Max Pezzali
Qualcosa di nuovo

Postponed by six months due to Covid, "Qualcosa di nuovo," the fifth solo album by Max Pezzali and the eleventh if we include the six released under the name 883, was finally released on October 30, 2020. I already knew some songs: from "Welcome to Miami (South Beach)," which marked my summer 2019, to "In questa città" and "Sembro matto," which were released as singles before the album's launch. I listened carefully to the album more than once, from song number 1 to number 12. "Qualcosa di nuovo" is nice, but I find it too circumstantial, plus the video with Fabio Volo doesn't excite me that much; "Non smettere mai" also seems clichéd and a bit trivial; certainly not new in themes, but definitely more enjoyable is "7080902000," with the now inevitable J-Ax, who hosted Max last year in "La mia hit." "I ragazzi si divertono" is perhaps the one I liked the least, or in any case, the one that left me not much impressed after listening. However, "Più o meno a metà" is a beautiful reflection on time, for a Max who is almost 53, a song that certainly deserves to be listened to more than once. And it is at this point that the "masterpiece" of the record is found, which goes by the name of "In questa città" (a phrase that, moreover, recalls another classic of Max, "Come un deca"). I don't want to exaggerate, but this track, for me, is rightfully among the finest songs dedicated to Rome, maybe not on the level of "La sera dei miracoli" by Lucio Dalla or more than one by Venditti, but among modern songs about Rome, it reaches a very high result. For me, it's the best of the album as well as of Pezzali's entire songbook from Pavia. "Se non fosse per te," like "Non smettere mai," I find average, neither infamous nor particularly praiseworthy. "Sembro matto," instead, aided by the vocal contribution of former Sottotono Tormento, turns out to be a great love piece, and I believe it will last through the years. Then there is the pair "Noi c'eravamo" and "Siamo quel che siamo," yet another set of songs that march on the rhetoric of "We," adolescence, the province, themes already widely covered by Max. But among the two, I like the second one more, especially when it says "we are dreams, expectations, and then reality." I won't comment on the "trapped" intervention by Gionny Scandal, let's say it's there, but even without it, the piece would have been strong. The penultimate track, "Il senso del tempo," also deserves attention, although not among the top three of the entire work. It moves me when the chorus goes "oh oh oh," on the fourth line. A melody that feels familiar, mind you, but that always achieves its result. Finally, we come to the end of the journey with "Welcome to Miami (South Beach)," a song that perhaps placed like this is out of tune with the emotional and musical climate of the album. But let's not forget that this work was changed "work in progress." Let's say Max wanted it to be a holiday album, but in the end, he found himself with an existential and sentimental record. "Welcome to Miami" is still among the most appreciable of "Qualcosa di nuovo," an album whose title, in my opinion, does not match Max's proposal which, apart from the "In questa città" explosion, offers us "very little new," both in themes and in the rhythms of the songs. For this reason, the album for me does not reach three stars, maybe 2.5 yes, but for a full sufficiency, it would have really needed... "Something new."