Fabio Concato
Fabio Concato

Fabio Concato 1999 is the album that made me know him better. Going on vacation in the spring of 1999, my father played it in the car, strictly on cassette. We would leave for Eboli from Ercolano, and at the highway toll booth heading towards Salerno, the electric guitar riff by Paolo Carta would start, a major 7 riff that immediately set the meditative atmosphere... "How lovely to find you here/ on a little road that goes to the sea"... It brings back both the opening of "Tanto per cambiare", anno Domini 1986, and the trattoria from 1992. A very good start. "Canto d'amore" also takes place by the sea, specifically in Posillipo, demonstrating Fabio's fondness for Naples and its surroundings (Naples was mentioned in "Gigi"). The music is romantic, vaguely bossa nova, and this time, after the "valzeroni," a mambo is danced. And then, the Masterpiece, the perfect one, that brings a tear to the eye, that makes you think of the red-haired classmate a year older... "M'innamoro davvero" is a great love song, not coincidentally remaining in the collective memory, and not coincidentally also present in a duet version with Puerto Rican José Feliciano, at the end of the album, reiterating Concato's love for South American music. When he sings "lo sai che di tempo ne avrò, ne avrai" I think of a plant... I believe a video on YouTube associates that passage with a plant. "Non mi scordare," among the lesser-known ones, reinterpreted acoustically in 2021 in the double CD Musico ambulante, alludes to a "dancing heart," foreshadowing the heart arrhythmia Fabio suffered from which would force him to a long period away from the scene and an operation, perfectly successful that brought him back in great shape. At this point, my two favorites come, listened to and re-listened to, rehabilitated in 2013 after 14 years that I hadn't listened to them: "La barca Guendalina" and "How are you my baby?" The first starts with a piano intro that immediately captures, moves, and the arrangement when the second verse starts also moves me... It vaguely inspired a song I wrote (I write and play, but I don't publish reviews of my things, otherwise it's the end!), and it's not clear if Guendalina is the name of the boat, a girl, or both. Kisses are a leitmotif of Fabio's songs. "How are you my baby?" struck me first for its musical structure, arpeggiated chords, so much so that on vacation, as soon as I arrived, I sang it to a vacation mate, explaining it was the new one by Concato. The lyrics in 1999 I didn't understand, and the "bende negre" I thought referred to the headdresses of some African peoples! I would understand in 2013, precisely because the lyrics ironized on clichés, from the weather to food to the people's character, even skin color. Radio Padania, however, did not understand the underlying irony (could they ever understand it?) and invited Fabio for an interview, thinking the singer-songwriter was against immigrants! But he explained his true intentions and the interview never took place. All this is recounted in the study book by Emiliano Longo, published in 2012. Personally, I made a cover of this piece, with all the typical northern diminutives eliminated and with verses in Neapolitan, even citing "the streets of Ercolano" instead of "Milan l'è un gran Milan"!! I was supposed to meet Fabio right in Ercolano, imagine that!
The album continues with "Un'Aurelia che se ne va," a memory of a childhood summer in Viserba di Rimini, a cult place for the singer, also mentioned in "Bell'Italia" ("the Rimini seaside, Rimini, Rimini"). The title gives the image of a car speeding as a symbol of the prosperity of the Sixties. But there's also a girl, contended by Fabio and his friend, and once again the kiss takes the spotlight. Then we come to another great song, still present in concerts and often programmed on the radio: "Buonanotte a te." The major 7 piano introduction, those six notes immediately capture, and make you think of the evening that is coming, impotence in the face of feelings, truly a Song with a capital S. I associate this track with Guerin Sportivo, Milan, which was winning the championship and "Calcio Club," a program on Telecapri Sport dedicated to the National Amateur Championship, not yet Serie D. And to the scent of the earth in the place where I went on vacation just upon arrival. In general, the album is very much set by the sea, and I remember very well the advertising for it on Canale 5, those memories!! "Pesciolino" is the humorous episode that never fails in a Fabio album. It is the narration of a fishing trip, which, even if not successful, the important thing is to try. The little fish could also be bought, but the challenge is to catch it. Very humorous and nursery rhyme music, which fits the lyrics well. The CD closes, apart from the duet with Feliciano, with "Quando arriverà," also taken acoustically, dedicated to inspiration, where old songs are quoted here and there, from "senza far rumore" to "viene voglia di cantare."

Fabio Concato is named like that because no title like the author's would better express the artist's world. It is the last album with which Fabio will have a broad relationship with his audience. Ballando con Chet Baker will be an attempt, not successful, at least commercially, to find different paths, after which Concato will cut ties with the mainstream forever. Rating: 3.5 stars.