Jorge Ben Jor

The arrangements are beefed up on Ben's second release, and the horn-heavy sound can show its age in a way not every Ben release does. But if you don't mind a bit of Batman theme-song brass with your samba, you'll love this -- if only for the kitsch factor. Of course, Ben is not one to suffer under questionable instrumentation -- his irrepressible pop and playfulness assert themselves throughout, and the man knows how to write a song. It would be just a few years before he continued his trademark casting-off of convention and began fusing rock and samba, well before tropicalia had a name.