Diaframma
Passato Presente

THE REVIEW

Passato Presente is not quite clear what it is: it starts with some "classic" tracks from the Diaframma repertoire revisited by illustrious names of our local rock but the result is globally disappointing: Donà is not convincing with her sparse version of "labbra blu" and she seems almost uninterested. Max Casacci puts his hands on "effetto notte" and here at least there is the taste and class of the subsonic that manages with skill.
The worst of the first part of this hybrid album is "siberia" performed by Madaski. Here the first difficult-to-understand choice of Fiumani who entrusts the vocals to the Piedmont musician (and it's unclear why given the result) who messes up a second-rate dance version almost as if he were a kid playing for the first time with some pc software.

The second part of the CD sees Fiumani with his band revisiting other pieces of his catalog and it's not quite clear why since they don’t differ much from the original versions. "blu petrolio" the only musically renewed piece transforms into a dull reggae that makes you miss the expressive urgency that the original contained in the mythical "boxe" transmitted.
The album closes with four unreleased tracks where the superb "ho te" stands out reminding us that Fiumani knows how to write memorable songs. To be honest, we must also remember "giovanna" beautiful, gritty, and inspired. The same side of the same coin is "new wave" which despite its title is one of those amusements that the Florentine musician now offers on every album and probably entertains only himself.

"Passato Presente" well represents with its merits and defects the artistic trajectory of Fiumani, a very clear talent that sometimes has ruined himself snatching away the possibility of becoming something more than certainly an important figure but always of cult. It's really hard to believe that the same person who wrote "tre volte lacrime", "verde" or "caldo" is the one who ventures here with "tre allegri ragazzi".

We await the next album hopeful that our poet hero can rediscover the creative vein that made him great.