Os Mutantes were the rock and roll component of the Tropicália movement that energized Brazilian music in the late ’60s and gave the world great singer-songwriters like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. This two-disc set, capturing the group’s first performance in over three decades, marks a personal as well as musical reunion, bringing together long-estranged siblings Sérgio Dias and Arnaldo Baptista. Mutantes Live is pure joy from the first giddy note, mixing delirious psychedelia, Zappa-style absurdity, Beatlesesque grandeur, and a funky sense of swing, all held together—barely—by breathtaking melodies. An instant cure for the blahs.
