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Artist - Paul Bryan
Title - Listen Of LP
Label - Sonar Kollektiv
Released - 14.07.08
Posted 30.04.08
Gorgeous Brazilian folk music that really does tug at the heart strings. True headphone music If you're a fan of Seu Jorge, dig that bit deeper into the sound of Brazil and discover the joy that is to listen to Paul Bryan. The label tell us that there are Beatles influences throughout the LP, and every so often you do get a faint whiff of Lennon and McCartney in the vocal arrangements, but the music hums with the beauty of Brazil!
Stand out tracks that warrant top marks for me are the folky 'Listen', the uplifting jazz funk of 'Like A Rainy Night', the gentle acoustics of 'Thais', the blissful and Milton Nasciemento-esque 'Feel Like I Feel', the dreamy head nod sound track of 'Window' and the beautiful string laiden 'Some Love' and 'So Long'. A definite grower that music lovers in every generation will find is a real pleasure to chill to this summer.
Rating - 10/10
Reviewer - PT
Track List
01. Listen
02. Like A Rainy Night
03. Thais
04. Feel Like I Feel
05. Window
06. A Sing For A Helping Hand
07. Some Love
08. Afraid Of All
09. So Long
10. Who To Blame
11. Why She Goes Away
12. Old Rock
Press Release
Brazilian singer-songwriter Paul Bryan - real name Sérgio Sá - originally
released Listen Of in 1973 on Brazilian label Top Tape. Now a true collector’s
item, it was discovered by Jazzanova member Juergen von Knoblauch while record
digging in Berlin 9 years ago. He played it to the rest of the group and they
instantly fell in love with it.
Born blind in Fortaleza, Sérgio moved to Sao Paulo at the age 13 and joined a
special school where he was directed by a blind professor. Staying for one year
at the Instituto Padre Chico in Sao Paulo, he initially applied to music courses
as an extra-curricular activity. Already a self-taught musician Sérgio played
piano ‘by ear’, but it was here that he had his first contact with musical
theory, harmonies and rhythms. The lucid way in which he had learned music made
him more creative and audacious, and opened him up to bigger possibilities. In
1973 he was signed by Top Tape of Rio De Janeiro where he joined a team of
composers that were creating songs for soap operas.
Top Tape asked him to create an album of English spoken folk songs, so Sergio
adopted the name Paul Bryan and created Listen Of. The name Paul Bryan comes
from an American TV series called Iron Soul, where the character Paul Bryan was
a patient suffering from a terminal disease; a character whose strong will moved
Sérgio. Following the outstanding success of the album (it sold more than
150,000 copies in Brazil alone), Sérgio became a highly sought after musical
talent, and was soon working with famous artists such as ‘The King’ Roberto
Carlos, Gilberto Gil, Simone, Tim Maia, Hermeto Paschoal, Fábio Júnior, Jane
Duboc and The Trapalhoes amongst others. Along the way he moved to America,
where his learning and professionalism strengthened, working with Stevie Wonder
and creating a number of songs for him.
Sérgio is also the author of 2 books - Close Your Eyes to See Better: The Limit
of the Senses and the Senses of the Limits, where he shares his ideas for
creating new ways of seeing, hearing, feeling and dealing with the world; and
Factory of Sounds, a study about sound production based on his musical
experience and prefaced by the Minister of Culture and Brazilian legend,
Gilberto Gil.
In composing the music for Listen Of, Sérgio took inspiration from the music of
The Beatles and the hits of Motown. The romantic ballad Listen was the first
song Sérgio wrote, and peaked up the Brazilian charts in 1973. In the same year
he co-authored the hit Don’t Say Goodbye with Chrystian, and penned his second
hit Window, which was used in a Brazilian soap. Sérgio recorded 12 songs in
total for Listen Of, including the beautiful song Like A Rainy Night; the
wonderful Feel Like I Feel that refers to Sérgio blindness; and Old Rock.
35 years later, the record is proudly re-released on Sonar Kollektiv - and after
all those years, Listen Of is still a beautiful and soothing record of ballads
and romantic songs; and like Jazzanova you will fall in love with Paul Bryan’s
Listen Of instantly too.
