Sunday, December 16, 2018

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)


Beautiful bossa nova/vocal jazz from Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto. The perfect balance of melancholy, string-swept ballads and breezy, uptempo numbers. File the title track alongside "I Get Along Without You Very Well", "Most of the Time", and "She Thinks I Still Care" -- breakup songs in which the narrator goes to great lengths to explain how little they care about their former lover, thereby revealing the true depths of their heartbreak. Bought this LP today for (drumroll please) 10 cents. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you've been great.

Track listing:
1. I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do
2. Didn't We
3. Wailing of the Willow
4. Where's the Love?
5. The Sea Is My Soul (I Remember When)
6. Trains and Boats and Planes
7. World Stop Turning
8. Without Him
9. Wee Small Hours
10. If (The Biggest Little Word)

He's got a problem if he thinks I need him
I couldn't care less now that we're through
I only sit home and I wait for his phone call
When I haven't got anything better to do


Also check out:
Brigitte Fontaine -
Brigitte Fontaine Est... Folle (1969)
Joan Manuel Serrat -
Mediterráneo (1971)

6 comments:

  1. Can you please post Astrud's Gore Metal album, Samba For Satan?

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  2. What a great early Christmas present. I had no idea that this album existed. Over the last few years I have come to love bossa nova, and Ms. Gilberto's voice in particular. I can't wait to fire this up and give it a listen. You've made my week... and it's only Monday morning!

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  3. Fantastic record. First time I heard it was when a Sunday morning many years ago when I was struggling through a crushing hangover. It was the perfect aural remedy for said state.

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  4. the bass riff between sections in 'without him' is all-world tier

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