Modena City Ramblers
Fuori Campo

Year 1999; the MCR release their fourth album, 'Fuori Campo', a record of decent folk music that lacks nothing (musically and ideologically) of the now characteristic traits of this group: there are the beautiful folk pieces, fast and cheerful, whose lively notes invite listeners to dance and have fun, there are slow and reflective songs, those that bring tears, and those full of anger.

All this is well blended with the search for ancestral, exotic sounds, the usual protest lyrics, the re-proposal of traditional songs, some now customary not-so-successful points (inherited from 'Terra e Libertà') and the classic slow and sweet closing song, this time sung half in dialect, to seal it all.

'Fuori Campo' is not an exceptional work, but it has the power to capture attention from the first listen, from the start, from those first notes of violin and guitar that introduce the "Etnica Danza", a fun, carefree, very engaging song, certainly a good start. Now the listener is ready to follow the title track "Fuori Campo", where the sounds already somewhat dub act only as a backdrop to the song's lyrics, words of denunciation, a calm yet pointed outburst not so much against oppression but against the impotence (not that impotence!!!) of people in the system and the way it is ignored, anticipating a long spoken monologue taken from Luis Sepulveda about Latin America, with which the track ends. Despite the less strong impact of some pieces, like "Il Matto" and "La Roda", which still manage to be catchy and interesting, one comes to appreciate first the beauty and meaning of "Natale A San Cristobal", where it seems to breathe the tense, sad, humid air of those streets, and the sweet notes sound like the tinkling of tears mingling with the rain, then the wild "Celtica Patchanka", one of the band's irish ballads that in my opinion is most successful.

With "Coi Piedi Per Terra" and "Il Vagabondo Stanco", one moves from the poetic atmosphere of a simple and very sweet love song to the wandering and solitary nature of a story full of anger, all in a rough but apt way; it is the turn of the surprising "La Rumba", an anthem to mother earth with an ancient and apotropaic flavor, whose tribal rhythm relaxes and entertains the listener to prepare them for the splendid "Suad", a brief jewel song with oriental, perhaps Arabic, sounds, evoking the image of the great desert, dust, bright colors, and distant people; a piece that artistically enriches the album to a decisive extent, "Suad" perhaps even ends too soon, leaving the field to "Movimento", a fast-paced piece with almost ska sounds, for which the listener is no longer prepared. Another fun song is "Lo Straniero Pazzo", which presents the dirty and unknown foreigner who brings with him memories "...of who knows what worlds and who knows what stories...".

This time the MCR choose to reprise the popular track "Figli Dell'Officina", opened and enriched by the chorus of the Mondine, to then close with "L'Uomo Delle Pianure", a sweet and calm farewell capable of instilling serenity in the listener, now at the end of the album. 'Fuori Campo' does not bring any substantial innovation to the MCR's musical path, nor to their style and ideas, but it has the merit of being a complete, very varied record that, in my opinion, stands a step above its predecessor 'Terra e Libertà', it doesn't bore, doesn't have excessive political slumps or blunders or low points. It probably manages to please more on a first listen than on subsequent analysis, or at least that has been my personal experience: it is of strong musical-emotional impact, characterized by some truly beautiful pieces, and projects those who listen to it into various atmospheres and into various places with a sound almost always on point.

I dare to recommend it to someone who wants to get to know the group.