Après La Classe
Luna Park

The first time I listened to "Après la classe" was in my former rented house with 3 other university students. A beer and a joint, we were getting ready for the upcoming live show. I thought: "Damn, fantastic". The first time I listened to "Un numero" was on Christmas Day, at my home, happy with my longtime friend's nice gift. I thought: "Uhm, nice, some of these are really amazing". It was 2004. Since then, many concerts a bit everywhere, a lineup change, and various alternative projects. Until the announcement of this new work at the beginning of this 2006, initially planned for May but postponed until September. The first time I listened to "Luna Park" was about two hours ago, certainly far removed from previous situations. I bought it at Messaggerie Musicali, wanting to see what effect it had to "decontextualize" them, to buy and listen to them away from the common hometown. Reading the booklet and credits, a smile. At least when writing, Après are always the same! The sound, however... as they widely announced, has changed. Well sure, ten years have passed since the start-up of the "project" (as they call it), innovation was needed... it's just that choosing to open the CD with a track like "La grande mela" is at least risky. The track has nothing of the Après style, even Cesko's voice is distorted, the sound disorients, it is dark and strange and the lyrics aim to be engaged and pseudo-cryptic but fail to convince at all. It improves significantly with "L'era del fiore", where the opening accordion of usual excellent Pucciana (or Puccesca? Well, by Puccia) craftsmanship brings fans back to a more familiar dimension. The punkchanka returns, albeit more "diluted" compared to "La patchanka" or "Un numero", the potency of which remains at levels barely reached in this entire album. "Et un été encore" can be skipped without too much guilt, being a French ballad neither here nor there. The first peak of the tracklist is "Vorrei sapere perché", a classic track ready to make the crazies mosh at concerts, energetic, joyful, frenzied, with Cesko leading the frantic dances. Passing through "Non resterà niente" ("At night I often dream of flying away with the wind, but like everything else it passes and I feel the bitterness in my mouth. I love the place where I come from, but I don't like where I'm going, God where am I ending!") whose lyrics give me the annoying impression of being adapted to a base that doesn't fit perfectly, we arrive at "Marie", a big ballad in pure reggae style with two voices: French Ceskone and dialect Terron Fabio. Raise your hand if you didn't expect that the Aprè would NEVER collaborate with the SSS... I certainly didn't fall from the clouds, but after all, French and dialect clash less than one might think. The best track is (confirming the impression had at M@d in Salento Festival, see my previous review) "La luna cadrà", accordions, scratches, ska folkish rhythm that presses on. Insignificant lyrics, but when you're moshing do you really listen to the words? Return of Puccia to dialectal rap, this track is clearly an ideal follow-up to "Sale la febbre" and doesn't turn out too badly. "Se spegni il sole" conveys no emotion, while "Perché trasmetti solo stress?" is certainly the lowest point of the entire work (starting from the very unfortunate title). Already heard at the aforementioned Festival, it didn't convince me, and hearing it again now tells me even less. The intro of "Cerca lo scrigno" is unmistakably rock, a strumming and distorted riff. There's much to be bewildered by, also because the rest of the piece says very little. "I pirati neri e..." is a little, delightful nonsense. The last track instead is a little story in itself: when they were still a band for Festa de lu Mieru and Sagra de li Pezzetti, Après used to propose very intense live sets, burning with their energy, a representation of the desire to have fun which is inherent in ska. There's a bootleg of theirs that could be bought at the time from the merchandising stalls where, among a proto-version of "Lu sule lu mare lu ientu" then titled "Salento II" and a duet with Pino Zimba, Cesko at one point announced a piece called "Lu sciacuddhruzzi" (an imaginary creature of the Salento tradition, a mischievous sprite credited with small magical powers). After 10 years of clandestine life, lu sciacuddhruzzi returns in an official form, engraved on a magnetic groove to remind us, at the end of the day, who Après are and where they come from. An entirely dialectal track, where accordions and guitars blend in the typical crossover of this band, almost to close the circle started with the self-titled album almost 7 years ago. It's precisely lu sciacuddhruzzi that saves them from getting only one star in this review of mine. If "La luna cadrà" wouldn't have clashed in the context of "Un numero", "La leggenda dell'oro" would have been perfectly at home in "Après la classe", as if not to completely deny their roots despite having announced and then realized a predictable renewal. Losing Ferro and his trumpets has irremediably lost the tough and pure reggaeska aura (after all, you can't do ska without trumpets) in favor of a rock wave which, unfortunately, on the one hand renews them but on the other flattens them. Celebrated on September 30 in Sternatia for their 10 years of life, the Après are ready to tour Italy with their "Luna Park", I renew my invitation to go see them to truly breathe in their essence. Fans, on the other hand, should strive to see in this CD an inexorable sign of time passing... and of the new that advances.....