The art of Amalia Rodrigues

This is a best of album, so it's cheating a bit to add it to this user album list. Nevertheless I'm glad I had the pleasure to be introduced to the fado singer Amalia Rodrigues. She has a beautiful voice and the songs are great. Too bad the lyrics (in original language) are lost on me as I understand many of these are written by great poets.

This was really lovely! Great choice for this list. I think the biggest Portuguese musical artist in all of recorded music is worth the listen. A wonderful soundtrack to make a day back from a long weekend off tolerable!

Yess, more of this please 5

This is one of those albums I'm not really qualified to rate. This lady has a voice and a half, but this style is so far removed from anything I know it's almost unfair to give it a number. But I'm glad I heard it. The more upbeat numbers are a lot of fun. 4/5.

Loved it, gave me a feeling of sitting in a smokey cafe at the end of WW2.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Fado portugues, Gaivota, Uma casa potuguesa

Sublime. 4 stars.

Very interesting insight into a totally different genre. It's difficult for me to judge but it's pretty full-on foot down on the pedal. I felt tired after listening to this for a while. Musically accomplished and her voice is awesome.

No context around this one, comps like this summarize an artist's contributions well, but pluck tracks from LPs randomly and remove any narrative elements a full album would give. Couple that with the sizable runtime here and a general dislike of singer-driven music and I can't say I'm a fan. Rodrigues is an excellent vocalist, but the instrumentals are so sparse and the songwriting so similar throughout that this felt like it took forever to finish.

I've loved Fado ever since Anthony Bourdain taught me about it. Sure this is a rule-breaking greatest hits album, but I'll take if over fucking Yoko Ono.

This is amazing. Not something I'd put on my main playlist, but now I think I should create a separate playlist for gems like this. I can definitely understand those that say that it isn't their style of music. It is from another era and from a foreign language (unless you speak Portuguese). Some people just aren't ready to expand their musical tastes. One day I hope they will come across it again and appreciate it as I do. Respect.

Ugh. She's probably make a ton on money playing in public. So maybe that's not a good indicator. Even though I can't understand much of it, but voice is dramatic, haunting. And the music is sharp and melodic.

Fado. Venga, un 4, por lo folclórico de los vecinos.

Despite not grasping a word I can recognize a classic. Not something Id always be in the mood for but when I was I'd definitely be up for more of this.

Agreed that this is a bit of a cheat with being a best of. Putting that aside, again this is the kinda stuff that should have been on the original list. I was familiar with fado but had never really listened to it. Being a best of collection, it does run a little thin after a while and the songs sound similar by about the 50 minute work. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes.

What a lovely voice would have been so nice to have seen her in concert.

Enjoyable!

Beautiful

What's not to like about this?

December 17, 2025 I'm not the most erudite when it comes to Portuguese music, but in Civilization V and VI I would honestly start games with Portugal and Brazil just for the music, so You could say I'm enjoying this so far

You know it’s fado if they sing about singing fado

Fado. Venga, un 4, por lo folclórico de los vecinos.

Thanks for adding a great underrepresented genre of music. Great survey of excellent Fado.

I really like when there are non English records on here. I will never come across them on my own so I appreciate when someone has put them forward. Since I can’t judge these records on the lyrical messages and meaning I can only look at them from how they feel. This one felt like it transported me to a different time and place. I really enjoyed that aspect.

Beautiful voice.

Amália Rodrigues, the Queen of Fado, is the woman who brought the intricate Portuguese music of tradition worldwide. Her passionate-yet-gentle singing style conveyed such pure emotion that expressed love and loss, or simply longing. Stunningly beautiful, this compilation is a highlight for anyone wishing to explore more regional-specific music. Muito bem, Amália Rodrigues! CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Depends on how granular the list should be with different music genres, especially those outside the anglosphere. Perhaps not.

Lovely. The list proper needed much of this sort of thing. Because one feels inspired to explore more of her discography, one hesitates to raise the rather technical objection that this a compilation/best of/greatest hits sort of thing, which would, one believes, disqualify it from the list proper.

It's nice to see fado music represented here. I don't know too much about the genre, only that it's an important one for Portugal. So for overall representation, I'm glad it's here. Despite not knowing much about it, the music is very pleasant (and at times sorrowful) and Rodrigues clearly has an amazing voice. I imagine there are layers of stories, meaning and cultural significance in the lyrics, though they're sadly lost on me. It's kind of cheating that this is a compilation, which are (generally) not really allowed in the main list. But it's probably fair to say that she wasn't exactly an 'album artist' and you could say the same about people like Nina Simone, right? So fair enough. And it deniably adds something interesting and beautiful to the user list. Thanks to whoever added it!

