Milton Nascimento - Ultimo Trem

Facts First time on vinyl!Following the release of Milton Nascimento's Maria Maria, Far Out Recordings proudly presents Nascimento's 1980 follow up.With the success of Maria Maria in 1976 behind them, Nascimento reunited with his writing partner Fernando Brant in 1980 to produce another ballet, 'Ultimo Trem (Last train)'.This time, they chose to tackle a more contemporarily relevant subject, the impact of the closure of a train line that connected certain towns and cities in the North East of Minas Gerais to the coast."The military government shut down the route and the whole region began to fade away," explains Milton."I love train rides" adds the composer, "But today there are almost no trains to Brazil.So when I go to the US and Europe, any time I can, I go by train.The longer the journey the better." Featuring much of the same all-star line-up as Maria Maria - including legendary Brazilian musicians Nana Vasconcelos, Joao Donato, Paulinho Jobim and members of Som Imaginario, amongst many others, like Maria Maria, the album holds what Milton himself considers to be the definitive versions of some of his most beloved tracks, including 'Saidas E Bandeiras' and 'Ponte de Areia'. The title track, 'Ultimo Trem' - performed exquisitely by ZezE Mota with a choir and piano - is a mournful lament about the human consequences of the axed line.The ballet brought great media attention to the campaign against closure."Most of Fernando's lyrics have some political tone," says Milton, "This one helped the area a lot because the politicians grew concerned about the subjects." Fernando's and Milton's shared passion for the sounds, smells and memories of trains, inspired the soundtrack for the production which premiered in 1980.'A Viagem (The trip)', launched with a train's steam whistle, sees Milton's guitar moving to a train's rhythm.In contrast to the usual lyricism, 'Bicho Homen (Beastly man)' and 'Decreto (Degree)' are atypically upbeat and funky, their vocals a mesh of wordless male voices resembling the then fashionable Swingl