Sergio Mendes - Sergio Mendes (1983)

"Sergio Mendes" is the self-titled studio album by Sergio Mendes. It featured the song "Never Gonna Let You Go", a tune written by Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil.

In 1983, Sergio Mendes returned to the label A&M where he made his most memorable music. Of course, A&M had changed mightily by then, becoming a polyglot rock-oriented outfit instead of the cottage Latin pop industry it had been in the '60s. But so had Sergio and so, backed by an army of L.A. studio folk, Mendes tried to recapture the old sales magic on the market's own terms. Amazingly, he did, scoring a huge hit with a saccharine ballad, "Never Gonna Let You Go," where Joe Pizzulo and Leza Miller sing their banalities while Sergio strums and comps on synthesizers. To say that anyone could have made this record may be overstating the case, but the fact is that there is no way of knowing that this is a Sergio Mendes record without looking at the jacket. And that goes for most of the rest of the mediocre, electronically upholstered dance and ballad material on the LP. "Carnaval" has some rowdy samba fever at times, but it is so slickly produced that one can't abandon oneself to the spirit.

Track listing

01.  VooDoo  (Douglas Brayfield, Ronaldo Monteiro De Souza, Ivan Lins, Vitor Martins)  - 3:55

02.  Never Gonna Let You Go  (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil)  - 3:55

03.  My Summer Love  (Adrienne Anderson, Serge Gainsbourg, Alain Chamfort)  - 4:00

04.  Carnaval Festa Do Interior  (Mary Ekler, Moraes Moreira, Abel Silva)  - 3:50

05.  Rainbow's End  (Don Freeman, David Batteau)  - 4:03

06.  Love Is Waiting  (David & Jenny Batteau, Don Freeman)  - 3:47

07.  Dream Hunter  (Danny Sembello, Michael Sembello)  - 3:02

08.  Life In The Movies  (Michael Sembello, Dennis Matosky)  - 3:52

09.  Si Senor  (Juan Carlos Calderón)  - 3:46

Released:  1983

Recorded at:  Kendun Recorders, Redwing Studios

Genre:  Samba, Pop, Bossa Nova, Latin Pop

Label:  A&M

Producer:  Dave Grusin, Sergio Mendes, Jose Quintana

Personnel

Sergio Mendes - Keyboards, Acoustic Piano, Synthesizers, Percussion

Louis Johnson - Bass

Nathan East - Bass

Michael Sembello - Guitar

Bill Martin, Carol Rogers, Dan Sembello, Geoff Lieb, Gracinha Leporace, Joe Pizzulo, Leza Miller, Michael Sembello, Robert Martin, Suzanne Wallach, Carol Rogers - Backing Vocals