The Brilliant Cerati

I caught sight of the Latin Grammy nominations yesterday, and was mightily warmed to see not only the deity that is Eddie Palmieri and the great Ed Motta getting any kind of recognition in this backward nation—along with the epically brilliant Gustavo Cerati. I've had something of a religious conversion toward the genius of Cerati in the last few months. I did get to see him last August on the Ahí Vamos tour, and did love his Spiritualized/MBV-derived onslaught (despite his looking like Lou Reed at the moment, a fact that makes it hard to forget that he can actually be rather attractive, as evidenced in the Sinfonico clip here). But it's the rapturously unfolding langour of 1999's Bocanada that's made me realize that Cerati deserves to be in the pantheon of Scott Walker, Jacques Brel, et. al., and that Bocanada is not only the greatest roc en Español disc ever (like a male counterpart to Ely Guerra's Lotofire, only even much more beautiful than that definition), but one of the greatest discs ever, period. Lustrous, orchestral, and and simply awe-inspiring.