Daniele Luttazzi
Money For Dope

Once upon a time, there was "Satyricon", a nice satirical program broadcast on Rai. Well, it’s no longer there. Once upon a time, there was Daniele Luttazzi, a sharp, direct satirist who worked on TV. Well, it's been quite a while since (due to forces beyond his control) he hasn’t worked there anymore. Once upon a time, there was Daniele Luttazzi, a brilliant and satirical journalist who curated a column in the last pages of Rolling Stone. Nobody knows why, but he no longer writes for that magazine. Once upon a time, there was still Daniele Luttazzi, but this time the musician Luttazzi, whom few know. Well, fortunately, he’s definitely around.

This Mr. Luttazzi, a comedian and satirist by profession for many years, was a young man in the ’70s, studying at the University and playing in a band. His genre? Swing, pop, jazz, funk. All this is found in his debut album dated 2005, "Money For Dope". Overall, the record at times has a very "Broadway" sound (which, honestly, doesn’t drive me crazy). His intention was to create an "elegiac musical," as written in the album booklet. And the intention has been fully respected. There's a bit of everything in the album. The basic idea is that of a joyful jazzy swing ("Vienna, Vienna", "Easy To Be Fooled") mixed with quality pop ("Silence", "Letters On Fire", which has a pretty good guitar setup, with decisively psychedelic final effects), very suitable for a theatrical representation. Jazz, pop, funk, and rock revolve around this idea. "I can’t stand it" mixes jazz, rock, and funk in an explosive and captivating blend, with choruses that definitely send us to a 1930s Chicago (not so far from Luttazzi's home). This is perhaps the flaw of the album, which is trying to represent a musical on a CD, not an easy task (but well done, one must admit).

In short, a nice musical concoction that requires at least one listen (or should I say, a taste...). It may not be a masterpiece, but it’s still something innovative for this period. The peak of the album is reached with the title-track (which closes the album) "Money For Dope", a sweet, sad, and melancholic ballad of five minutes, based almost entirely on piano, strings, and bass. It was written in 1979 for one of Daniele’s dear friends who died of a heroin overdose. At that moment, much changed for Luttazzi, and what he felt can be sensed when listening to this beautiful track. Goosebumps are guaranteed. If the album had been entirely along the lines of this last piece, of "Silence" or of "Letters On Fire", it would have earned its 5 stars. Entirely sung in English, the album contains tracks that are below the value of the album, like "Something Fantastic" and "Guard My Tongue" (maybe, but the Frank Sinatra-style swing doesn't quite suit me), possibly used as fillers. But a simple and banal listen (even a distracted one) to the heart-rending and epic "Money For Dope" (which alone is worth the entire album) is enough to curse the moment when "Un Senso" or "Cleptomania" are shown on TV, and not "Money For Dope" (which, let’s console ourselves, airs on Brand:New)...

For the moment, we’ll content ourselves with listening to it on CD. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be able to see his lovely smiling face on a TV screen again...