Tom Zé

Though his hair was shaggier and face more weathered, in 1970 Tom Zé was still a fair way from becoming the shock-haired scientist of the surreal that he's latterly been known and loved as. In fact, this eponymous second album is a fairly standard slice of vintage tropicália, albeit brilliantly spun out in Zé's stylistic tumble-dryer. While opener ‘La Vem a Onda’ is spiritually and harmonically in tune with prime Jorge Ben and Gilberto Gil, building with all the potential for a life-affirming freak-out, Zé frustrates the listener's expectations with consonant-chewing wordplay – he's clearly a contrarian in the making.

Not that there aren’t show-stopping refrains in abundance backed by brassy big band arrangements and crooning strings. ‘Guindaste a Rigor’ hears Zé hammering at his vocal phrasing with nasal glee before an ecstatic coda. Alongside the idiosyncrasies of ‘Escolinha de Robôt’ and the familiar low-slung guitar chords and call-and-response in ‘Jymmy Renda-Se’, it's key to the utterly singular artist Zé would become. What he made of R&B singer Amerie sampling ‘Jimmy Renda-se’ for ‘Take Control’ is anyone's guess.