Volume Dois (Volume Two) is the ninth studio album released by the Brazilian rock band Titãs. Following the success of the previous album, Acústico MTV, Volume Dois features unplugged arrangements of previously recorded Titãs' songs, along with some new ones,[3] and features musicians from the São Paulo Municipal Symphony Orchestra.[4] It is one of their most successful albums, having sold more than 1 million copies as of 2015.[5]
Background and production
In the final performances of the Acústico MTV tour, Titãs already talked about a future studio album with more acoustic versions of their songs. They were even already performing "É Preciso Saber Viver" by the time.[6]
By the time of the album release, members Tony Bellotto (acoustic and electric guitarist) and Paulo Miklos (vocalist and saxophonist) commented that the band did not want to give in to electronic sounds: "We are a stage band, we like to play. It doesn't make sense, in a numerous band, to wait for the computer sequence before coming in with the guitars. This happened around the times of Õ Blésq Blom (...) Acoustic is the valuing of melodies, the electronic 'thing' more disturbed us than helped us".[7]
Vocalist and keyboardist Sérgio Britto labeled the album as a "complement" to Acústico MTV, and not simply a new acoustic effort, pointing also that songs became lighter, but not necessarily acoustic.[8]
The recording sessions were temporarily paused when drummer Charles Gavin's girlfriend was kidnapped.[9]
The hit "Sonífera Ilha" was chosen as the opening track for being "emblematic. Cheesy, trying to be pop, inventive", according to Bellotto.[7]
When asked if "Caras Como Eu" was a song about feeling old, its author Bellotto replied:[10]
No, it's natural, like, after so much time playing with Titãs, I'm already 38 and I have lots of children. It's natural that eventually you start thinking about this. You get older, you're no longer 18, and I thought a lot, when I was creating the song, of Titãs. We've been together for 16 years. It was different when we started, times have changed, we're all already different, but the spirit remains the same. The love we feel for our job remains the same. The song speaks a little about it. Now, of course time passes and you feel some changes, some limitations, and at the same time, also, the new discoveries and stuff. But the song talks a little about that, about getting older and realizing it.
Also asked it the song was a farewell one, he answered:[10]
[...] It isn't, absolutely, a farewell. Much the contrary, it may even be a reverse album, like a restart, us exercising the ability to compose, to create music in a way adequate to what we're feeling, to the moment, to the age. It's not about writing a song because you're older or younger, but about saying what you mean to say. What you're thinking of life, having this freedom. We've always given ourselves this right. So, in this sense, it states a novelty like any other song of ours. I think a farewell wouldn't be a song. Our farewell will probably be a silent one, it won't be us doing songs.
Release and marketing
The album was introduced to the press in a press conference hosted at restaurant Terraço Itália, atop Edifício Itália.[4][7] A promotional tour succeeded, with its shows divided into three parts: one electroacoustic, one acoustic and one more rock-oriented, containing old hits not used in the album.[1] Reproducing the performance of their predecessor in 1997, it was elected by Folha de S.Paulo readers as the best album and show of 1998.[11][12]
In a contest promoted at Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo, students were invited to create canvases inspired by the album, and the winner would have their work reproduced and displayed in stores to promote the new release.[13]
Giancarlo Pareschi (Spala), José Alves, Bernardo Bessler, Alfredo Vidal, Antonella Pareschi, Paschoal Perrota, Walter Hack, Vera Barreto, Paula Barreto, Michael Bessler, Ricardo Amado: violins
Marie Cristine Bessler, Frederick Stephany, Jesuina Passaroto, Jairo Diniz: violas
Alceu Reis, Yura Ranevsky, Marcus de Oliveira, Cassia Menezes, Marcio Malard: cellos
