SUBSTITUTES

                                                                                               Text by Alceu Natali with copyright protected by Law 9610/98

 

Shall we wait for you? Just like Samuel Beckett's Estragon and Vladimir waited for their friend Godot for two nights, But he never showed up, And yet they both continued waiting for him? Shall we wait for you? How many nights? One for the gray cats? Another one for the folios we fell asleep on? And yet another one when the moon chases away the crepes of darkness and silvers our blind paths? Shall we wait for you? Like strange images that appear before our eyes tired of waiting? Like clouds that come and go, Waiting for something good in vain? Like a beautiful love story waiting for its novelist? Shall we wait for you? How many lifetimes? One for ourselves, Another one for our dreams, And yet another for our near-death experiences? Can you replace our god? And with a brief beam of intense and blinding white light give us everlasting peace of mind? Can you be aestheticians who can replace the idea of ​​beauty with the idea of ​​truth and the idea of ​​ good? Can you be idealists who can replace the idea of ​​naiveté with the idea of ​​pragmatism and the idea of ​​selfishness? Can you be providential and can replace the idea of ​​a state of necessity with the idea of ​​guilt and the idea of ​​ deceit? Can you replace our love? With anyone or anything else that no longer causes us pain, Though this rhyme may be a cliché even where you come from? Can you replace our pain, With anyone or anything else, With our pledge of reciprocity that we can achieve with a strong heart, Though, as Truman, The Hiroshima and Nagasaki genocidal, quoted to Our Saint Teresa Avila, ‘More tears are shed for answered prayers than for those unanswered’? Why couldn’t you replace him with you?.

FOOTNOTES

*folios = A book made of paper of a large size, used for early printed books in Europe, or this size of paper, e.g. ‘ First Folio, published in 1623 after Shakespeare's death, is a collection of 35 of his plays’.

*crepes = in Portuguese it also means strips of black fabric worn as a sign of mourning, i.e. ‘mourners’

PURPLE HAZE

Text by Alceu Natali with copyright protected by Law 9610/98

I'm calisthenic, You're my Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, My heroin, My tight leash has been released, Freed rein to my imagination, My social phobia and my shyness gone without a shrink, Now I inhale your purple haze, And mix it with mine, I reject all types of dilutions and overflow the canvas where you, Painter, Try to cloister me together with other nuances, I can make you a tameless beast, Make you travel to the next high, Cross the rabble that surrounds you, Bordered by flowering ins and outs, Jaunty on the wings of ferraginous kaleidoscope eyes, That's my gleaming yellow, That rapes your white corolla, Intensifies your crimson, Sharpens your dark red tending to violet, Blinds you like a flow of metal in fusion, All your heliotropes of fading suns, I can make you me ill, For you my nose stretches out, My hump doubles up, My belly swells up, My clothes multicolor, My utterance shakes and screeches, For you I'm a fake hero, With all the flashy *braggadocio behaviour and senseless acts of a fool, Crafty and snaky, With no dignity, I can be your clown in the midst of any loneliness, Any multitude.

FOOTNOTE 

*braggadocio = great confidence that someone expresses in their own abilities and qualities, e.g. 'For all his braggadocio, he must have had moments of doubt'

A PERFECT DAY FOR A GIANT SOUL WITH AN UNCERTAIN SMILE

A PERFECT DAY FOR A GIANT SOUL WITH AN UNCERTAIN SMILE (POSTED ON US WWW.AMAZON.COM ON JANUARY 25TH, 2009). Allbum review written by Alceu Natali with Copyright protected by Brazilian law 9610/98

For my definition of 'great' albums please refer to my review of 'Heaven Or Las Vegas' by the Cocteau Twins. A cd store in a shopping mall is not the right place to look for great music. But once upon a time there was one in my neighborhood that was very promising. One of the salesmen there had an appreciation for This Mortal Coil. That was a good start. Their heap was small but not too ordinary. Side by side with disposable radio habitués you could also find a handful of classic candidates. And you could also listen to good music while browsing through their shelves. Curiously, and unlike the mainstream commercial music aired in almost every music place in town, that particular store used to play only cool songs like This Is The Day. I think that's the reason why that store did not last too long. In the 5th of all hells you cannot survive selling the real things only. The Brazilian devil's tacky taste reigns over the sanctified. I bought Soul Mining at that store that no longer exists only because of that song. The rest of The The's albums found their way into my collection through foreign channels. Many say 2. This Is the Day is the best track. It is really very cheerful and catchy with a beautiful accordion that brings to mind the best of Dominguinhos' swinging baiao. Gorgeous! Notwithstanding, 8. Perfect, with its famous Louie Louie's progression, a fat bass and a wonderful combination of different instruments and chorus is just sublime and second to none. 4. Uncertain Smile is less cheerful but splashes sugar while the drum bounces and the guitars water the beat until it leaves room to the amazingly brilliant and classy piano performance by Jools Hollands. Magnificent! 7. Giant is an incredibly beautiful crescendo from a simple drum beat joined by discrete keyboard, a fat bass, voice, more prominent keyboards, orchestral synthesizer, machine drumming, ritualistic chanting. It grows inside and beneath you and you feel like a giant looking over the tops of the trees in a jungle. 1. I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life) is an aggressive attack by a desperate singing and led by a thundering drum beat, gradually joined by a nervous bass, a low and uneasy synth, a more voracious bass and hastier voice. The sound is threatening, pressing and alarming and suddenly stops. 3. The Sinking Feeling is sort of a short version of the entire album or a first interlude if you will. And it does work. 5. The Twilight Hour sounds like an early attempt to give birth to Giant 6. Soul Mining sounds very much like a second interlude and, once again, it does work very well. Some say Soul Mining got very close to the list of best records of the 80's and that it should definitely stir some intense debate over its inclusion in that decade's finest albums. It is not in my list of the 80's but my all time's greatest.