Luciano Ligabue
Ligabue

THE REVIEW

I decided to write a review of Ligabue, the 1990 album Ligabue, because of the overall meaning of the work within the cultural context of its time, and because I appreciate the way he became part of it. I approached the work as if there were no tomorrow, considering that the artist’s career has been so long that it has diluted the memory of this debut album, which was the first and is emblematic of the artist: it is the original reason for his success.
I believe that his talent as a rock singer-songwriter here is quite remarkable (after all, Reggio Emilia is/was a sort of capital of classic Rock'n'Roll, descending from King Elvis, and the matter is almost genetic).
The songs, in terms of lyrics, are realistic and meaningful stories of the time and place, very well narrated and technically well put together (in terms of meter and their interaction with the music). The singing and the voice fit the genre very well, or at least for this record.
I’d like to focus my review on the statement that Ligabue told the story of a generation from a specific place, which then turned out to be universal to a certain type of youthful, rustically rebellious group. With the somewhat naive common sense of rural and working-class culture (of which there were still some traces left in the youth), he narrated the necessity of living life at full speed, of being different from the previous generation. He set his characters in the world he lived in, a world in transformation where the communism of the Emilian provinces, with its controversial rigidity and orthodoxy, was turning into social democratic yuppie-ism and all the way to the fiercest neoliberalism, and all that jazz. And he used the right music to "untie" his stories. All this, I believe, is the true spirit of songwriter tradition from Emilia, as always.
Clearly, this "honest tale epicized in classic rock music" served not only the youth of Reggio Emilia, but touched a spot in the imagination of many others. And he won the audience over with complete merit.
Everyone knows Ligabue is inspired by Springsteen (and I feel quite similarly about Springsteen’s attitude). It is a merit!
I fully place him among other contemporary (or nearly so) artists who have deserved attention and fame, telling stories about the same world, sometimes overlapping, using different languages. I think of Offlaga Disco Pax, Vinicio Capossela, CCCP.
I know these comparisons might make you raise your eyebrows, but I don’t think that’s the point (emphasizing the rhyme…). These were different musical episodes, but they were guided by the same heart, suffering from the same insecurity, and each made their mark with their own, not insignificant, talent. Ligabue’s was the most popular talent, perhaps it even did some good to the other artists. After all, you can’t really say even they lasted well over time, artistically, aside perhaps from commercial results. I believe it is precisely the perfect "nineties-ness" of all these artists that has kept them stuck to the sticker album, with deep love, but the kind of love that expires.