Who invented the colander? And who invented the corkscrew? How many brooms does the witch Bacheca have? And how many does the witch Magò? What toothpaste does an ogre use for his smile? And why does his axe look like a guitar? These are the questions we will answer by not answering at all. After all, we know of an ogre/witch. He is a musical craftsman, and from his shabby Archimedes workshop come continuous inventions. Perhaps not essential things like corkscrews and colanders, but rather unusual and bizarre musical instruments. We've already spoken about him in a previous review, so to avoid repeating ourselves, we will simply mention the most instrument-like instrument of all — the asymmetric plunger. In any case, gladly attributing the label of genius to both the creator of the colander and that of the corkscrew, we will say that our ogre witch is no less. Cutting off the head of the mouse, and maybe even the bull, it will be enough to add the suffix EU. Are you ready? Yes? Then here it is: EU+genius=Eugenio.
“Careful with that axe, Eugenio” said that fabulous Floyd track. A rather useless advice, given that our man uses the tool masterfully. Not only that, in cahoots with those other shabbies of Camper Van Beethoven, he's even covered “Careful with that axe Eugene”. Besides, “Ummagumma” was the first little cassette I ever bought. What are you doing Eugenio, joking with the saints?
Someone described Eugenio like this: "anarchic electro folkie, troubadelic matador, gonzo audio journalist, dynamite traditionalist”.
Interesting is what Macaco, the fabulous debasico do Brasil, writes. He not only saw him live but also bought from his hands one of those little cassettes sold at the end of the concert: “Here, he gave me a very tender impression; I wanted to pinch his little cheeks. Someone who creates a cassette cover with his daughter's marker box can only have a heart of chocolate”. Oh, it must be wonderful to pinch a dynamite man's cheeks.
Now let's make a micro story in seven steps. Step number one: he is the third child in his school to receive a guitar as a gift after the Beatles performed at the Ed Sullivan Show. Step number two: Hendrix appeared beautiful to him. Step number three: he became passionate about the political folk of Phil Ochs, as in why is the world so awful? Step number four: he falls in love with the first Zappa, the one that combined social satire and sonic madness. Step number five: clashing with free jazz, he discovers that a lot of things fit into a moment. Step number six: he invents a genre of which he is and will remain the sole exponent, namely noise-inducing country & western. Step number seven: since everyone speaks ill of it, he becomes interested in the punk scene, no/wave and starts destroying classics of rock with incendiary covers.
But let's get to this album. “Horrible misunderstandings were happening in the early 1980s in New York. People flocked and watched attentively any improvised music concert, but if you played a Hank Williams song, they behaved as if you were doing something disgusting…”
Here, you will find masterful reinterpretations of country classics (Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard). The cauldron sizzles and boils, and our Eugenio, like a good ogre/witch, performs a miracle. On one hand, he attacks and on the other, highlights, safeguarding, in one fell swoop, both the epic and the visionary anarchy.
But let's take two more steps, or rather, five more
One, here is a kind of velvety tum tum for you.
Two, imagine a shapeless base deformed by a drunk virtuoso and a cartoon-like singing, then suspension and a sense of expectation...what will happen? Well, we're going country & western, and damn, we get moved. It could be that you don't expect something like Johnny Cash after all that chaos, or it could be that we're going quite crooked.
Three has openings on an ironic who knows where, a cartoon voice that doubles another as Yogi Bear...then the slightly troubled nap of someone who’s eaten heavily...finally, classical country in an attire that couldn’t be less classical...the incongruity is absolute, disorienting, hooray, hooray, hooray!!!.
Four allows itself to be just a lopsided country.
Five, it transcends...how can one be immortal amidst the most aberrant sonic? One moment today the comedies, the next moment the fatalist hyper folk macho. And what the hell!!! Then the rest of the journey (6, 7, 8, 9, 10,11) maybe face it without a touring guide.
Everything is very strange, of course. But don’t think that it doesn't come together, it definitely does. And when it seems it’s just a jumble, someone grabs the colander and serves granny's strozzapreti to you. And after the colander, the corkscrew. And here in chipped glasses comes an ancient wine.
By the way, do you know why strozzapreti are called that? I do...
Oh, there is one last issue, who the heck is Tatsuya Nakatani? Well, so to speak, I would say he is Japanese.
Trallallà....
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