A DIVINA COMÉDIA OU ANDO MEIO DESLIGADO

Unbalanced; it mixes good songs with others not so good.

Tracks 'Ando meio desligado', 'Ave Lucifer', 'Meu refrigerador não funciona', 'Hey Boy' and 'Oh! Mulher infiel' are worthy.

The version for the classical seresta (Brazilian serenade) 'Chão de estrelas' (Floor of stars) did not work well. The attempt to make fun with the dramatic lyrics resulted poor.

Minus 1.5-star for the weaker songs and minus 0.5-star for the 'Chão de estrelas' disaster. Total: 3.

One curiosity: 'Ando meio desligado' supposedly a love song became the "anthem" of the Brazilians hemp-users. The lyrics help: 'I am partially spaced out/Not even feeling my feet on the ground/I look and I see nothing/I don't want you to want me' (free translation).

This mood is expressed in the very good opening song "Ando Meio Desligado". It can really be compared to what the genre produced some years ago already in Europe.

Most songs sounds very much outdated and childish. "Quem Tem Medo de Brincar de Amor" could have been the soundtrack of a TV sequence about the middle sixties.

Of course I can't judge the lyrics since my knowledge of Portuguese is fairly low. But I have rated albums in Polish with five stars, so this is not the problem. The band ralso reproduces some Fab Four related material with "Ave, Lucifer" for instance. Very much Pepper's oriented.

And the innocent and weak "Disculpe, Baby" won't change anything to my judgment. Strangely enough, I didn't expect anything great from "Meu Refrigerador Não Funciona" (my fridge is not working). With such a title I was expecting the worse but I have to say that is by far my favorite track from this album.

It features gorgeous keyboards fully Procol Harum oriented (again not very original) and the vocal performance from Rita is really fantastic (I am not convinced about the male ones). A heavy piece of music which is truly captivating.

The contrary of the childish and almost doo-wop "Hey Boy". Very much fifties oriented.

Some originality present in their previous work "Mutantes" is totally absent here. If one excepts a couple of good songs, this album sounds rather flat. Jazzy ("Preciso Urgentemente Encontrar Um Amigo") or traditional ("Chão de Estrelas"), none of these songs are working and only adds to the dull feeling. The very few psyche moments are probably the best ones you can expect here. "Jogo de Calçada" is one of them.

If you are interested in good old psychedelia, I would recommend you to grab one of the good Airplane albums instead of looking for the holy grail with "Os Mutantes". If needed, you can get the confirmation with "Haleluia". The worst here. Press nextT.

Two stars for this average album.

After the terrific kickoff towards psychedelic rock that was their second album, Os Mutantes are back a years later with a new album, now completely drenched with psychedelia and comedy. However, unlike in their previous output, Os Mutantes just make an average album this time and the possible cause for that is the excess of comedy, that actually make the album bad. In other words, Os Mutantes are trying too hard to be funny and entertaining in other ways, and those ways do not involve making good music. Even my father does not like this album entirely and A Divina Comédia Ou Ando Meio Desligado is one of his favorite Os Mutantes albums.

However, and thankfully, they are way too talented to put out a bad album, thus releasing quite a mixed bag of good and bad songs, what can be seen since the beginning of the album: the opening is just a good (comedy) song, followed by a bad song, what is not very good. Thankfully, the next three songs are very good, specially O Meu Refrigerador Não Funciona, that is actually a very good comedy rock song à lá Janis Joplin. Then comes the horrible Hey Boy, that looks like some 50's rock (not the good 50's rock, but his retarded cousin), which is followed by the not-quite-good Preciso Urgentemente Encontrar um Amigo. Chão de Estrelas is a bit better than both songs that preceded it, but the funny part is actually far from good. Jogo de Calçada is not a very good song, mainly because it is overlong and, if it was 1 or maybe 2 minutes shorter it would be a lot better. The closing tracks are actually very good and are probably one of the best songs of the whole album. Haleluia is very good and have some nice organ and vocal work and Oh! Mulher Infiel have a great guitar and drum duo with some nice organ as well.

The highlights go to: Ando Meio Desligado; Ave, Lúcifer; Desculpe, Baby; Meu Refrigerador não Funciona; Haleluia; Oh Mulher Infiel.

the saddest moments are: Quem Tem Medo De Brincar De Amor; Hey Boy; Jogo de Calçada.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Mixing some good and some bad songs, this album can only be rated with 3 stars, as it is not good enough for 4 stars for having too many band songs. So, 3 stars for me.