I've refused so far, but now I can't but recommend three albums by three friends of mine that will help you bear what's left of winter.

"Rockstation", by McNamara, my old friend and continuous source for inspiration in the early eighties. Everything's back with Fabio, especially a feeling of absolute freedom. His are probably the best lyrics in dance music. It's like the opposite side of the first Lou Reed telling the same thing. I think this is Fabio's best work so far, songs have beginnings and endings thanks to the tailored dressmaking of "Saint" Luis Miguelez. They should play live; Madrid needs such sort of earthquakes.

Caetano himself has sent it to me from Bahia, but it's already in stores here: "Noites del Norte". I'm talking about Caetano Veloso here. They're all original songs of his (except for the homage to Jorge Ben), arranged and co-produced by his loyal friend Jacques Morelenbaum. Marvellous. Probably one of its author's most immediate and delicious records, and that's saying a lot. The voice is still the sweetest, you close your eyes and you think you're being "oraled." Also remarkable is the collaboration of very young musicians and the age of his son, Moreno, who takes part as well. It's full of hits, on first thought: "Cobra Coral", "Rock'n'Raul", "Zera a Reza" etc… A must if you have some sensibility left. It traps you after the second hearing.

I'm sure Javier Alvarez shares my opinion. I'd also like to highlight (as companion of my latest trips) its new album "Grandes exitos". He happens to make an excellent cover of Caetano's "O leaozinho" which I'm going to send him for his delight. I agree very much with Javier's eclecticism, and I applaud his decision for making an unprejudiced series of covers of the songs he likes. Is it possible in these times to make covers of Jeannette, Boney M., Abba, Nancy Sinatra, etc. without being taken for a swindle? Well, it is, strange as it may seem. Javier Alvarez's record proves this. There are several "veins" and Javier whispers everything wonderfully. I admit I find it hard to listen beyond the first track, "Por que te vas" by great sweet Jeannette. I enjoy it more than it's recommended.

If I were to define my attitude towards music in this new century, I would say, "the song is back." This doesn't mean I'm back on stage, so much shouting in bars and discos miscarried my music career long ago. Last decade I just heard compilations or album-long songs. But then I realize I'm hearing songs again, a starting melody that develops and ends in three-four minutes max. And I'm happy. It might sound stupid, I bet it does, but I feel as if I had gained something back.
The three records I've just recommended are "song" albums. Like those by "Magnetic Fields" "St. Etienne" or "Goldfrapp" songs whose qualities transcend fashion. I thought I'd never go back to pop music again, but I'm afraid that's a genre I'm sentenced to every twenty years (first were the 60's, then came the 80's and now it's 2000).

To conclude, one other song obsessing me: "Tic, Toc", the fourth track in "Aloha" by "Le diablo mariachi" (I think they're French, they have a very good French accent indeed). If you're saving yourself your winter holidays in Gstaad or Cortina D'Ampezzo this year, you might as well invest on cheering your heart with the kind of music that's sure to make it shake.

And since you're not going skiing and can't spend your life in the film club, the Prado museum, the Opera or hooked on the hardest porn on the net, I recommend you a book that's making me turn the light off later than usual this week (I read at nights). I'm sure someone has already bought it for you, it's Eduardo Mendoza's "La aventura del tocador de señoras". I'm sure you've read it in all the literary reviews, so you know by now that this is the author's lightest side, which doesn't mean it's worse than his soundest works, it's just funnier. Do you have a problem with a well-written funny book? Well, I don't. I've bought it for my brother already -he's not going to Cortina nor Gstaad either because he's producing my next movie, which I can't wait to start shooting.