I Cugini di Campagna
Metallo

THE REVIEW

The Michetti brothers: from Pietralata (a neighborhood in the capital) with fury! No, don't wrinkle your nose, it's really them, the national Cuginoni, in their most exuberant and flamboyant lineup with the English guitarist and singer, Paul Manners. I was introduced to them by a schoolmate who played electric guitar in a big student band... he loved them and Kiss, and at first, I didn't understand the comparison.

Who... has written lyrics so full of double meanings like they have? Who... had the guts to change 4 or 5 singers yet all of them strictly blonde mops and with that repeated falsetto that became a trademark? Who will sell millions of copies worldwide of a transnational hit like Anima mia even redone by Abba ? Who anticipated the Zero years by dressing like the Sweet in Rome?

Just for having the guts to dress glam to the point of fetish back in '74 when Italy was captivated by the boating songs of Claudio Baglioni, the Cuginetti deserve my big TV cat award and a place in the charts. I chose this record instead of the old albums with Flavio Paulin, such as E' lei, Tu sei tu, Anima mia -- because the Italo-British Paul Manners gave a more "rock" vibe to the band, and anyway, the LP "Metallo" surpassed in sales the group's more famous albums.

The cover was already a statement, with the circular image of the old 10 lire coin and it stays there to remind us of the good times with the lira instead of the cursed euro. The title Metallo perhaps alludes to the album's bittersweet rockish shift, or, as Michetti jokingly states, to adolescence, when I fished coins out of the Trevi Fountain; or also, to the 10 lire coins that would fit into the elevators of the '70s, as indeed the album would rise to the top of the hit parade.

Among the songs, standouts include the famous No tu no, with distorted guitar and danceable rhythms, Valeria, an adolescent and carefree ballad, the title track Metallo that contains numerous subliminal messages I master you slave hidden in the lyrics to evade the censorship that was ruthless with musicians in those years; then I highlight Presto finirà, Domenica di pasqua, Nel mio mondo, the story of a suburban soccer player,  Poche lire, the martial Floridia. Wealthy and spoiled girls, working-class heroes with gladiatorial postures of suburban Latin lovers, adolescents with double lives and money problems are the themes generally covered in the album (sic). Some cute guitar riffs by Manners are in the do I dare or not series, which on certain songs recall the Status Quo of Whatever you want that were all the rage back then.

Valerio Rivoli