Sergio Mendes took a deep breath, expanded his sound to include strings lavishly arranged by the young Dave Grusin and Dick Hazard, went further into Brazil, and out came a gorgeous record of Brasil '66 at the peak of its form. Here Mendes released himself from any reliance upon Antonio Carlos Jobim and rounded up a wealth of truly great material from Brazilian fellow travelers: Gilberto Gil's jet-propelled Roda and Joao Donato's clever The Frog, Dori Caymmi's stunningly beautiful Like a Lover, Harold Lobo's carnival-esque Tristeza, and Mendes himself (the haunting So Many Stars and the title track). Mendes was also hip enough to include With a Little Help From My Friends from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper LP. As things evolved, though, the one track that this album would be remembered for is the only other non-Brazilian tune, Burt Bacharach's The Look of Love, in an inventive, grandiose arrangement with a simplified bossa beat. The tune just laid there on the album until Mendes and company performed it on the Academy Awards telecast in 1968. The performance was a sonic disaster, but no matter; the public response was huge, a single was released, and it become a monster, number four on the pop charts. So much for the reported demise of bossa nova; in Sergio Mendes' assimilating, reshaping hands, allied with Herb Alpert's flawless production, it was still a gold mine. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi

1		With A Little Help From My Friends
2		Roda
3		Like A Lover
4		The Frog
5		Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness)
6		The Look Of Love
7		Pradizer Adeus (To Say Goodbye)
8		Batucada
9		So Many Stars
10		Look Around