THE PINEAPPLE THIEF

Finally the day arrived, long awaited for almost five months. The emotion ran through my veins while the skin bristled. The road to the “Paseo de la Reforma” precinct was eternal, but at the same time, so anxious. Yeah!

Founded by Bruce Soord in 1999, in Somerset, England, THE PINEAPPLE THIEF has managed to position itself as one of the best Prog Metal bands worldwide, and barely with just twelve pieces of art.

I barely knew the band, about 7 years ago, I don't remember well. But from the first moment, the first decibel, the first note that my auditory pavilion perceived: I was stunned!

It completely caught me, one hundred percent with perfection in each song. The voice, the lyrics, the instrumentation, the performance, the mastery on stage, and more.

Brutal!

El Lunario. Dec 4th, 2020. MX City.

Listening to this band produces me tremendously inexplicable pleasure, in a way that causes the acceleration of my heartbeat, my pulse and even the speed of my blood flow. They are albums that at very high volume, the body vibrates and the soul begins to take so slowly...

This is the music of THE PINEAPPLE THIEF: Perfect!

What emotional, physical and sentimental state should they be, exist in order to compose and play in this way? It seems as a dilemma, since the answer does not exist or I still can't find it. Not yet.

There are similar bands, but the main distinctive is the same: Perfection.

They are bands that are already in another musical level, have a perfect study of music; and a very high cultural and intellectual level and above all, the humility that characterizes them, all of them.

And well, more surprise and desire to arrive on this recent Wednesday, December 4^th, because the band, now brings in its line – up, the excellent drummer Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, King Crimson and others) whom I have already seen a couple of times in Mexico City.

So the line – up is perfect: Bruce Soord on vocals and guitar, Jon Sykes on vocals and bass, Steve Kitch on keyboards and the huge Mr. Harrison on drums. And for the legacy of this perfection there are the twelve albums.

Well, the excellent concert at “El Lunario” was spectacular. All the songs were fantastic, from the first to the last one.

The one that makes my soul bristle the most is "No Man’s Land."

Being there was a dream coming true. When the lights went out, immediately that intravenous fluid began to boil, in such a way that everything that my eyes observed was exciting.

They went on stage to perform “Tear You Up” and… to get more excited, to sing, to move the null mane and to feel perfection in every way. The mastery of these superb musicians was incredible.

Then followed “In Exile”, “Alone At Sea”, the majestic “Threatening War”, “Far Below”, my favourite of “No Man's Land”, the lush “That Shore”, “Uncovering Your Tracks”, “Shed A Light”, “3,000 Days”, “Part Zero”, “Shoot First”, “White Mist” and “Nothing At Best”.

Ah, but that was not all, really the band was very grateful to the Mexican public and they showed it.

The encore arrived, to close the concert with "Not Naming Any Names" and the masterpiece of "The Final Thing On My Mind”.

They said goodbye, but still, we insisted that we wanted more songs. And they complied!

An amazing concert.

They returned for a second encore, and now they ended up with "Snowdrops”.

As everything, at some point, ends. And at the edge of eleven o'clock at night, the lights came off; and little by little satisfaction and nostalgia arrived, after two hours of exactness.

And now, it’s time to wait for their return in a medium time. I hope they don't take so long.

Now you know, dear readers: Perfection has a name, and is: THE PINEAPPLE THIEF.

Definitely, this time there is no special song. The album you must listen complete is: WHERE WE STOOD.

Carlos Zaldívar

Pájaro Sauce

PÁJARO SAUCE

El vuelo INDIE de este Sauce, directo a la yugular.

Por Carlos Zaldívar

Anel & Alondra

“Nos están matando, nos están violando, ya es hora de hacer algo”

Alondra Montero – González

Y no es para menos, apenas un nudo en la garganta que no pude ocultar. Una velada tan llena de emociones y sentimientos provocada por este dueto maravilloso, bajo el nombre de “Pájaro Sauce” e integrado por Alondra y Anel.

Volando entre sauces, se detuvo este dueto en el Film Club Café, en Cd. Satélite, para brindarnos una excelsa presentación de sus rolas, incluidas en el álbum “Árbol”. Una música tipo Indie o Alternativa y en algunas rolas hasta un Rock Pop Minimalista, pero no importa el género, de hecho no hay autoridad para este tipo de clasificaciones. Lo importante es el contenido, su contenido.

