Brazil’s Caetano Veloso is a prolific and innovative artist in his fifth decade of inspired work. This, only his second English-language release, collects 22 of his favorite entries from the American songbook for what could be the most ambitious release of his long career. His selections fall everywhere on the American pop timeline, and there’s something profoundly satisfying in seeing the names of Cole Porter, Kurt Cobain, Irving Berlin, Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder all gathered under one conceptual umbrella. He retains the seed of each song and adds his stylistic touches, causing the album to cohere better than might be expected. But even an artist of Veloso’s stature can’t make an album this ambitious without flaws, as he seems far more comfortable with the classic pop and showtunes than he is with contemporary material (though Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” fares surprisingly well).