primiballi

I am also convinced that one doesn't need to have a full knowledge of the preliminaries of jazz to appreciate an album like this. Perhaps it's more a question of how one listens. If the album is listened to "well," it shows whether the listener has "ear" or not. So... I would recommend settling onto a nice sofa with a good glass (just the right amount) of a fine calvados, with no irritating or stressful elements around (kids, women, horns, insurance agents, golf or horse enthusiasts, etc...), possibly in a nice silence as the only background. Then, start "kind" at the right volume, neither more nor less. Of course, all of this in the dark (pitch black or almost). Good: if – under these conditions – at the end of the album the listening experience is not fully satisfactory, then you can be sure that the master of the ears is a fool. Kisses

@iside: sorry, I'm only seeing this now... no, the birthday was on the 13th (at least that’s true...: does the de... match?). About the "counter": do you know Vasco between '78 and '85? And if so, did you know him back then or did you get to know him, let's say, after "gli spari sopra," rather than after "buoni e cattivi"...? They may seem trivial, but they are small details that change everything.... kisses

It's very difficult to review one of the best works, if not the best, of our singer-songwriter scene (and beyond). You do it well, -forgive me, I’m old...- with some overly self-indulgent flourishes, but if names -and nicknames- have any meaning, you’ve just crossed thirty and you’ll learn to subtract, not just in the lines (which are far too few), but indeed in the "literary self-indulgence", let’s call it that. That said, good review, the right and shareable feelings, and of course, a phenomenal album.

And if instead of conforming to the critical imperative that was already there, later repeated trivially a few years later with "dirty work," we made the effort to reevaluate a certainly lesser and not particularly inspired work, but one that certainly represents an "attempt" to do something different? The critics, always the same, tear into albums like these with unprecedented ferocity, only to bask in every occasion where the Stones recycle their sound for the thousandth time... by the way, do you remember a single review, from '90 to today, by official critics (and not just regarding the Stones...?)? Kisses

Dear Santa Claus, I really do still believe in you, so my youthful side is definitely safe. No, I was quoting from the megasalvi show, which, since I’m old and the others aren’t, no one picked up on. No hard feelings. It’s just that lately on DeB (but obviously not only there) I've been thinking a bit about how I spend my time, alongside an endless list of things to do, more or less entertaining and more or less necessary. And I believe that reviews will be put on hold for a while, to the good patience of my four readers (here), the indifference of many, and the joy of a few. But really, no hard feelings, and certainly no problems or anger (I'm forced to keep those for more serious matters). Simply, everything has a beginning, development, and end. My little adventure on DeB has come to an end. I repeat: kisses and salamis, with absolutely no rancor toward anyone.

once upon a time primiballi used to sell like hotcakes...now primiballi...he's not going...evidently due to outdated age limits, I repeat: kisses and cold cuts. From now on elsewhere.

well, kisses and regards

the practically contemporary DVD of the "amore morte e altre sciocchezze" tour, that is from 1998, (therefore a product of an inexplicably late release...) is infinitely more beautiful. I had written a review for DeB, but, alas, I violated the jus primae noctis by publishing it first on my blog, and I got scolded....(and missed out on the publication...). Amen, go read it there, even if I won't repeat the address (I got scolded for that too...what strict teachers these editors...)

Alright... just look at the reverence I dedicate to some so-called minors to deduce that we aren't so far apart. But, I repeat, "Wish" is a song that resonates with both twenty-year-olds and fifty-year-olds; Gilmour's rendition is beautiful, and we've all heard it even in 2006. The one that's more "strange" and less d.o.c. from Waters might be even more beautiful, and, I assure you, it was quite moving at the Arena di Verona. I'm not saying it's beautiful BECAUSE everyone listens to it, but I'm saying everyone listens to it BECAUSE it's beautiful. But that song and that album. I would never make the same argument for Britney or for Pausini's latest covers (dramatic), characters and works that (bet?) will be totally forgotten in thirty years. What we need to watch out for is both "racism" and "reverse racism"... don’t you think? (It's foolish to say "it’s good because everyone listens to it", but it's also foolish to say "it's bad because everyone listens to it"... right?). For years, I've had a criterion: if it pleases the public, the official critics, those of niche, the incredibly varied breed of musicians (among whom, in my little way, I take pride in being included), and especially me, it means I can consider the work good (is it BB Kink? Is it Fabio Treves? It doesn't change anything. Of course: I will always love Danilo Rea more than the highly praised and bestselling Allevi, but only for what I believe to be artistic merits, nothing else). I think we are clear, right? As we say in my line of work, I think a transaction on these terms can be found, right...?

"However, if an album (regardless of Wish You and Dark Side specifically, I mean in general) doesn’t hold up over time for any reason, meaning that for one reason or another there are albums that somehow do the same thing better... sorry, but this is the triumph of subjectivity elevated to an unshakeable notion of objective certainty...: for you, 'Wish' (just as an example) doesn’t hold up well over time? Fine: then it means that it is so, and who cares if thousands of people are still buying it after thirty years, and if Gilmour and Waters filled stadiums playing it in 2006 all around the world... 'but if the listening experience isn’t as fulfilling compared to other things, I think it’s fair to say it.' I evaluate an album in relation to my present and my listening, and I couldn’t do otherwise, and I believe it’s also more interesting... here instead, and rightly so, we are at the triumph of admitted subjectivism, guilty and confessed, and therefore I can only agree with you, or rather, with the absolute respectability of your idea. What often annoys me about DeB is the absolute (Ratzingerian?) implicit criticism of relativism and subjectivity, as if this were a place where everyone (certainly not you, who have your own past, here, totally respectable) unloads their frustrations imposing on everyone the greatness (coincidentally unappreciated) of very minor artists, to whom we, guilty, have not dedicated ourselves because we were too busy praising nonentities like the Pink Floyd, the Stones, or the Beatles... this is my criticism, ajeje, but I ask you to consider that it was not (except in the slightest part) aimed at you. Kisses."