Beijos Pra Torcida

Beijos Pra Torcida is that track that grabs you from the very first seconds with a rhythm that doesn’t ask for permission. It sounds like something put together quickly, almost on the fly, but with an energy that doesn’t repeat itself anywhere else on the album. It’s not a long song — just one minute and forty-six seconds — but in that time it makes it clear the band was aiming for something different from what they’d been doing before. The mix of sharp guitars with that hint of ska that peeks through at times gives Brazilian rock of the mid-80s an unexpected twist.

They recorded it in three weeks, between May and June 1986, at RCA’s studios in São Paulo. There were no months of rehearsals or endless tweaks: the album hit the shelves on October 13 of that same year, with the original lineup still intact. Marcelo Pitz was still on bass when it was finished, but his departure the following year — in May 1987 — would mark the start of a new chapter for the band. The album, Longe Demais Das Capitais, was their debut, and though they didn’t know it at the time, a record that strayed from the path they’d take afterward. The songs on it have a rawer, more direct flavor, as if they’d been written and recorded the moment the studio lights came on.