Various

Mr. Bongo pulls out all the stops with this collection, which was many years in the making. Jorge Ben is certainly well known for his songwriting, just ask Rod Stewart, who stole Ben's "Taj Mahal" for "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" But he was practically Burt Bacharach for a stretch in the late '60s and early '70s, delivering a fount of cover-worthy material for a wide array of artists, ranging from the polished and popular to the freakiest of hippies. Both ends of the spectrum and everything in between are represented amongst these incredible 26 tracks. Though some artists are duplicated, I'm not going to complain about idiosyncratic pop kingpin Wilson Simonal claiming Dionne Warwick status and being represented seven times. If you've got any love for Brazilian pop in this era it will be justified again and again. This comp is actually a good place to start for the novice Ben fan -though he doesn't appear on it, the breadth of his songwriting and the many influences he wove together at his peak are superbly represented.