"There are many ways to sing and make Brazilian music; Gilberto Gil prefers all of them," wrote poet Torquato Neto in the notes of Gil's first album, as if he could see in the first songs the flood of music that has emerged from him since.

After inventing tropicalismo with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil was jailed and then left Brasil for a year in England. Both before and after he championed endlessly the regional forms of his nation's music but also, by 1967, took up the sound of rock when reactionary music critics would have none of the Anglo-American trend. The baião of northeastern Brasil is mixed liberally with rock guitars and theatrical brass in, for instance, "Marginália II. "Here the third world asks your blessing and goes to bed among waterfalls . . ."

Gil's music blesses and envigorates. On first hearing, the infectious sweetness and soulfulness make fans of many listeners. Lately, his career has entered high gear after a long stretch from about 1980 to 1983 of uninspired albums with only one or two brilliant songs among high-gloss but forgettable misfires. Since Tropicalia 2 with Caetano Veloso in 1994, his aim has been as true and engaging as his highpoints in the 60's and 70's.