Hackett in Brazil (part two). Three years later, Stefanuzzo and his lady return to Brazil to compose some music, this time with more conviction compared to the ultra-relaxing vacation of "Cured." This is an interesting album, not spectacular but with some nice pieces and good ideas, and perhaps a bit underestimated within its discography. This time, some vaguely Brazilian influences can be heard, at least in the choice of musicians, all local (a substantial group of percussionists, but not only) except for Mosley and Magnus. But since Hackett is a joker, suddenly there are references to Japanese music ("The Doll That's Made in Japan," with Kim on vocals as the "Japanese girl," but they also pop up in the excellent "What's My Name") with Hackett playing the koto, things like that. Being a joker, the album closes with 40 seconds of instrumental from Disney's "Pinocchio" song, just because. "Myopia" is also a very particular piece by his standards. In "What's My Name" and Matilda-Smith... (great track, perhaps the best) there's excellent use of percussion (Brazil, not Africa, yes, but it's never been so close to Gabriel as in these snippets of the piece) "Taking the Easy Way Out" is a nice ballad and so on. Here Hackett experiments with something a little different, and it's one of the times he pulls it off well. In my opinion, it’s a solid work, an album to reconsider at least a little because it's really not bad at all.
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