Formed in Salvador, Bahia in the late 1960s, Os Novos Baianos were initially guided by stylistic trends set by their fellow countrymen Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Os Mutantes. Comprised of lyricist Luíz Galvao, singer/rhythm guitarist Moraes Moreira, vocalists Paulinho Boca de Cantor, and Baby Consuelo and guitar virtuoso Pepeu Gomes, the band started out following the tropicalista precept of producing a quintessentially Brazilian form of psychedelic rock influenced by the music of their American and British counterparts like the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, and Jimi Hendrix. Their first LP exemplifies this with little of the hybrid bossa nova sounds that they would later incorporate into the acid-rock hodge-podge for their 1972 masterpiece Acabou Chorare. Nonetheless, É Ferro Na Boneca! contains its fair share of genre-bending experimentation, incorporating regional Brazilian musical styles such as baiao ("Dona Anita e Dona Helena"), forró ("A Casca de Banana Que Eu Pisei") and chorinho ("Colégio de Aplicaçao") as well as elements of international sounds like cool jazz ("Eu de Adjetivos"), mambo ("Outro Mambo, Outro Mundo (Velocidade da Pulga)") and tango ("Tangolete"). ~ Matt Rinaldi
