Charlie & the Cats
The Original!

Apparently, no one is spared from the plagiarism scandal anymore, not even among the big names in the global music scene. According to what is claimed by Charlie and his newfound companions, some of the greatest global hits in the history of music are nothing more than blatant copies of traditional Brescian songs, and now it's time for Charlie & the Cats to set things right.

Thus, some rather uncomfortable truths come to light, namely that some of the biggest artists must have spent some vacation time in certain locations in the province of Brescia, since Lionel Richie listened to a rockabilly song titled “G’ho ‘l nas long” and recorded it to create the much more famous “All Night Long”, given that the Tears for Fears took inspiration from a postcard song for Lake Iseo (“Ciao”) for their “Shout”. Michael Jackson as well (recurrent, after Albano now it's Charlie & the Cats, shame!) must have taken a trip to the Brescian valleys (listen to “Luigina” and compare with “Billie Jean” to believe it).
Sting then took advantage of “El librèt d’l asègn”, one of the most beautiful tile pieces ever heard, for “Every Breath You Take”. Prince is one of the main culprits of these misdeeds, as he copied no less than three pieces, namely “Ahi”, which then became “Sign o’ The Times”, “Chi sèt?”, later transformed into “Kiss”, and he even dared to touch the well-known “Palpo Lei” for “Purple Rain”, unbelievable, and then these great artists boast of being original!
Not even Peter Gabriel (he built his “Sledgehammer”, making it a bit more commercial, on “Lerdammer”), Stevie Wonder (how could he touch a wonder like “Macchè” to make “I Just Called To Say I Love You”?), even the Shocking Blue (“Venus” was originally “Vino”), the Frankie Goes to Hollywood (“Un fax” is a very realistic story about a character with common problems as he asked to send a fax, but the diligent clerk sent him two, then this little story was transformed into “Relax”), the Spencer Davis Group (“Gimme Some Lovin’” was taken from “Nèla not… tòò!”).
Lastly but not least, three pieces that were later transformed into one in Neapolitan, “Fruntignà”, which was appropriated for “O’ sole mio”, and two in Italian, “Tignale”, which then became “Se mi lasci non vale”, and “Inno di Brozzo”. Michele Novaro and Gofredo Mameli must have visited some territories of the Republic of San Marco in their time and got the idea for... well, at this point, I’ve said it all, all that's left is to listen to this album, among other things, a splendid example of how to play the most enjoyable swing and rockabilly-blues. Welcome back Charlie, thank you for finally doing justice and make sure to claim your royalties!