Pino Daniele
Musicante

...tradition, experimentation, class... but above all tradition. Indeed, the classic Neapolitan melody hovers over all the tracks of this splendid album, even more so than in the past. Of course, all masterfully filtered through Pino Daniele's ability to stay on the rails of modernity and never hide his passion for blues and jazz.

It is still a Pino Daniele that scratches, with a particularly "raw" voice and never "banal" lyrics, an album permeated by a vein of "nostalgia and sadness," but also of irony...

Surrounded by exceptional musicians, something he had already accustomed us to, Pino Daniele composes and performs a series of tracks in which one can clearly read the impotence of his people to pull themselves out of the "quagmire of history" they find themselves in, impotence also due to the objective limits inherent to Neapolitan people. However, he also describes their enormous generosity... Great musicians called to collaborate with "Pinuccio" (excuse me for calling him that), from the already tried and tested Agostino Marangolo, involved in all tracks except "Lasse che vene" and "Lazzari felici" to Rino Zurzolo, both survivors of what was, in the early '80s, Pino Daniele's all-Italian band, and even with the "late" entry of Tullio De Piscopo, the band became entirely Neapolitan. Furthermore, the unrivaled Mel Collins on reeds, Naná Vasconcelos on percussion, and Alphonso Johnson on bass, let's say it, a stellar lineup.

I don't like to describe the tracks in detail, and in fact, I won't, at least not for all of them... it begins with "Kepp On Movin'" which we might call the "Yes I Know my way" of this album, a rather catchy "funky-dance" track... it continues with "Disperazione" easily identifiable as a "classic blues" in the Pino Daniele style, then, the classic Neapolitan tradition takes center stage in the track "Lassa che vene", but the true gems of the album are in order "Lazzari felici" heartfelt and poetic, "Stella nera" intimate and sad, and finally "Oi Nè" sarcastic and direct... as always, the guitar dominates the scene with melody, technique, and wisdom.

There is also a dramatic slip with the insignificant and banal "Santa Teresa", banality to which unfortunately he would accustom us in the years to come! The tones are more "restrained," perhaps more "poetic," lacking the excesses of the past and even some strokes of genius, for which reason I give this album a 4. However, the "musical poetry" that pervades the album has a "magical aura" filled with "dreamy nostalgia" and there is also some step towards a certain kind of "World Music" facilitated by the influence of foreign artists, see the track "Acchiappa Acchiappa".

The saddest and most nostalgic among Pino Daniele's albums, perhaps that's why I love it so much...