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Rating: Strange feeling, years later, to see a book about Litfiba back on the shelves. Practically disappeared from the media during the 2000s, with only Renzulli remaining the owner of the glorious name, it was more than likely that with the (un)predictable reunion three years ago, the Florentine group would become the talk of the town again. And who could "afford" a tome of over two hundred pages about them if not the faithful Federico Guglielmi, a historic figure in music journalism who has followed them since their beginnings? A revised and expanded version of that "A denti Stretti" published in a very tense post-breakup climate back in 2000, "Fuori dal Coro" has at least the merit of presenting the long history of the Florentine ensemble in its entirety, which is no small feat recently, considering that for years now, the Renzulli-Pelù duo has, in various interviews, pretended to have "forgotten" they played separately for ten years, with a whole discography from the 2000s magically removed from the official website.
Divided essentially into three parts, namely biography, interviews, and discography, it manages to offer a concise and complete account of over thirty years of career, with statements made for the occasion combined with archival ones.
Unlike the previous edition, the photos have practically disappeared, now confined to a sparse central part, and the section dedicated to tours, which was a recap, though incomplete, of the various dates handled by the Florentines in over twenty years of concerts. An interesting addition, however, is the section dedicated to archival interviews: moving from various Rockerilla to Velvet and Mucchio Selvaggio, practically all the material written by Guglielmi on the subject is re-proposed, from reports of the early eighties to the tour of "Stato Libero di Litfiba." And, especially for the more seasoned fan, it will surely be striking to note how, if the first released interviews had the raw flavor of a group taking its first steps, often uncertainly, the subsequent ones, from the mid-nineties onwards, feature a group that, having lost several key members along the way (who said Maroccolo and Aiazzi?), has indeed achieved the long-desired commercial success, but also lost much of its charm and authenticity.
If the previous version had already abundantly told how in just a few years they went from basements to big stages and the genesis of various "Desaparecido" and "17 Re," this time, regarding the biographical section, the most noteworthy passages are precisely those related to the phase of the group that the general public is least interested in, namely that of the 2000s, necessarily absent from the previous edition, with the various attempts, not exactly successful, to move forward even without the original frontman. And rereading the statements of various Gianlugi Cavallo, Gianluca Venier, and Filippo Margheri, one cannot help but have the impression that, at least in that case, it might have been better to set aside at least temporarily the historic name and present themselves with another name, considering that those years spawned several interesting ideas that went absolutely unnoticed, just think of an album like "Insidia."
On the other hand, it should be noted how the as-objective-as-possible style in which Guglielmi (re)writes contrasts quite a bit with the emphatic and fan-like style of many of his old articles, written when the group was the golden goose for CGD first and EMI later, almost as if over the years he had become less of a "fan" and more of a "journalist". What he could find so exciting back then in absolutely avoidable works like the various "Lacio Drom" or the terrible "Croce e Delizia" only he knows, just as a decent album like "Elettromacumba" might have deserved a more considered judgment at the time. And in hindsight, it would be interesting to ask the author what he thinks of the group's current non-course, which after a well-publicized reunion reappeared with an album practically forgotten immediately and supported by a mere ten dates and many spot appearances on TV, much to the chagrin of those expecting a "Terremoto II" and ending up with an aged copy of "Mondi Sommersi".
Regardless of the various reflections on the musical health of Renzulli and company, it's nonetheless said that the book is well written, rich in detail, and thorough in every part, and it will surely be a pleasure to reread the story of a group that, in its way, marked a certain way of interpreting rock in Italy.
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