Luciano Ligabue
Arrivederci, mostro!

Whether you like it or not, the release of a new album by Luciano Ligabue is an event.

Many believed in him as the best new Italian rock voice at the beginning of the nineties. Many have abandoned him forever, others have left and then returned. Many adore him, others detest him. But almost no one ignores him.

I, as my readers know, appreciate that honesty I find to be extremely difficult in today's mass product.

In this work, now listened to enough times for a fair and complete judgment, we must ask ourselves some questions: is the criterion of "acceptable mass honesty" maintained? And then: "is it an album up to the previous productions?"

Obviously these are irritating issues for Liga's detractors and entirely indifferent for those who are indifferent. But, as I said, I do not belong to either of these categories. And so I can only keep the discussion on a path trodden (and treadable) mainly by enthusiasts.

To the first question, I would be inclined to answer "yes."

A preamble (already told elsewhere): my friend from Reggio is basically right when he once said, "yes, I like both of Liga's songs: the slow one and the fast one". He is right because Ligabue simultaneously pays for his own merit and flaw: an excellent sense of the song and an embarrassing harmonic unpreparedness (translated: he writes all the songs with the usual 4-5 chords). It's a merit because, if you think about it, it's a prerogative of all or almost all the greats of so-called light music. It's a flaw because, by endlessly turning over the same things, monotony or banality are just around the corner, and they are indeed difficult walls to dodge.

Having said that, Liga is honest when he writes (he strives to do it always well and always in a, more or less, original way), he's honest when he performs, and finally when he packages, always with great meticulousness, the product.

From a sound perspective, I notice a significant improvement since the new drummer arrived. While it's also noticeable a slight deterioration -in terms of monotony- in the "new" (already present at the arena) vocal setup.

From a literary compositional perspective, I would say the issue is quite fluctuating. If there is a definitely suggestive and original piece "Quando mi vieni a prendere" (dramatic without being rhetorical, poignant in its unexploded monotony, full of a very hard tension but never melodramatic or overblown -let's never forget that, although in Reggio, we're still in Italy, and the very thorny issue could have given quite different results.....-), and then there are good level songs, almost excellent, like "Ci sei sempre stata" or "La verità è una scelta", there are also definitely "rewritten" tracks, in the sense that they tread already trodden grounds, according to a modus also too well known. In the latter, the only possibility of auditory enjoyment is given by the sound, the guitars, always beautiful, and this wonderful drummer who is a fabulous branch in terms of precision and is the prince, the grand vizier, of every syncopated beat.

There is also another song that is much talked about, the "Letter to Francesco" which is a response/sequel to the untouchable "avvelenata" of Guccini. And here, Liga has been more clever than good. To redo an "updated" avvelenata in a covert manner would have been misleading and easily unmasked, so it turns out to be a (half) clever move to disguise everything as a letter to the author of the original. The operation is half successful: the piece is not bad, but the comparisons are inevitable and pitiless. Liga is good but too cunning: he will never expose himself like Guccio... He has too many people filling the stadiums, he must not irritate too much... And so his "enemies" (or adversaries, if you prefer) are always nuanced, ethereal, intangible, and almost always referring to his personal sphere, never general or social. In short: a talented clever one. When Guccio had been a brilliant person without mincing words (and he's always been). In short...: as a true sequel to the "Avvelenata," "Inneres auge" by Battiato works better...

And so we come to the second question: is it up to the historic production?

On average, I would say yes. But to the average, like some peculiar students, it arrives in an original way, that is, in football terms, with a great striker, two splendid attacking midfielders, and the rest of the team bringing home a barely passable performance.