Pino Daniele
Bonne Soirée

PINO DANIELE: BONNE SOIREE' (1987)

It wasn't easy to start again. No, it wasn't.

After the testament album "Sciò, Live," Pino Daniele had to make a comeback. Having left the superband of "Vai mò," it was time to look around.

Gathering a new troupe, Pino started again in '85 with the album "Ferry Boat," which, truth be told, went somewhat unnoticed but featured illustrious names like Gato Barbieri, Karl Potter, and Steve Gadd (just to name a few). However, the radical change was felt in 1987 when the new album "Bonne Soirée" hit the shelves.

Again here, a new band with Mino Cenelù, Bruno Illiano, and among all, the name of Mel Collins. The album surprised everyone: it was possibly the first album that created dissatisfaction among Pino's fans because there were changes compared to the style Pino had accustomed us to.

The first noticeable thing is definitely the direction Pino takes his music: it moves towards Arab countries and influences the entire album. It's perhaps the first time in his career that he cuts ties with the past, in the sense that he radically changes his style, now well-known, to renew himself and try to bring his music closer to Arab music.

The process of abandoning dialect for Italian lyrics begins, though there remains the usual "Pino Daniele bilingualism," that is, his art of mixing Italian/Napolitan with English: there are many such moments on the album, from the title track "Bonne soirée" to "Boys in the night", "Scrack", and "Watch out".

The album is mostly electric but doesn't lack acoustic moments, as in the case of "Occhi Grigi" (perhaps the best). From the initial "Bonne soirée" the album flows well, continuing with the inspired "Vita mia" and moving on to two slightly lighter but still interesting songs "Guardami in face" and "Baccalà". A noteworthy song is the splendid "Nu poco 'e sentimento" which closes the first part.

The album starts again with "Boys in the night", a song featuring a duet with Mel Collins. "Mama è" "Aria" "Scrack" represent the highest expressions of this project: indeed, the influence of Arab sound is felt in these three songs. It's the moment of the "classic" Pino Daniele: him and his guitar producing the best performance of the album, both for the lyrics and the music: "Occhi grigi". The album closes with "Watch out", another example of the skill in mixing different languages and making them fit well together: indeed, in this album songs are sung in Neapolitan, Italian, French, and English with a backdrop of Arab music!!

An ambitious project, with only loss at stake. Pino came from a cycle of popular and international successes and acclaim, but that wasn't enough for him: he wanted to continue changing the Italian music scene and after achieving it with the first five albums (from the unripe "Terra Mia" to the perfect "Bella 'Mbriana), he wanted to move abroad and was about to start..

Unfortunately, the album did not have the success he hoped for, as it needs to be listened to multiple times to be appreciated, it doesn't make an impact on the first listen, and this greatly influenced the popular judgment.

A project Pino did not entirely abandon in the following years, as in 2001, "Medina" once again revisits themes in an Arab style: this was welcomed positively by the public and critics, but personally I condemn it for the addition of overly commercial songs to push the album, but this is today's Pino Daniele and that's another story.

Rating for Pino Daniele: 8 (both for the album and for the courage of those years).

Gab.