Temperance is not available in the United States, which is a real shame because this is one of Astrud Gilberto's best albums in years.

First of all, the album is worth its price just for the recording of "How High the Moon," which features the New York Voices providing close harmonic support. The other eleven songs on the album were all composed by Astrud Gilberto herself. While her songwriting abilities are not in the same league as her vocalizing (and her English lyrics seldom range beyond a moon/June/croon complexity), Gilberto's songs are pleasant and demonstrate that she certainly picked up a thing or two growing up musically in the hothouse creative environment of Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s and 1960s.

I'm not a big Michael Franks fan,but I have to admit that his limpid, waif-like voice works well in a bossa nova setting. His duet with Gilberto in her song "Beautiful You" ranks as one of Franks' better recorded efforts. Additionally, Gilberto's lyrics to her song "Movie Review" are quite reminiscent of Franks' "Cinema," his English language remake of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Voce vai ver."

Finally, a word of praise for Gilberto's band, which includes such luminaries as Duduka da Fonseca (the drummer with Trio da Paz), trumpeter Lew Soloff, and keyboardist Kimson Plaut,who lamentably died at much too early an age a little over a year ago.

If you're planning a trip to Europe or Japan, don't forget to pick up a copy of Temperance. And if travel abroad isn't in your plans, Temperance is the perfect excuse for a vacation.