Tim Maia: 1st [ENDLESS HAPPINESS]

Why you'll love it

Endless Happiness brings Tim Maia's first LP back to vinyl. The album sold more than 200,000 copies and earned him a gold record, and Brazilian Rolling Stone ranked it No. 25 among the greatest Brazilian albums of all time.

About the album

Before he had a record of his own, Tim Maia was already writing hits for other people: Roberto Carlos turned one of his songs into a major hit in 1969. When Polydor finally gave him an album, he made the most of it, cutting the rhythm tracks in São Paulo and the vocals, backing vocals and strings in Rio between August 1969 and May 1970, with Jairo Pires and Arnaldo Saccomani producing.

The sound is American soul and funk filtered through Brazilian sunshine. Cassiano plays electric guitar and sings with the vocal group Os Diagonais, and he co-wrote two of the standouts, the radio smash "Primavera (Vai Chuva)" and the lovely "Eu Amo Você." Maia's own "Azul da Cor do Mar" is a slow-burning ballad, "Coroné Antônio Bento" turns a João do Vale song into a strutting groove, and Waltel Branco's arrangements wrap it all in strings and horns.

Critics praised his reading of "Primavera" from the start, and the album turned his career around for good. The songs run from rainy-season love to the colour of the sea, which covers most of the Brazilian weather forecast.

Also at Kops: more Tim Maia on vinyl · browse World

Listen

On Endless Happiness, a reissue of the 1970 album.