| Como Estão Vocês? | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Titãs |
| Cover: | Capa_15.jpg |
| Released: | 2003 |
| Recorded: | From June 16 to September 21, 2003 |
| Genre: | Pop rock, punk rock |
| Length: | 44:33 |
| Label: | BMG |
| Producer: | Liminha |
| Prev Title: | A Melhor Banda de Todos os Tempos da Última Semana |
| Prev Year: | 2001 |
| Next Title: | MTV ao Vivo |
| Next Year: | 2005 |
Como Estão Vocês? (Portuguese for "How Are You?") is the twelfth studio album released by Brazilian rock band Titãs. It was the first album by the band without vocalist/bassist Nando Reis and also the first without any contribution by guitarist Marcelo Fromer. Fromer died after being hit by a motorcycle on 11 June 2001,[1] but his ideas were still used for their then upcoming album A Melhor Banda de Todos os Tempos da Última Semana[2] which would be recorded a few days later. Reis left the group in 2002 stating he wasn't prepared to record another album due to still being shaken by the deaths of both Fromer and his friend Cássia Eller.[3] It is also their first release via BMG, following Abril Music's bankrupt.[2]
Commenting on the absence of Fromer and Reis, vocalist/keyboardist Sérgio Britto said he believed the band "could compensate these absences. I'm not gonna say they are not missed, but we can make good albums with this personnel. Each one has potentialities - one plays the guitar, the other plays the bass, the other plays the drums and everyone composes."[4] Guitarist Tony Bellotto and vocalist Paulo Miklos also commented at that time about the band's capability of getting over the line-up losses.[5]
The name of the album was inspired by Confucius, via an idea that he used to support: "I asked with fire letters. How are you? How are all of us? The path is lost, we should judge."[6] According to Britto, "it could be how's the country, could be what we [the band] are going through. It's a simple title, with an open and interesting meaning".[7]
Its cover, created by notorious artist Rogério Duarte, was explained by him in an interview for Correio Braziliense: "I thought of a tropicalist language, against that smooth thing, viewed as of fine taste. And a language that carried those references to the current government, to socialism, to MST. The red color even serves as criticism to the green and yellow".[8] He commented further on the work in another interview, this time for Folha de S.Paulo:[5]
When asked about the possibility of the opening track "Nós Estamos Bem" (We Are Fine) being a message to the fans and the press, Britto said "yes, could be. But in the song we ask "how are you", and this can be understood in a wider sense. How is Brazil, how are the things through which we are going through. This sentence defines the intention of the album".[4]
The song "Enquanto Houver Sol" was included in the soundtrack of the 2003 Rede Globo telenovela Celebridade, which had Bellotto's wife Malu Mader in the lead role. The song "Pelo Avesso" was also used in another Rede Globo telenovela, 2009's Cama de Gato, appearing as the opening theme.[9]
"KGB" talks about fear for the return of torturers and extremists of KGB, Dops, CIA, Ku Klux Klan, Third Reich, etc.[5] "As Aventuras do Guitarrista Gourmet Atrás da Refeição Ideal" marks the second consecutive time an album by the band brings a tribute to Fromer.[2]
Philip Jandovský, from AllMusic, said the album is a return to rock from albums like Cabeça Dinossauro and considered "impressive how Titãs manage to maintain a good quality, even after all these years and especially after high-profile bandmembers like Arnaldo Antunes and Nando Reis left the group". He also said fans would hardly be disappointed by the album, even though it was "far from reaching the vibrant energy of the glory days of the band".
Pedro Alexandre Sanches, from Folha de S.Paulo, compared the album to the band's sophomore Televisão for mixing different tracks like the ironic and "classy punk rock" "A Guerra É Aqui" with the optimistic and "loose pop rock" "Livres para Escolher". He also said the band came off unaltered by the exit of Nando Reis, whom he considered a "estraged body" in the band.
According to the CD booklet:[10]