Of the many albums that Michael Franks has musically dedicated to Brazil, perhaps ‘Abandoned Garden’ comes closest to the mark, and it could not have happened at a better time for the singer, who is clearly at the top of his game; in his vocal prime.
Franks is part of a rare breed of singers for the pre-millennium generations. He’s a thinking man’s balladeer, a songwriter whose skills include a wonderfully charming mastery of vocabulary and the poetic nuance that can sometimes comes with experience. Couple this with a sharp eye for the human condition and his abiding admiration for Antonio Carlos Jobim and its easy to understand how the essence of Brazil comes alive in his music – even when the story’s focus is elsewhere.
That, in a nutshell, is what makes the CD – which was recorded mere months after Jobim’s passing – one of his very best. Virtually every song, including his hit single ‘Somehow Our Love Survives’ is interlaced with allusions to the land of Samba and sun, and his friendship with the Brazilian songwriter. In fact, when listening to his lyrics it’s easy to get the impression that Jobim continues to sit on Franks’ shoulder. And what better musical mentor could one ask for?
‘Like Water, Like Wind’ gets to the heart of the matter as a loving dedication to the memories these two musicians obviously shared. The same goes for the title song and Djavan’s ‘Bird Of Paradise’, with the original English lyrics courtesy of… Michael Franks.
If these are at the nexus of it all, then surely ‘Cinema’ is at the pinnacle. This song was co-written with Jobim creating the music and Franks conjuring up the words to frame Michael Brecker’s tenor sax and Eliane Elias’s piano play. Marvelous.
The more you listen, the deeper the message goes. Like any good storyteller, Michael Franks purposefully cloaks his feelings slightly – not to act as a barrier to the inspiration, but more as an invitation to explore the intimacy of it: “Tenderly now, let me demonstrate, you need only undulate, keeping time with the samba like this while the stars rise” are part of the lyrics taken from ‘Abandoned Garden’. Without insight, these might well be words spoken between lovers, not about a deep seeded friendship around which the music flowed.
Today our music comes to us from shiny silver discs read by laser beams and downloads accessed by clicking on electrons in the form of a computer generated button. It’s easy to forget that music is the most ‘human’ form of expression.
Both Michael Franks and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s music live to remind of that simple notion, and how powerful it can be.
