album rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: New wave / synth-pop / Portuguese pop / pop rock. Dar & Receber ('To Give and To Receive') is the second and final studio album by António Variações (born António Joaquim Rodrigues Ribeiro, Fiscal, Amares, Braga, 3 December 1944 – Lisbon, 13 June 1984), released in May 1984 on Valentim de Carvalho / EMI Portugal (catalogue 1775151). António Variações was one of the most culturally significant and original artists in the recent history of Portuguese popular music — a figure whose brief recording career (1982–1984) has grown, posthumously, into a defining myth of post-Carnation Revolution Portugal. Born in a small village in the Minho region, the fifth of ten children of a farm labourer's family, he would work for years as a barber in Braga and then Lisbon, living a flamboyant personal life, before his musical talents — as a singer and lyricist — were finally channelled into recordings. He had signed with Valentim de Carvalho as early as 1978, but the label was not yet ready to release what he was making, and his first single, 'Estou Além', did not appear until 1982. His debut album, Anjo da Guarda, followed in 1983, produced with members of the new wave band GNR (Vítor Rua, Tóli César Machado and José Moz Carrapa). Dar & Receber was recorded at the studios of Valentim de Carvalho in Paço d'Arcos between 6 and 25 February 1984, and was released in May of that year. For this album, Variações worked with a new set of collaborators: the entirety of the band Heróis do Mar, led by bassist Pedro Ayres Magalhães (who would later form Madredeus) and keyboardist Carlos Maria Trindade. Magalhães and Trindade served as co-music directors and co-producers; Magalhães also wrote the liner notes, in which he declared: 'I thank you, António, for your enthusiasm and trust, and I would like to write here that I have gained a friendship.' Additional musicians include pianist Carlos Maria Trindade and guitarist Jorge Fontes (Portuguese guitar). Sound technician: António Pinheiro da Silva. Photography: Rui Cunha. All music and lyrics are by António Rodrigues Ribeiro. The album is dedicated to Fernando Pessoa, in what Wikipedia describes as 'a cryptically unfinished sentence'; the song 'Canção' sets lyrics from a Pessoa poem. Dar & Receber is darker and more nocturnal in tone than Anjo da Guarda — the Discogs reviewer notes that the album 'is basically a fusion between the traditional and the new', with the synthesiser sound of Heróis do Mar more evident in several tracks, while others continue the distinctive vocal style of his first album. Its principal hit was 'Canção de Engate' — a frank celebration of late-night sexual encounters — which became one of the most celebrated songs of 1980s Portuguese pop and was subsequently covered by Delfins on their 1987 debut album. Other tracks include 'Dar e Receber', 'Erva Daninha Alastrar' and 'Canção' (with Pessoa lyrics). Variações did not live to promote the album: he was admitted to hospital in May 1984 with a respiratory condition, and died on 13 June 1984, aged 39, almost certainly of AIDS-related illness. A biographical film, directed by João Maia and produced by David & Golias, with the role of Variações played by Sérgio Praia, was released in Portugal in August 2019.
Label: Valentim de Carvalho / EMI Portugal, released May 1984. Catalogue: 1775151.
Producers (Music Directors): Pedro Ayres Magalhães and Carlos Maria Trindade. Sound technician: António Pinheiro da Silva. Assistant: José Valverde.
Recording studio: Estudios Valentim de Carvalho, Paço d'Arcos, Portugal (recorded and mixed 6–25 February 1984).
Critical reception: Dar & Receber was received with great enthusiasm on release and 'Canção de Engate' was immediately recognised as a defining song of the Portuguese pop moment. The Medium essay by Ana Leorne describes the album as 'slightly more nocturnal in both its theme and arrangements' than its predecessor, and notes the tragic irony that António never got to promote it. The Rate Your Music assessment is more measured: while calling Variações 'undoubtedly one of the most unique and original characters in 1980s Portuguese pop', it finds the synth-dominated production sometimes 'of poor taste', but singles out 'Canção de Engate' as 'arguably a classic of Portuguese pop music.' The 2000 reissue on Parlophone Music Portugal was remixed from the original multi-track tapes at Metropolis Studios, London.
Commercial success: The album was a commercial success in Portugal, boosted by the radio presence of 'Canção de Engate'. Variações's posthumous reputation has only grown: the 2006 compilation A História de António Variações — entre Braga e Nova Iorque (EMI), including unreleased demos discovered on the box of over forty tapes left at his death, introduced a new generation to his work. The compilation is listed among the canonical Portuguese albums that shaped the post-revolutionary cultural identity of the country. Rate Your Music ranks Dar & Receber at number 143 in the best albums of 1984.
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