DanteCruciani

The Porcupine Tree, the Porcupine Tree...beautiful memories, phenomenal musicians, two concerts I attended in Rome: a band that, in my opinion, carved out its incredible space in the nineties and paved the way for many other mostly useless groups. As already mentioned by others in previous comments, Lightbulb Sun is a pleasant album that often shows little substance, covered by embellishments and overly whiny melodies. In the end, I do like this album, that's for sure, but when it comes to the so-called "new PT phase" (that is, starting from Stupid Dream), I definitely prefer Stupid Dream, followed by In Absentia, and then I think this one... However, the best of PT remains Coma Divine live, which I recommend to everyone, one of the most beautiful live performances I've ever heard, with Maitland in a state of grace (nothing like that incredible, boring metronome Gavin Harrison), and with a blasphemy suddenly coming from the audience - you know, the concert was in Rome :)

even today, as we find ourselves in the year of the diaper for obsessive-compulsive presidents...

I rate this writer as generally, creatively, and tenderly great.

It's a pleasure to read you again. You've piqued my curiosity, and then "cannibal movies from the early '80s, Lynch, even Freud and Greek tragedy..." is a mix I had never thought of. It's like saying Deodato takes the stage at the amphitheater owned by Sophocles, while Lynch is there trying to find a way to alienate it all, secretly? I’ll get my hands on that! And then cinema always "gets lost" around those parts, I wonder why: Thailand, Vietnam, all the way to the unforgettable border with Cambodia with the crazy hopper and the enlightened brando :)

oh yes, oh yes...the old guard stays (in the sense of becoming senile!). By the way, do you know what happened to symbad? And a couple of others from the old days? Anyway, best wishes for everything, I’d love to find your review somewhere, what do you say? My latest one is about the oxford dictionary, there was really nothing to do:) Saludos

Hi Antonio, we’re alive, it seems, right? What a shame… but do you remember the good old days when posts were used solely to insult the reviewer or each other, and not like now, when they’re used to give praise… ahhh, those were the days of the legendary review on Ciccone… Everything flows, but deep down we remain!

A record that I really like, I believe it's the most extreme and experimental of Zappa along with Lumpy Gravy, but as they say, "never losing tenderness".... However, Burnt Weeny Sandwich can't be beaten, because it's a very accessible and straightforward "art-rock" album, a bit the opposite of this one, after all ;) And reviews on Zappa, whenever someone can and wants to make them, a double-triple-quadruple is always welcome!

One cannot question anyone's opinion; if you don't like this album, then you don't like it, and you are right to say so, specifying your point of view, which obviously isn't always the same as that of others. On the other hand, you will also know that certain albums are considered sacred by music enthusiasts, and therefore you have committed an atrocious crime today :) I certainly don't agree with what you say, and for a simple reason: anyone who has truly listened to this album, who loves it and has absorbed it into their veins and nerve endings, will immediately be able to spot the difference with Lumpy Gravy by Zappa: the latter is, as always in the big moustached one's style, a silly and nonsensical puzzle. Faust 1, on the other hand, with all its hidden power and hissing silences, is terribly SAD, with a cosmic sadness that is very, very European and Central European. The voices on the album may be nonsensical, but it’s a nonsense that has little to do with laughter. Ultimately, the explanation of this album lies entirely in the beautiful poem recited at the end, and particularly in its last line: "NOBODY KNOWS IF IT REALLY HAPPENED."

Anyway, nice review. I read the book and it was enjoyable, at times a bit forced, but enjoyable (some comedic passages are very funny—ultra Bukowskian, yes—but funny). Aside from Frascella, there has been a lot of talk lately about Paolo Giordano and his *La solitudine dei numeri primi* (which I haven't read): it seems that right now some young authors are having a lot of luck and visibility, and regardless of everything, this seems like a great thing to me (whether it's all just marketing, I don't know). The point is that this book seems to be written sincerely; if it echoes some exaggerations, especially from Fante and Bukowski, well, that just means that Frascella has loved their books a lot, and I don't think he's the only one. It's certainly been a long time since a pleasant book like this came out, maybe light and silly, but far from what I suspect to be the usual existential meatball of Paolo Giordano. But I repeat, I haven’t read that, so I could be wrong; after all, everyone has spoken well of it. And then, for crying out loud, my keyboard buttons for accented letters aren't working! ;D

Nightfly is a 5-star album with honors, Kamakiriad is a 4, Morph the Cat is a 3… so you still have room for two more records, dear Donald! Personally, I adore Fagen and Steely Dan, and this Kamakiriad has always seemed to me a really good work, albeit a bit heavy at times as Dr. Adder rightly pointed out, but with a couple of truly excellent peaks (the magical Snowbound and the hypnotic On The Dunes). If you haven't done so already, give this album a listen too, without stopping only at The Nightfly. Because when it comes to travels in memory and time, this guy here with the sshhh in his mouth knows how to do it really well…