primiballi

Antimo...: given Italy’s cultural colony vocation in pop music (with the excellent exception of the best singer-songwriters), I would say that I am more inclined to think that plagiarism in one sense (from Zucchero to America) is plausible, while the reverse (from Macca to Bennato or Battisti) is a bit less so. Mind you...: I say a bit less, not impossible.

good, well, I approve and endorse. everything.

First thing: absolute solidarity with Massimof, whom I meet here and whose ideas on music and time I deeply share. Second: Springsteen is a tremendous artist who is incredibly easy to downplay and attack (like all big targets, which are ontologically easier to hit...with little effort). The minimum question to answer is this: if it's true that the Boss has certainly drawn inspiration from Dylan's songwriting, from soul blues in a broad sense, and from country in a narrow sense (at least that's how I see it), who else, besides him, has managed to "turn the page" by so brilliantly blending the ingredients...? It's a bit like what the best Prince did with black music: a thousand sources of inspiration mixed together to form an absolutely personal and original style. The belittling of Born To Run is unjust, ahistorical, and a step away from being absurd (and I assure you it's not the album I prefer). Are there many albums like this...? Well, pray tell: which ones? Third: JJ Cale, because this is what should be discussed, is an immensely great artist who is perpetually undervalued, also because he's a brilliant scruffy genius who doesn't give a damn about the "marketing" side of music (and for that, he should only be appreciated). He has surely made more money from the rights of songs performed by Clapton than from a thousand albums and five thousand tours...

great review and beautiful record. a real punch in the gut, in that '97 rich with incredible personal memories for me. it manages to be an atmospheric and highly inspired album, behind the false appearance of something else (jungle... well... it's aesthetically true... but I find it reductive...). Bowie, here as elsewhere, demonstrates all his genius.

Basically, I don’t agree with a review that I find excessive, exaggerated in form and content, and slightly Taliban. CAS is certainly not the masterpiece of Genesis, but it is definitely better than some works from the Collins era. Here, in my opinion, there is a noticeable compositional effort (we're in '97…! we should cut it some slack, right…?) and everything is played (and sung) beautifully. I only agree on one point: Congo, the first single, is ugly and trivial, a misstep born from an unhealthy chart illusion…

Do you remember...? Even for the cover of Off The Ground, there was talk of plagiarism of the (beautiful) cover of Il Mio Canto Libero by Battisti...; it was indeed the same idea. Either Macca is very attuned to Italian culture, or it’s simply a matter of similar sensibilities...

I meant to say that it was certainly born from piano and voice, and that the piano is the harmonic foundation of it all... the rest is (very pleasant) embellishment. I can also appreciate Gwen Stefani, and I see it as a destination, not a departure.

In my opinion, this album is undeniably beautiful, just as the entire work of Bowie is of great quality, with the sole exceptions of Tin Machine and Never Let Me Down. At least, that's how I see it... Of course, following up Earthling was quite a challenge, especially if one believes in the false myth of musical progressivism, according to which even geniuses (and Bowie is one) are bound, by some unwritten rule, to always create something new... Thursday's Child is simply stunning, and its success certainly does not diminish it.

reprint these records!!!! (if only some fool of a record label executive happened to pass by...)

incredibly beautiful, heartfelt, and deep record. So, at the beginning of the '70s, both Paul and George, with the beautiful and fundamental "All Things Must Pass," gave the impression that the end of the Beatles might not be as severe as it seemed. Was it really... ?