Tim Maia: Racional Vol. 1 [STRONGLY FELT]

Why you'll love it

Tim Maia put Racional Vol. 1 out on his own Seroma label in 1975, sold it door to door and later tried to make it disappear, so original copies became some of the rarest records in Brazil. It opens with "Imunização Racional (Que Beleza)," the one song that made it onto the radio and still one of the great Brazilian soul tracks.

This edition

• Strongly Felt pressing (cat# SF74006)
• The original nine-track running order
• Side B closes with the twelve-minute "Rational Culture"

About the album

In 1974 Tim Maia was Brazil's king of soul, with an RCA deal that gave him complete control and, reportedly, a very healthy signing bonus. Then, at a friend's house, he picked up a book called Universo em Desencanto, the text of a small UFO-minded movement called Rational Culture, and became a convert overnight. He cut his afro, shaved his beard, dressed in white, gave up his old habits and told his band to join or leave. The music he made in RCA's studios that summer is the most devotional, and arguably the funkiest, of his career.

The groove never lets up. "Imunização Racional (Que Beleza)" rides a bassline you could set your watch by, "Bom Senso" keeps the groove rolling for five minutes, and the closing "Rational Culture" stretches out for twelve. Maia left the movement in September 1975 and wanted nothing more to do with these records, but by the 1990s collectors had made them legends, and the reissues that followed after his death confirmed what they had been saying.

The lyrics are about a cosmic book. The music is about the best Brazilian soul you will hear. You do not have to join anything to enjoy it.

Tracklist

Listen

On Strongly Felt (cat# SF74006), a reissue of the 1975 album.