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Rating: While waiting for the next album, which will be released in the early months of 2007, I pass the time by reviewing the work that Giorgio Canali and Rossofuoco published in 2004. Most will know him as a guitarist alongside Ferretti and Maroccolo initially in CCCP and CSI and currently in PGR, but Canali has three solo albums behind him: "Che Fine ha Fatto Lazlotòz" from 1998, "Rossofuoco" from 2002, and the one reviewed here, "Giorgio Canali & Rossofuoco (although the title, according to Canali, is the little red arrow at the top).
The band that supports him, named after the previous album and promoted in this one from a simple support group to a true co-star, consists of Claude Saut on bass, Marco Greco on guitars, and Luca Martelli on drums. Setting aside the French singing for this time, Canali chooses to use the Italian language in all 10 songs, making the album even more cohesive than in the past. This cohesiveness is also evident in the sound. The rock played by Canali is very different from that of PGR: simple and without frills or mannerisms, and, especially in this album, rough and with an almost punk attitude. Finally, the lyrics describe Italian society in a sarcastic and ironic way; occasionally, however, a hint of disillusionment and pessimism can be felt.
The opener is "Precipito", one of the best tracks of the lot, based on a fantastic guitar riff and gradually building up to become a powerful and engaging song. The lyrics are nothing more than a hymn to man's freedom: "Precipito come un fulmine, come una cometa / cado dalle nuvole, dal cielo /senza futuro e questa volta per davvero!/Precipito, sono il vento!". "Guantanamo", featuring guest Marc Simon on trumpet, is dominated by a more meditative atmosphere, highlighted both musically by the moderately slow rhythm of the piece, and also by the lyrics, reflecting on how the great dreams and projects of past decades have gone up in smoke ("Solo sette colori su una bandiera / ma che fine hanno fatto gli altri colori / che fine hanno fatto i figli dei fiori/ restano tra schegge di uranio e qualche svastica / solo i figli dei fiori di plastica").
The rock/reggae of "Fumo di Londra", which makes fun of the war, raises the tone, leading to "No Pasaran". An uninhibited Canali mentions everything he doesn't like (journalism, television, fashion, banks, clichés…) in a track that can be defined as "combat rock" for the anger it exudes. Another excellent piece is "Mostri Sotto il Letto" where the chorus "Sarà che le ragazze con cui esco hanno tutte mostri sotto il letto / le ragazze con cui esco hanno sempre un incubo nel cassetto" aims to highlight the difficulty people have today in establishing relationships with the opposite sex. "Fuoco Amico" is a mid-tempo track, nothing spectacular, where only the various dissonant solos stand out, while "Savonarola (La Fine del Mondo a Ferrara)" deserves a separate discussion. In a happy blend of powerful guitars and syncopated rhythms, the lyrics narrate an ideal apocalypse in Ferrara, with a metalhead St. Michael and a misogynistic and aggressive archangel, Leviathan emerging from the Po waters, and corpses riding bicycles provide a pretext for another (very entertaining) critique. Dedicated to his friend Bertrand Cantat of Noir Desir (who is serving a sentence for murder) is "Rime con Niente".
The album closes with "Questa è una Canzone d'Amore" and "Questa No". The first is another fast and incisive track; Canali describes love as "antisociale, sperimentale, interinale, assistenziale, terminale, funerale, orizzontale, anticlericale". The second is the only ballad of the album: delicate and poetic (especially in the chorus: "vieni più vicino / è solo il vento che sbatte le porte sul suo cammino… è solo il mare che stanotte fa un po' troppo rumore / è solo il treno che fischia lontano") and enriched by an instrumental coda indebted to Marlene Kuntz.
In the end, perhaps not an original or epoch-making album, but honest and enjoyable, especially for those who appreciate true Italian rock.
RATING = 7 and 1/2
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