed with 60s psychedelia schlock. Better than I expected, but I won't go back to it.

A little off the beaten track but enjoyable.

Interesting but dated I think

Strange album, quite interesting though. Will need a second listen.

Like others have said it’s unique in its sound a fusion of other things. Also like others I don’t see myself returning to it.

— Что-то новое и необычное? – Абсолютно. — Что-то, что я стану переслушивать в будущем? – Крайне маловероятно.

Very interesting. Strange, not what I was expecting and odd. I’m not sure what to take from it but I didn’t hate it.

not my stuff

Weird? Sure. Melodic? Sure. Fun? Sure. Bar macumba? Ê ê.

This is quite fun bjorkified

Þetta er klikkað stuð. Allskonar rugl og mjög frumlegt. Stefna sem við fáum ekki mikið að heyra og því extra gaman af þessu.

Skrýtið og skemmtilegt. Gaman að fá svona plötur.

Haven't heard of them. It was psychedelic in quite a fun way but also wasn't crazy good 2/5

Interesting

Oh wow, there's a lot happening on this record. Before listening I've never heard of this band, but I like the way they corporate the psychedelic sounds of the sixties into an more own style. Sometimes too chaotic,.

every time I almost got into this album, they fucked it up for themselves. kazoo? are you fuckin kidding me

Does deserve to be here. However, sometimes the weird additional sounds got in the way of shaking my ass to this, which brought it from a 4 to a 3

Os Mutantes was killer. Sometimes it was experimental with some really compelling instrumentation and studio edits, other times it was just pretty. Best way I could describe it is like a Brazilian white album.

que sabor! de início, reconhecendo que não é um álbum hiper-palatável ia pensando em dar 4 estrelas, mas ele é tão nostálgico pra mim... tipo top 3 álbuns que eu ouvia na infância! na verdade toda essa jocosidade do tropicalia se misturava com um humor lúdico infantil meu que vem como retrogosto de divertimento ao ouvir isso até hoje.

divertido e inovador, clássico nacional

Quite a welcome surprise. Majestic Mutantes ! Vibes a-plenty

Way cooler than I expected and worth another go around

Strange and psychedelic but a fun listen

Weird but kinda fun

Do you like 60s acid rock? Are you looking to learn Portuguese? Boy do we have a band for you.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ At least half of this mad journey comes across more as a novelty record than stoner-psych greatness. When it works it’s rollicking good fun, but it’s not entirely clear it knows what it wants to be.

One of the seminal south American psychedelic albums. Genuinely really great for the most part but let down ably a couple of meandering tracks.

First song really grated on me 😬 Second was better 3rd nope, hate this Le premier bonheur du jour sounds like they have a runny nose Couldn’t wait for this to be over

3 out of 5. Interesting listen.

Fun!

I recall listening to this when I was going through the 1001 album list the first time. Because I was listening to the list chronologically in the past this got lost within the other psychedelic albums at the time. It is quite a different album and of course things are lost in translation with the lyrics not being in English - but an interesting listen nonetheless. (3.5/5)

Fantastic record, always exciting to revisit. There’s just so many layers to the weirdness that I always find something new to appreciate, and the songs are both beautiful and groovy. 10/10

Late 60s latin rock. Debut by brazilian tropicala band. Mixes brazilian music with psych rock. Pretty weird but fun, refreshingly different.

Fresh and original and very odd, but fun and I enjoyed a good bit of it.

Nâo gosto da batida brasileira, é demasiado alegre para o meu gosto; gosto de música depressiva.

Maybe a 4 with repeated listens?

Love the mid range guitars over the Brazilian acoustics. Surely inspired Manu Chao

Hell yeah. Here for it.

I heard A Minha Menina about 20 years ago and thought it was cool I downloaded it into my iPod (remember those), just the individual track rather than the whole album. Now finally getting round to listening to it, I was struck how it's not as fuzzed out as I thought it might be, given that sound was what initially clicked with me. It's mad as a box of frogs, but it's a fun listen.

Прикольно но не моё чет Хотя усыпило

yes

5/10

didn't listen fully, seemed like the brazillian beatles

i kind of like how weird this album is but by the end it feels like a bunch of noise to me. could see how this goes triple platinum for stoners

What is this?!!? It’s so weird I want to go 4. But it gave me a headache. 3 Boolean: True, undeniably. Probably good to hear again. Next time I’ll have the aspirin handy.

Some enjoyable bits, some standouts, some hippy nonsense

The beatles have nothing on these guys.

Brazilian psych

Weird, but interesting. I don't regret going through it, but I don't foresee myself wanting to come back to it

Really playful sound. Lots of odd little changes but still very melodic.

I had never heard of this album or band before, so I actually have to form my own opinion this time :0 I believe they're singing in Portuguese, so I don't understand the lyrics, but I normally don't understand lyrics when they're in English either, so that's a non-factor here. Album slaps! I feel like it can be a cop out to be weird just for the sake of being weird, but I think in this case they're being organically weird, which rocks.

