OS Mutantes: The True Psychedelic Adventures of a Band

In 1968, Os Mutantes (The Mutants) released their self-titled first album in Brazil. It was a bizarre psychedelic masterpiece and was followed seven more brilliant and eclectic works of tropical rock before the band broke up in the mid-'70s. They would have remained a strange footnote in musical history if they hadn't been rediscovered in the '90s by David Byrne, Beck, and thousands of hip college DJs in America. Twenty years after they disbanded, Os Mutantes are an influential cult band with a devoted following and several American releases, including a best of collection, Everything Is Possible, from Luaka Bop. Now Os Mutantes: The True Psychedelic Adventures of a Band from Brazil tells the story of this band-Rita Lee, Arnaldo Baptista and Sergio Dias Baptista-and their part in the Brazilian art/music/culture movement Tropicalia. Os Mutantes were the house rock band of Tropicalia, backing Brazilian singers like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Tom Ze as well as recording their own psychedelic rock, which was heavily influenced by the Beatles' Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, Brazilian pop, and avant garde music. Combined with their own incredible musicianship and playfulness, Os Mutantes produced some of the most joy-filled psychedelic rock of the '60s. But drugs, romantic rivalries, and an oppressive military government in Brazil gradually wore the group down. Their story is told exhaustively here by Brazilian music journalist Carlos Calado. Os Mutantes: The True Psychedelic Adventures of a Band from Brazil is also filled with great band pictures!