Beleza Tropical 2: Novo! Mais! Melhor!

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

When Western pop performers draw explicitly from Third World sources, one can get the queasy feeling that somewhere an indigenous artist is producing better, more authentic music that will never be widely heard. In this compilation, rocker David Byrne plays it cool, stands back and simply presents the original work of some of his favorite Brazilian artists. The album draws on samba as well as psychedelic rock and '90s clubland rhythms. It's all a lot of fun, though one wishes it could, at times, be a little less lighthearted. Listeners searching for more depth should check out last year's Nova Bossa: Red Hot on Verve, a collection of Brazilian pop drawn mostly from the '50s and '60s. It's a treat of an album--and moving to boot.

--By Christopher John Farley