*** Milton Nascimento

NASCIMENTO

(Warner Bros.)

This is intimate Milton, not the cosmic titan tossing the Jovian lightning bolts we've come to expect. Pushing 55, the Brazilian singer/songwriter bares his old passions in muted ballads and soft, quiescent textures. His vulnerability emerges, in cracking notes, quavering vibrato, and a paucity of multi-voiced overdubs. His rhapsodic personae blossom on "Biromes y servilletas," key words repeated and beautifully rhymed, but more wistful than embroiled. There's less of his "stadium" amplified acoustic guitar; there are more light touches. Soprano sax keens like an oboe on "Cuerpo y alma" ("Body and Soul")." Insistent Afro-Bahia rhythms and the sing-song choruses on "Janela para o mondo" ("Window on the World") and "Louva-a-deus" (Praying Mantis) evoke quiet goodbyes. "Ol' Man River" is a reverse showstopper, both in programming and in treatment. Milton omits the lyrics, reharmonizes chords, intones the outraged bridge with an eerie gentleness and passivity over flutes. Perhaps the cover tells it best: subtle angles and shadings on the naked, vulnerable, human artist. On the seventh day, even demi-gods rest.

-- Fred Bouchard