Bastante diferente y divertido si se siente la influencia inglesa, pero más que todo

Fun.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!

I was pumped when this came up. I listened. It was pretty great, as expected.

Some interesting psychedelic grooves, but on the whole, a bit too experimental and 60s for me.

3.5 or 4

Psychedelic sounds from the land of feijoada. What's not to love?

Sometimes the obscure should be left in obscurity.

This was an interesting ride. 70'S psych rock is not my bag, but the crazy brazilian flavoir lent it a charm. I recognised a couple of tracks and it ticked along fine, but i wont be coming back.

2.3 it was okay

Bom álbum, psicodélico e diferente. Curti

I'm not made for psychedelic rock.

1.64

Some songs were so annoying but others I was vibing with so I feel it’s only fair to put it in the 2.5-3 range.

Not my favorite

It’s creative and you can hear it break some sound barriers but it’s also pretty scattered

There was some interesting things here, some rhythms I liked. Overall, it was a bit too wacky though. 2.5/5

Meza feju dziesmas🧚‍♀️🍄

Ļoti interesanti, protams nav labākā mūzika pasaulē, bet nav jau obligāti jābūt labai, lai patiktu. Viņiem pārējās dziesmas ir daudz mierīgākas, bet arī ļoti labas.

Kinda African french style, I'm not a big fan

An unbelievably playful and innovative album from that time. I love how they have that classic 60s sound at times and at other times sound modern.

Мутанты ебаные

Well, I'm glad I got to listen to something different today, but I'm not listening to this again. It is a weird combination of bossa nova and 60s rock. 5/10

It was intresting but some of the song was not my thing

Oddly unappealing

Nice twist on the psych-rock sound.

Und warum soll ich das hören müssen??

No idea what they are singing about. Tunes sound good though. 7/10

round round guy

it was ok

This was a sort of surprise, I bet there’s a lot of people who have no idea about this band? Some really excellent tracks on this album, mostly enjoyed it, 👍 it’s a thumbs up from me

While Os Mutantes boasts moments of brilliant creativity—from the infectious energy and catchy wind-down of "Panis et Circenses" to the sharp percussion of "A minha menina" and the minimal, vocal-led charm of "La Premier Bonheur Du Jour"—the album overall proves to be a challenging journey. Disorienting tone shifts like the eerie opening of "O Relógio" and forgettable mid-album fillers like "Adeus Maria Fulô" and "Senhor F" drag down the listening experience, even if groovy tracks like "Bat Macumba" and "Ave, Genghis Khan" offer late-stage redemption. Ultimately, the jarring instrumentation paired with the language barrier makes this tropicália landmark a tough sell for casual listening, yielding only a couple of genuinely standout tracks in a sea of abrasive experimentation. 2/5

I’ve heard this before. I thought I owned this but I got “Mutantes” which is their second album and I get them confused. I love tropicalia so I’ll be going on a tropicalia listening spree after this. If you know me you know I love psychedelia from the 60s and 70s and that I love the type that comes from South America and I especially love it when it’s got influences from cumbia and surf, and this has all of that. Amazing album from top to bottom

Nej, inget för mig. Tröttsamt att lyssna på och inte så kul. Vissa glimtar här och där men helheten tilltalar mig inte

honestly i was kinda wary of this one, as i always am at this point when i see "psychedelic rock" in the genre list, but as far as it goes for the psych rock albums we've rolled so far, this is pretty fuckin good! it feels a lot more experimental and there's a lot of stuff i fuck with on here, like the absolutely obliterated sounding guitar squeals on "bat macumba", the slurp(???) sound at the start of "le premier bonheur du jour" and, whatever the fuck is going on at the end of "panis et circenses".... rummaging around in the cutlery drawer????? the "a minha menina" cover is pretty great too, which helps. these guys were definitely cookin something. not sure what exactly, but i think i like it. it sure is more psych rock tho.....

Psychedelic Brazilian...pop rock

Not really interested by this album. 2 stars or D.

I am all for whimsical and weird albums, even if they are in a language I cannot understand, but I simply do not understand how the 60s continuously kept producing some of the most off beat and extremely strange albums I have ever heard before. I thought I would go into Os Mutantes and be enthralled by yet another killer MPB project, but instead I was met with "what if we gave a bunch of clowns musical equipment and a recording studio" the project. This project is interesting due to how over the top it can be at times, but that is also the same reason I have such strong negative feelings towards it. It is hard to genuinely like this album because it acts a fool all the time and only on A Minha Menina does it ever seem to stop the act for a second and truly dial in Os Mutantes' true potential. I understand why other Psychedelic Rock fans may enjoy this album, but it is just too much for myself. Sorry I let y'all down with this one....

Unbelievably cool.

Was cool