Y si, en este mes dedicado a las mujeres en el Film Club, este reciente sábado nueve, se presentaron Alondra y Anel, con su repertorio de “Árbol” y un buen cover. Alondra, toda una mujer y además modelo, actriz, cantante, instrumentista y compositora quien junto con la suave voz de Anel, llenaron el recinto de Las Torres de Satélite. Fueron muchos los aplausos y de larga duración, bien merecidos. Me encanta ver a Alondra, descalza, transformarse, dominar y adueñarse del escenario y claro, deleitarnos con su voz. “Abismo”, “Delirio”, “Como un Huracán” y “Eres como el Mar” se escucharon, entre otras rolas, para atestiguar la calidad de este dueto, aunque no le parezcan a muchos “pseudo conductores o locutores” de medios “baratos” de comunicación. Pájaro Sauce es y será por mucho tiempo un excelente dueto con gran calidad musical y sobre todo, en sus letras.

Alondra y Anel son las responsables de las letras, de darle sentimiento y vida a cada una de las canciones. Son la fuente de inspiración para que el espectador sea el protagonista de las mismas y que se enganche con cada una de sus rolas, o al menos, eso me pasó. Palabras introductorias, de buen fondo y con mucho sentimiento, fueron las que abordó Alondra antes de cada rola, en otras ocasiones Anel hizo lo propio, y de esta manera, al escucharlas con el mensaje con motivo a la conmemoración del día internacional de la mujer, se nos hizo un nudo en la garganta y la piel se erizó. Eso, estimados dos lectores, se llama: mensaje directo al corazón.

Y nostálgicamente, terminaron su presentación y pasamos a la sala a recibir autógrafos, realizar una pequeña sesión de fotos y por supuesto, a recibir el reloj que gané en un concurso previo.

Con la ENORME Alondra.

Un abrazo, mis congratulaciones y que todo el éxito les siga llegando por su buen trabajo, a Alondra, Anel y a todo su equipo de producción y músicos invitados.

The Complete History of Black Sabbath

BLACK SABBATH

The Complete History of Black Sabbath. 2016.

By Carlos Zaldívar

The Book

An excellent book by Joel McIver that takes us on a walk through the beginnings of Heavy Metal, where even the term was not well coined. When four poorly behaved young people converge in Birmingham and decide to form a band under the name of Earth, who would later evolve into BLACK SABBATH.

A broad text about the origins of the best band on the planet and the molding of what we know today as HEAVY METAL and more precisely: DOOM METAL.

Starting in 1968 as a band of Blues and little by little, they evolved to Rock and later turned their sound into something more dense, deep, powerful, dark, mythical and today, in 2019 already considered as the Fathers of METAL.

Iommi, Iron Man, considered the best METAL guitarists with that pair of magic fingers and manufactured by the devil himself to reach those hidden notes; Osbourne as the multifaceted possessed on stage, and “bat – eater”; Ward, in tireless companions of Ozzy and enormous beast behind the drumsticks; and finally to Butler, the bassist "from another planet"; and this is how these four super human guys form the enormous legend of this wonderful musical universe, the band under the name of BLACK SABBATH.

A book full of anecdotes, experiences, bad behavior, drugs, alcohol, fights, demands, prisons and even reconciliations and rehabilitations. Facts that I mostly know (obviously, being a Sabbath fan) and others that I had not the remotest idea that they had happened.

McIver walks our imagination through a very pleasant paper conversation, with real actors that today and forever are our super heroes.

I emphasize the role of Sharon, as the great woman and true Iron Lady, after the band and its success and obvious, also with the negotiations for meetings and mediations of those who have paraded through the lineup of the band.

Robb Flynn (Machine Head) recounts in the introduction the tremendous incursion to hear the first track of Sabbath: Iron Man; and then, never stop listening to it.

And so, great moments of concerts and the personal life of each one of them, always feeding the music industry with excellent material and first class music.

Very recommendable.

The story of four humble kids.

By the way, this book is dedicated to the late IAN “LEMMY” KILMISTER.

Black Sabbath will last forever... until Iommi's dead.