As voracious a reader and listener as Veloso, Gil absorbed the likes of Jimi Hendrix and R. Buckminster Fuller, dove deep into Eastern philosophy, and applied it all to his brain-melting third solo album, cut just before he was exiled to England. Fearlessly facing down that fate, the album yields both Gil’s most experimental moments as well as his first hit, courtesy of the joyous samba “Aquele Abraço.” Extraterrestrial guitar transmissions get beamed down by Lanny (Brazil’s own Hendrix), orchestral flourishes float in space, and composer Rogério Duprat’s experimental sonic collaging ensures the album lives up to the title of its first song, which translates as “Electronic Brain.”

– Andy Beta