Elisa
Soundtrack '96 - '06

THE REVIEW

And so came the greatest hits from Elisa of Monfalcone. After the failed attempt to conquer the American charts with "Pearl Days" (produced and arranged by Glen Ballard, ex-Alanis Morissette), the golden girl of the Caselli stable returns with a collection of her most successful singles. A very fortunate collection, considering that seven months after its release date it is still in the national top ten of the best-selling albums.

A relaunch operation that many have frowned upon because it is too "advertised," yet a collection of Elisa's most beautiful songs (and she has made beautiful songs) cannot be hastily dismissed with the case's too predictable definitions; many may fear that the artist, musically very valid until now, could become a pseudo-starlet and ride the trends of the moment on the wave of some (ex) illustrious colleagues. But the girl in question isn't so inclined to sell out her talent and has too much substance to do such a thing.

Thirteen singles and four new tracks of which the first, "Stay", opens the set. It vaguely recalls the Depeche Mode sound, let's say it would have fit well in the album "Asile's World." Following is the hit that in recent months has bombarded the brains of frequent listeners of commercial and non-commercial radio, "Gli Ostacoli del Cuore". A nice little song, but after a bit of heavy rotation can become quite annoying. A particular feature of the track is the partnership with Ligabue, the author of the song (apparently written especially for... Elisa), who could have spared us the inappropriate presence of his booming voice that appears suddenly in the last forty seconds of the song, making us think that the vocalist has had a sudden coughing fit. Since he was there, he could have also spared us the clip directed by himself, but, as we know, some would appear even for a few seconds in the video... Once the impression that we are listening to a brand new record has passed, the first so-called collectible hits, "Broken" and "Swan", arrive. Not exactly two classics by Elisa (the first is a semi-acoustic dirge contained in the album "Lotus", which in turn was a kind of collection of live and unplugged tracks; the second, very similar, is the soundtrack of a pathetic film released last year), but still two video clip successes.

For a boost, you have to wait for "Labyrinth", Elisa's debut single from 1997, a track that immediately highlighted her extraordinary vocal range. The rest of the tracks is a selection of chart singles, among which certainly stand out "Heaven out of Hell" (a beautiful soundtrack for another so-so movie), the splendid "Rainbow" in a more rockish version, her first, evocative song in Italian "Luce (Tramonti a Nord-Est)", and "Una Poesia anche per Te", a beautiful extract from "Pearl Days". Just for these four pieces, "Soundtrack '96 - '06" finds its reason for being.

"Dancing" is an intense old-fashioned slow song, where Elisa's voice strokes the notes and once again proves, for those who don't believe it, to be the most beautiful and versatile voice currently circulating in the national pop scene. The greatest hits conclude with two other new tracks, "Eppure sentire" and "Qualcosa che non c'è", both in Italian. The first is another slow piece, introduced by the piano, very beautiful both musically and in terms of lyrics. It's a pity that once again it is associated with a trivial movie (is this why the selection is called "Soundtrack"?). The second is less immediate, characterized by a less virtuous singing, at least in the first part, and a very introspective text; an ideal sum of these first ten years of career.

After listening, you cannot help but notice the massive presence of songs sung in Italian, once almost unthinkable for Elisa. Out of four new tracks, three are in her mother tongue, which makes one think about the direction Elisa will take after this collection. One wonders whether this change is due to the American disappointment of "Pearl Days" or an actual maturation of the girl, perhaps finally ready to face the big audience by translating emotions in the same language. Another criticism that can be made of "Soundtrack" is about the selection of pieces, which, apart from a limited number of obligatory singles, leaves a bit to be desired; beautiful songs like "The Waves" or even "Asile's World" have been left out to make room for stuff sometimes quite bland.

However, it is a greatest hits, and these types of collections are never the selection of the actually best pieces (they are not even the best of). The fact remains that if you like Elisa, this CD contains four new tracks and a good representation of her repertoire.