Avion Travel
Danson Metropoli - Canzoni di Paolo Conte

Impossible mission.

Or perhaps only seemingly so. Yes, because fans of Paolo Conte, including, of course, and fervently so, the writer, are quite fanatical and usually do not like covers of their Maestro. Fans of Avion Travel, with all due respect, are somewhat few and certainly "niche" (for better or worse), despite a Sanremo win on the back of Sugar's power. Meanwhile, the "Danson Metropoli" operation in itself is brave if not even reckless. But we are here to talk about the result, not abstract and sophistic analyses.

The album, listened to several times with growing attention and curiosity, offers some truly beautiful things, some not particularly remarkable, and one, obviously for myself, decidedly flawed. The atmosphere of the album is entertaining and, in general, good. The guys are real overachievers, but here they do not weigh it down too much and seem to really enjoy themselves, especially when manipulating and rearranging Conte's compositions with a mix of respect, precision, experimentation, and a lot, really a lot, of pleasure. I mentioned that some things are really excellent. First of all, I find what they've done with "Cosa Sai Di Me" beautiful, a splendid song that the lawyer – who knows why – lately had the tendency to throw into cha cha cha... Now it becomes slow and measured, with those repetitions that seemingly never "take off" but ultimately build the true charm of a song. Then I find the impossible pairing of Avion, the Author himself, and none other than Gianna Nannini exceptional in the splendid "Elisir", a song that, if I'm not mistaken, was still untouched by cover versions. Here Nannini, whom I find as much a gigantic promise from the '70s and early '80s as the unbearable neomelodic disappointment today, is incredibly at ease rendering the song's refrain simply beautiful and lyrical, in the best sense. The Conte/Nannini pairing is precisely the symbol of the courage and fundamental success of the work.

Then I find they achieved commendable things with "Max" and with "Blue Haways", as well as on the concluding "Languida", all especially at the level of arrangements and orchestrations. In "Spassiunatamente", they play at home, being one of Conte's songs written – evidently in homage to a Music, a City, a Culture... – with the Neapolitan "language." If I had been the producer of the work, I would have imposed the interpretation of all Conte's "Neapolitan" songs. The unreleased "Il Giudizio Di Paride" is a very beautiful song, which arouses curiosity to hear its original version – which maybe sooner or later will come... – being the only one with no comparisons. Doubts arise precisely from the two pieces that the Small Orchestra considers "flagships." "Danson Metropoli" is almost identical to the original, with a good portion of Conte's irony missing (and this was a limit both insurmountable and easily imaginable with a bit of modesty), enriched, however, by Conte himself who "verses" here and there, somewhat like in the original. A bit too much. Even the changed words, like "incazzatura" instead of "idiosincrasia", apart from a few others, are simply less beautiful than the originals, even though it is evident they were approved by Conte himself.

The real sore point, however, is the inexplicable first single: "Sijmadicandhapajiee", an ultra-Conte, ultra-Stigian, ultra-indigenous song, which makes no sense in the hands of Avion Travel, and not just for dialectal reasons. First because even here the disenchanted and superior self-irony of the author disappears (... either you have it or you don't...), then it also disappears, that casual "almost samba" becomes a full-blown samba, much less than Jobim-like, trivialized and trivializing, with improbable carioca choruses. In short, the black sheep of the record, a fatal and grave error typical of the superiority complex that resides inside every overachiever, who does not see the error even when it is evident to the last of the dunces. The result is that of a Ranieri singing "La Città Vecchia" by De André accompanied by Casadei (perhaps I have exaggerated... but you get the idea...). A pity. For the rest, praise for the courage of Avion Travel and also for the commitment of that lazy dinosaur Conte, convinced to produce the work, give a cover and even an unreleased track, in addition to a "slice" of voice.

Will it remain in history? Who knows...: in the history of cover albums, a parallel universe that would deserve more than one in-depth treatise, probably yes. What could excite us would be an album of original Conte songs sung by Him and played by Them, instead of the soul-less nerds with whom the Lawyer has toured in recent years. Avion nerds they are, but at least they have plenty of soul to spare.