Marco Masini
Marco Masini

THE REVIEW

Going through the TRASH reviews, I am delighted to see that there is no mention in the magical DeBaserian world of this album, which marked the entry of grunge into the Italian music scene.

It's 1990, the Seattle scene was about to explode like the Hiroshima bomb to completely and irreparably shake up the music scene. In Italy, there was him, a certain Marco Masini, who perfectly embodied the figure of the loser: not so handsome, not so happy, a rather troubled family history, pessimistic ideas to express at all costs through music.

In his defense, it can be said that Masini is NOT an idiot, as many might think, nor an incompetent; just read something about his story to realize it, and above all, he is someone who had incredible bad luck and wanted to let us know about it.

If he then made crappy music, according to the vast majority of the population, that’s another story, a matter of taste, but at least he succeeded in what he really wanted to do.

Considering that most of those reading these lines are already touching their balls, we will describe the album very briefly (Not true, little fools!), thus avoiding seeing thousands of frantic scrotal residents rolling everywhere.

Melancholic, extremely pessimistic lyrics in the first track "Vai con lui", where the guy, as soon as he finds someone who'll give it to him, immediately puts both hands on his conscience and swears to let her go with someone who actually has a job, a house, and can guarantee her a better future. He, indeed, for the moment doesn’t know if there will be anything to gain, so he starts off with a bias. The girl, as is obvious in 80 - 85% of cases, will choose the guy with the Mercedes convertible, a house in the center, a beach house, and designer clothes. But Marco, we are all on your side. The arrangement starts from a simple base with a few keyboard notes, to which drums and strings subtly join towards the end.

After this invigorating dose of positivity equal to the last flash for a heroin addict, we get to the tense piece: "Dentro di te, fuori dal mondo", here is everything: pessimism that never fails, all the instruments in a growing crescendo, and even a fearsome guitar solo...

And here comes the Italian grunge manifesto: "Disperato", absolute winner of the new proposals in 1990 at the Sanremo festival (and here the ball-touching will become worrying, nearly in need of hospitalization in urology). A ballad increasing in intensity in the wake of "Vai con lui", it starts quietly to increase in intensity until the finale with female choirs accompanying him in decidedly suffered highs.

This time he found two who’ll give it to him, one who wants to because she’s a convertible tiger, as evidenced by the fingers tormenting his back, the other with whom he apparently does not have satisfactory relations.

Here, the attentive listener will notice the hidden ghost of drug use (desperate needle in me, watering the wall with my poison..).

From the conflicting relationship with his father comes the poignant ballad "Caro Babbo," with a bit of Caribbean and jazzy arrangements. The lyrics are not exactly the most shining, from here one can understand why he developed this sense of chronic pessimism. As a child, the father was a wonderful man, but as he grew up, he was battered with blows every other day.

When we get to "Ci vorrebbe il mare", if one is not careful, the subconscious has already given very specific orders: you will find yourself, if you manage to come to your senses in time, with a razor at your wrist and a soap rope around your neck, the end of which is firmly tied to your home balcony, with you standing on the railing, a bottle of barbiturates next to you, the kitchen gas open, and a goodbye letter already on the nightstand.

The situation tries to lift a bit with "Le Ragazze Serie", a piece that at least denotes a bit of  the will not to take oneself too seriously. The trend is lively: this time Masini found the only serious girl in town, and he’s able to joke about it.. But damn, Marco, you just can't get one right, you find one, tell her to go with him, then you have two, want one you can't have, and don't give a damn about the other, write to your father who beat you from morning to night, want to drown in the sea because they left you yet again, then find one, discover she's the only nun in the neighborhood, and you'll have to sweat seven shirts to get her.. I would have ended it earlier..

And here the personal talk is somewhat sidetracked to turn it towards a friend of his, apparently as depressed as him, "A cosa pensi" does not talk about him, but it is the prelude to what follows, with the addition of drug addiction ("Perché lo fai"). If we want to see a connection, it is assumed that the girl the song talks about is the one who, after trying to talk about it with Masini, chose the path of heroin.

I would have suggested a good psychotherapist.

It ends with "Dal Buio", a story of indifference and a small gesture of humanity..

So what can I say? If your balls haven’t fallen off from all the touching it means you changed the page, if you keep scratching and suddenly can't find anything anymore, it means you have reached the end, if you haven't come to your senses in time..

OOPS!! By now it's too late