Paolo Conte
Una faccia in prestito

THE REVIEW

In 1995, on the brink of turning 60, the lawyer from Asti creates, in my opinion, his absolute masterpiece.

"Una faccia in prestito" is an extraordinary album. Full of evocative and elegant, rarefied atmospheres typical of his style.

Images, distant times, regrets, stories, tales, memories. And still love and love for art, the desire to laugh or to try to laugh only to realize that it's no longer possible, or that there's no more desire to do so.

A meeting with an old love that makes you miss a movie at the cinema, the memory of a theater that's no longer there, images of dancing women, perhaps unattainable, the lightness of a dance suggesting betrayal. Fun or melancholic stories, nonsense, mistaken identity, the chaos of the metropolis in a personalized language as indecipherable as it is decoded in its "not saying."

Yes, but what are we talking about? ...Sijmadicandhapajiee!

17 songs that carry us to other shores, other times, an "elsewhere" that perhaps no longer exists, but Paolo Conte evokes it with such power and sincerity that we almost smell it.

Musically, unfortunately, I lack the expertise to say anything concrete or significant. I can only say that they seem to me to be beautiful songs both in melodies and for the artistry and mastery of Conte and his extraordinary band in making their musical instruments travel. I've often seen them live and I assure you they are all exceptional.

Listen to it, let yourself be carried into his world and his music, and you'll feel light and refined, sweet, melancholic, sad, wise, or mad.

At this point in my writing, just as I'm about to send the review, I realize that the user GRASSHOPPER has already made one about this album. When he says: It's true that inevitably, in such a broad work, sooner or later you come across something you could perhaps do without. In this case, it's a series of rather boozy songs, South American-Neapolitan deliriums, especially concentrated in the second half of the album: I mention "Danson metropoli", "La zarzamora", "Vita da sosia". But it's also true that, although they aren't memorable. ... it makes me laugh. In fact, I consider the three songs he mentioned among the best on the album. "Danson metropoli" and "Vita da sosia" are brilliant. When I first heard "Vita da sosia" at a concert in Rome at the Sistina, I was blown away, far from being something to do without.

As for this De Gustibus, I respect it, but I swear I will never understand it.