Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Sergio Mendes Available Now
UPDATE 2026
This commentary was written shortly after having done our first shootout for the album in 2007.
As for the band’s CDs, for a great introduction to their music, please consider the compilation Four Sider. Four Sider also came out on record but like most compilations it is made from copy tapes and mediocre sounding at best.
Those of you who have purchased some of this group’s CDs may have noticed that they typically do not sound very good. It seems as though precious little effort was expended in their mastering, which is no doubt the case.
Almost any good original brown label A&M pressing will be better, although few of those do not suffer from sonic problems of their own.
A Note About The Mix
Fool on the Hill may not be up there with Sergio’s best sonically (not many albums are!), but it can still sound very good when you get the right stamper. The balance of this record takes some getting used to. We weren’t sure what to make of it at first.
If you put your stereo in Mono you will hear dead center sound.
After putting it back in stereo you find most of the sound in the left channel — it took us a while to understand it’s just a choice they made for the mix.
The average copy of this record is thin, aggressive and irritating.
What separates the best copies from those typical bad sounding copies is more extension on the top end to balance out the upper midrange and lower highs, and more weight on the bottom end, to correct the overall tonal balance.
If you are at all familiar with this record, it’s easy to spot the good ones: as soon as you drop the needle on side one, you can hear that the tape hiss sounds correct. The high frequency content of the tape hiss is intact.
On the bad ones, the tape hiss sounds dull, which means that the extended highs are missing, leaving only the painfully edgy lower highs.
How About Those Amazing Cover Songs?
Two songs in particular make this a Must Own album: Scarborough Fair and The Fool On The Hill. Both of them are given wonderfully original treatments. These songs hold their own against the originals, and that’s saying something.
Sergio took on many of the heavyweights of his day, and most of the time he succeeded in producing a uniquely satisfying version of such well known material. Superb original tracks by The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, Joni Mitchell and others were given the Sergio Mendes latin pop treatment and were much the better for it.
AMG Review by Richard S. Ginell
Having hit upon another smash formula — cover versions of pop/rock hits backed by lavish strings, a simplified bossa nova rhythm, and the leader’s piano comping — Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 produced two more chart-busting singles, again turning to the Beatles for sustenance with the title track (number six) and Simon & Garfunkel for “Scarborough Fair” (number 16).
But again, the bulk of the album was dominated by Brazilians, and by one in particular: the hugely gifted Edu Lobo, whose dramatic “Casa Forte” and infectious “Upa, Neguinho” were the best of his four songs.
The tracks were longer now, the string-laden ballads (arranged by Dave Grusin) more lavish and moody, and Lani Hall emerged as the vocal star of the band, eclipsing her new partner, Karen Philipp (although Hall is upstaged on “Lapinha” by future Brasil ’77 member Gracinha Leporace).
Even though he had become thoroughly embedded in the consciousness of mainstream America, Mendes still managed to have it three ways, exposing first-class tunes from little-known Brazilian talent, garnering commercial hits, and also making some fine records. Cultural note: the striking foldout cover art, depicting Brasil ’66 at sunset seated on top of a nude woman, somehow made it past the uptight censors of the day and no doubt boosted sales; it was Mendes’ highest-charting album at number three.