Faso is not typically a genre I know well. Not my kind of thing, so it seems. It is culturally relevant, so that's a plus

Great voice

Good and different, could make room for this on the list. Just no idea what she’s singing about, but not sure you need to, to appreciate the music.

The vibe is cool, i enjoyed the tone and that it is something different. Though probably partially because of the language barrier, it all blended together and nothing really stood out in terms of highs and lows. Still was a nice listen.

Since I don't speak the language (assuming Portuguese), I cannot speak to the story telling. Voice went well with the music

I don't really see the point of submitting compilations here. You're basically making the point that your favorite artist didn't actually make an album worth submitting. It also unmoors the music from any context in which it was made. No argument though, this is some really lovely music. Fave Songs: Maldicao, Nem as paredes confesso, Gaivota, Maria Lisboa, Fado Portugues, Primavera

This is nice

Apart from one night out in Porto a few years ago, enjoying locals both young and old performing it in a tiny café, I don't know much about fado, so that was interesting. This music style has a flair for drama -- in a quite retrained, subdued shape, in keeping with the Portuguese mindset? And it lies a lot on minor-major modulations, which I'm always a sucker for. "Nem às parades confesso", "Fado Português" and "Barco Negro" stood out. Love that insane bridge towards the end of the latter, with Amália's wordless vocalizations... The thing is, this is technically a compilation, so it shouldn't appear in this list. And if I browsed through a couple of English translations of the lyrics to try to know more about their overall contents, it still feels like the artistry displayed here evades my grasp. So can I truly, genuinely fall in love with this music style as a whole? Not even to the walls will I confess it. 😉 Not graded -- going for a "neutral mark" here. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 48 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 62 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 113 (including this one) --- Hey, Émile. J'ai enfin trouvé le temps de répondre ! Regarde sous la review de *Young, Loud And Snotty* des Dead Boys !

A solid share even though it's a compilation -- basically sharing a whole genre in one voice. I'm happy to have listed through. Moody, smokey, firmly rooted in time and place.

Bro. Don't bring compilations to this kind of thing. The fuck is wrong with you?

Pretty good. A lot of shouting that gets kinda tiring after a while. Favorite songs: Uma Casa Portuguesa, Lisboa Antigua, Vou Dar De Beber A Dor, Nem as Paredes Confesso, Fado Portugues Least favorite songs: Barco Negro (Mae Preta) 3/5

Difficult to review. I accept the accomplishment of a, like, 900 year career in singing, and she sure has got a voice. But - it's a "best of" album, it's too long and there's no indication of where in her career these tracks came from. I doubt I could listen to a full hour of this, but that doesn't mean I don't think Amália Rodrigues isn't good and worthy of a spot on the list.

Everyone should have a bit of Fado in their lives.

Not really my thing, but she's got a pretty voice. Also not really sure how I feel about a "Best of" compilation on here. They always kinda feel wrong to listen to.

Pretty, but did not do enough musically to get me past the language barrier

Not super familiar with Fado and what it does. As a compilation that spans a fairly long career, this kind of runs into the same issue as some of the pre-60s albums, where there's different rules for how to best listen to it

World: Fado. Fados bonitos.

She had a beautiful voice, but this style of music just doesn't hold my attention.

I hear both Ella Fitzgerald and Björk in her voice at different times but the mastery in her tones and inflections is a marvel, regardless of my ability to understand most Portuguese. I dreaded listening at first, knowing that traditional fado music is often mournful, but I found the treatment of the tunes, the progression of the (translated) lyrics, and the overall musical tapestry intriguing. I skipped ahead to Coimbra thinking it might have been something that I had heard before - but no. I still enjoyed it, much like most of this surprising album. Thanks for expanding my horizons, faithful listener.

Not bad

Fado puro. Para amantes de este estilo. Innegable buen estilo de voz y con la melancolía que le caracteriza.

Great voice but not my thing

A nice album by a talented female singer. I’m guessing this album is like a best of compilation. The sound is much older than to be from 98. It’s a good album and very classic but it being in Portuguese prevents me from understanding the lyricism and that’s usually the strongest part of older music. 4.0/10

This really isn’t my sort of music so I found it quite a chore. But that’s but that’s not to take anything from this artist.

The art of Amalia Rodrigues certainly sounds artful, a lovely voice and some nice compositions, a greatest hits doesn't really sit well with me being on the submissions but a high 2/5, the quality is there but there's no connection.

An odd choice, classical type spanish

Det här är ett samlingsalbum va? Bara det ger ju minuspoäng. Allt låter så dramatiskt. Och då kanske hon enbart sjunger om nyckelpigor och stulna cykelpumpar!? Förstår ju inget.

Every song sounded exactly the same, and they were ballads. Yuck!

Really long. I appreciate it for what it is, but what it is is something I hope to never listen to again. 1.5/5