the cover "mingles the important issues of the day, personal emblems, and symbols of his black Brazilian identity while employing decidedly uptempo pop illustration", he said. "Ben's 'colorless' features contrast remarkably with the day-glo rain-forest world surrounding him, reminding one of the arduous road to self-understanding and realiziation of racial equality." The broken manacles also echo this theme for Yglesias, who said they represent the struggles faced by black people in Brazil and elsewhere in the world. For the back cover, liner notes expressing approval of Ben were written by Philips producer Armando Pittigliani. Pittigliani had signed and later dropped Ben during the singer's first stint with the label. Release and reception Jorge Ben was released on LP in November 1969 by Philips Records, and became Ben's commercial comeback. In the months leading up to the album's release, several of its songs had become hit songs for other recording artists, including Wilson Simonal ("País Tropical"), Os Originais Do Samba ("Cadê Tereza"), and, as a duo, Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa ("Que Pena"). These songs later became commercial successes for Ben when released as singles from this album. "País Tropical" and "Que Pena" in particular have remained among his most famous songs. According to Leaver, Jorge Ben became Ben's "most significant and commercially successful album to date". The album was released at the height of the controversial Tropicália movement and sociopolitical turmoil in dictatorial Brazil, whose government was censoring and arresting the movement's more explicitly political artists. Veloso and Gil were jailed temporarily before going into exile in England, while Ben had some of his songs banned from radio play. At a music festival, Ben was heckled for his performance of "Charles Anjo 45", but the song entered the record charts and remained a staple of his repertoire. The album improved Ben's standing in Brazil's music community. As Jurek later wrote: Jorge Ben was not well received in Veja, however. Reviewing for Brazil's leading news magazine in December 1969, music journalist Tárik de Souza argued that Ben had failed to project himself as a singer, composer, and guitarist. He largely faulted Philips for disregarding the rhythmic appeal of Ben's past success by hiring Bríamonte, whose excessive preoccupation with melody and harmony resulted in orchestrations that suffocate the songs, although Duprat's few arrangements were seen as "magnificent". The album was reissued on CD in Brazil during the 1990s, but eventually went out