Massimo Bubola
Tre rose

I find it disgraceful that there is no trace of this album around here... Massimo Bubola, we know (perhaps), is the author, together with Fabrizio De André, of the tracks on two of his albums: Rimini, May 1978, and Fabrizio De André (aka L'Indiano), July 1981. Together with Faber, he also collaborated on other songs, but I would say that these two albums are enough to frame his stature. We're talking about tracks such as Volta la carta, Andrea, Fiume Sand Creek, Hotel Supramonte, to name a few. Hotel Supramonte would even be a re-edition of Bubola's own song, Hotel Miramonti, of which there is no trace on the internet, but which Bubola has occasionally performed in his concerts.

After the creation of these two exquisite albums of pure Italian songwriting, in September 1981, Tre rose is released, the third album by Massimo Bubola, a singer-songwriter who will always remain niche but no less appreciable for that.

What about the album? I don't know if it's Faber's imprint that is heavily felt, but I rather believe it is his own (Bubola's) that is strongly felt in De André's albums. In this album, in fact, Fabrizio De André does not appear among the authors but "only" among the backing vocalists, along with Dori Ghezzi and a very young Cristiano De André. Yet, the scent of these albums is precisely that of Faber, and at times it even smells a bit of De Gregori, just to stay within the De André circle (we'll get back to this).

Ironical album, well-paced, full of those Mexican atmospheres we had left in “Rimini” and find here again in tracks like Carmelina, Senza famiglia, and Encantado signorina. The latter, right from the start, cannot help but remind one of Andrea by De André: the rhythm, the pitch (half a tone of difference), the instruments. My kids love it, and I love it too. The first two, on the other hand, have something of the De Gregori song; I don't know if he has a hand in it, being also a friend of Fabrizio I don't rule it out, but it is not mentioned anywhere, so it might just be a coincidence that the music, style, and even the vocal timbre so strongly recall him.

Returning to the similarities with De André, instead, how can one not think of Volta la carta when listening to Sulla riva, la riva. Here, Fabrizio's voice in the backing vocals is simply wonderful. It almost sounds like hearing one of his unpublished works. The fact that several tracks recall other great singer-songwriters can only be, from my point of view, a point in favor of Massimo Bubola, who has undoubtedly and undeservedly garnered less public acclaim, despite having great talent as a writer and singer.

Also notable on the album are the delicate Tre rose and E tu no, slow, poetic, romantic. I'm not enthused by Calipso and Tiro un'arancia in cielo (de gustibus...). The latter could also be enjoyable if, for some mysterious reason, Bubola hadn't set his voice in such an artificial way. It reminds me a little of the horrendous voice of Ivano Fossati in Jesahel, another beautiful song killed by its performer... Speaking of the latter, it shares with this Bubola album the arranger, Oscar Prudente. Could it have been his suggestion to sing badly? :P No, I don't think so, he still did a great job arranging!

Let's conclude with the background, the tracks at the beginning and end of the album. Two parts of the same Hoa-Iò-Iò, which is a beautiful and rhythmic nursery rhyme, almost a not too convinced prayer to the moon to fulfill all the small big wishes of each day: abundance, loves, food, lightness, wisdom (without overdoing it).