Seu Jorge manages to combine 3 of my favorite things in one album.  I love the music of David Bowie. I love the movies of Wes Anderson. I love the music of Brazil.  About a year after the hilarious if subtle and underrated The Life Aquatic hit the movies in 2004, Seu Jorge released this album of his studio sessions for the film.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson is well known for his quirky films including The Royal Tennembaums, Rushmore and more recently, The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  One of my favorites was his low key subtle humor of The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.  Bill Murray played the marine biologist, Steve Zissou, bent on revenge against the shark that ate his father. Owen Wilson plays a man who claims to be his son, and Angelica Huston plays Zissou's ex-wife.  However, one of the things that stood out in the film aside from Anderson's subtle humor or the bright color palette of the film was its quirky soundtrack, especially that of many of David Bowies songs peformed on an acoutic guitar and sung in Portuguese. The world had become aware of a fine  young Brazilian artist, Seu Jorge.

David Bowie

If you don't know David Bowie, I don't know what to tell you.  The songs on The Life Aquatic and this album are mostly from his early albums like Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory.  David Bowie is probably my favorite artist ever, I've been listening to him since my high school days, have all of his albums on CD and have seen him in concert four times.  For me to like an album of Bowie covers, they must be good. (On this album, indeed they are)

Seu Jorge

If you have seen City of God, you know the favelas of Rio de Janeiro are no place to live. Seu grew up in the favelas. he was also in City of God as Mane Galinha one of the main characters. Jorge was influenced by Brazilian Samba music and he plays and sings beautifully. After playing and performing his way out of the slums of Brazil, Seu turned to composing songs for film.  Prior to this, he had played in a band, and released two well received solo albums.  Seu Jorge appeared in Anderson's film The Life Aquatic as Pele Dos Santos and could be frequently seen on Zissou's boat playing an acoutic guitar and singing the songs of David Bowie in Portuguese.

The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions by Seu Jorge

This album gives you 13 Bowie songs plus the Team Zissou song. For Bowie fans the songs reintepreted into Portuguese accompanied only by acoustic guitar are

Rebel Rebel, Life on Mars, Star Man, Ziggy Stardust, Lady Stardust, Changes, Oh You Pretty Things, Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, Suffragette City, Five Years, Queen B***h, When I Live My Dream, and Quicksand.

Seu's reimaginings of Bowie are excellent covers. They keep the tone of the original songs but have a unique and fantastic sound. Seu puts the same melancholy sadness into songs like Life on Mars and the same anger on Rock 'n' Roll Suicide that Bowie does in his originals. Seu's voice is full of emotion and even though most of the songs are in Portuguese, the songs are so recognizable you may find yourself singing along. Occasionally Seu will sing a verse in English.  Seu Jorge manages to capture the essence of each Bowie song with only his voice and his acoustic guitar. 

Even though the soundtrack to The Life Aquatic has a handful of Seu Jorge's songs, if you enjoyed them, you should get this album.  I will also say that his other albums (of which there are quite a few) are also great to listen to.

Summary

If you like Brazilian music, David Bowie or both, this is an album you should put into your collection. 

More Brazilian Music

Bebel Gilberto (2004)
Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo
Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo Remixes
Joao Gilberto Live in Montreux
Antonio Carlos Jobim - Terra Brasilis
Pure Brazil - The Girls of Ipanema
Gilberto / Getz
Diana Krall - Quiet Nights
Ceu
Sabrina Malheiros - New Morning
Seu Jorge - The Life Aquatic Sessions

Recommended: Yes