Gino D'Eliso
Valvole e vinile

Recorded in 2013, but released in 2018, Valvole & Vinile is to date the seventh and last album of the Triestine singer-songwriter Gino D'Eliso.

For the first time in his career, he doesn't change the label, and it's still his Mitteleurock Production taking care of the CD.

2018 is an opportunity for D'Eliso to celebrate 50 years of activity, from that mythical 1968 when he debuted with the band The Children.

And so the ten songs of the album recount his life, from childhood to maturity, from his Trieste in "Bora scura" and "St. James Field" to the entire Italy in "Italia oh Italia," reaching as far as Russia with "A piena voce." But let's go in order.

"Valvole e vinile," meaning the memories of youth, is a tribute to the era of analog, the smell of vinyl, but also the black-and-white TV. Always with the desire and strength to smile.

"Dentro l'anima" is a good existential track with a powerful drum beat emphasizing the entire song.

"A piena voce" evidently takes its title from Vladimir Mayakovsky’s last poem of 1930, just before his death at only 37 years. It talks about Russia and the "Tsar who will save us," in line with the poet's new course of post-revolutionary thinking. An album by Gino wouldn't be complete without a depiction of Eastern Europe.

"Essere John Wayne," the fourth track, is a pretext to talk about invincibility. Curiously, Wayne's nickname was "the Duke," just like "the White Duke," who has always been a musical model for Gino D'Eliso, as well as for a series of "alternative" characters who found a certain success between the late '70s and early '80s.

"Lato selvaggio" is also pleasantly listenable, and to embellish the piece is Edy Meola’s sax, also appearing on the CD cover alongside the singer.

In "Bora scura," Trieste returns, as well as the "saints and heroes" from his third album dated 1979.

Breaking the "serious" atmosphere is "Le belle canzoni," and Gino has written plenty. The "saints and heroes," and even the "poor people," return in "Italia oh Italia," demonstrating a coherent discography full of allusions and interweavings with the past. An Italy that for Gino "fortunately never changes," despite "the murderers, the earthquakes, and the queues for pensions."

The most cryptic song seems to be "St. James Field," where the main square of the San Giacomo district in Trieste, where the artist was born, appears as a pretext for delving into one's inner soul.

Closing it all is "Tempi passati," a "romanza" sung with a baritone voice, a unique piece of this kind on the record.

An album featuring well-placed electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, and sax, just think of the beautiful electric solo in "Italia oh Italia" or the already mentioned sax of Edy Meola, as well as the keyboard à la "The show must go on" in "Essere John Wayne" and the acoustic phrasing in "St. James Field."

The artist, via Facebook, informs that there will be an eighth album coming out soon titled Anni pesanti, like the song from 2001.

It might include, along with unreleased tracks, a reinterpretation of the title track.