Elio e le Storie Tese
Elio Samaga Hukapan Kariyana Turu

THE REVIEW

Over the years, I've heard far too many slanders about our dear Elio and his dear companions, and it’s finally time to review them and give them the deserved tribute. What many unfortunately consider a group of buffoons and jesters, incapable of doing anything but acting silly, is perhaps one of the most important entities that our music has ever known.

Excellent musicians endowed with a technique that many other local groups envy, friendly and ironic people inside and outside the recording studio, as well as original, irreverent, demented, and serious artists at the same time; but let's get to the album. “Elio Samaga Hukapan Kariyana Turu” was released in 1989, and it’s the album that introduces the group to the broad public. In my opinion, alongside “Italyan Rum Casusu Çikti” from 1992, this is the most beautiful album ever published by the Elii. Truly splendid, nothing more, nothing less. The usual technical skill of each musician perfectly complements the usual, unmistakable, fantastic voice of Elio who narrates fantastic adventures, like that of John Holmes, the deceased porn star to whom he pays tribute in the opening track, or like in “Cateto,” where he illustrates the sad condition of a man and a woman whose faces are respectively covered by grass and leaves, and shit oozing from the pores: a very strong song, with a remarkable arrangement. But the true masterpiece of the album is the sensational “Cara Ti Amo,” an irreverent, delightful, fun, ironic track, one of the gems of their discography, which highlights and accentuates the minor spats that characterize romantic relationships between two people: absolutely a must-listen and re-listen. And how could we not mention “Nella Vecchia Azienda Agricola”? A powerful parody of the famous song.

Finally, with indelible ink, we must underline the performance of drummer Mayer, who truly shows us what it means to use drumsticks well, and of Faso, whom I consider, without exaggeration, one of the best bassists around, indeed, the best in Italy. What else is there to say about “Elio Samaga Hukapan Kariyana Turu”? Buy it, download it, do whatever you like, but listen to it and listen to it again, you won't regret it.