Michael Sembello
Bossa Nova Hotel

THE REVIEW

Stocky and muscular build, clear and effective voice even if not particularly exciting, impeccable and early musical preparation (not even twenty and already working on productions of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Diana Ross and others), the Italian American Michael Sembello debuted with a work under his name at thirty, in 1984, highlighting his version of white soul, commercial yet classy, where real and electronic drums, synthesized basses and distorted guitars, disco rhythms and sophisticated jazz chord progressions coexist.

The sound of this production is explosive, even today after thirty years: amazing dynamics, perfect arrangements, and equalizations... eternal praise to the late Phil Ramone (he passed away last March, aged seventy-nine), the illustrious producer who between a Ray Charles and an Aretha Franklin, a McCartney and a Paul Simon, found the time (or maybe the right fee...) to oversee from the control room also this debut work of a person known only to insiders, ensuring it significant success and giving a memorable moment of glory to its protagonist.

The eleven episodes of the album are all bright and render deliciously, witnesses to an era when getting up on a dance floor was still worth it even for the ears, aside from the physical activity and public relations. Of course, we are not in the presence of a pioneer, but of a craftsman, albeit of the best quality, comparable to a Billy Joel (less pianistic and New York-like, more synth-pop) for the tone of his voice.

Hidden among them, at track number five, emerges the celebrity, the masterpiece, the one that alone is ensuring a worthy lifelong income to our Michael. He had already put it on tape, at an upbeat speed of about 130 beats per minute and with lyrics addressed to a sexual predator. Director Adrian Lyne convinced him to aim the lyrics at describing a dance maniac, and above all, asked him to speed up the rhythm by an additional thirty beats to allow the piece's use in a soundtrack, in the scene that saw the protagonist unleashing in the basement of her house, at the end of a hard working day, vigorously moving her body to the exceedingly brisk pace of the song.

"Maniac" fully unfolds Sembello's compositional and performing talent, being the sole author and nearly the sole performer. Drums and bass are programmed, and other synthesizers provide persistent arpeggios, but on the synth pop rhythm and limited tonal progression of the bass register, there is a Fender electric piano moving the chords with tremendous effectiveness, using fourths, sixths, sevenths, and ninths to richly harmonize the vocal melody and effectively charge drones and ostinatos. At the time of the central instrumental bridge, Michael takes up his main instrument, the guitar, and, perhaps recalling the just-past exploits of Edward Van Halen on the track "Beat It" from the album "Thriller", he delivers a formidable solo that includes tapping, with a jazzy anticipation on the bars where the chords change, of exquisite insight: high school, high class, beautiful tension, great post-disco music, fundamentally rhythm&blues and with openly commercial intentions, but also solid and admirable artistic background.