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I return briefly to write a small review about an album that has already been much discussed, if not entirely. But the occasion seemed appropriate: I hadn't listened to it for ages, yet, despite its 44 years, "Nero a Metà" remains a masterpiece from the first to the last note. Perhaps the apogee of Pino Daniele, and it's incredible when you consider that at the time he was only on his third album (the first two were excellent as well) and was only 25 years old.
Released in 1980, "Nero a Metà" marks the beginning of Pino Daniele Sound's more complex and elaborate musical "investigations," those that surprisingly mix Neapolitan dialect and overseas sounds, especially the blues, and indeed an ironic and compelling track like "Nun me scoccià" seems more like it comes from the basements of New Orleans than from the Spanish Quarters, yet the dialect doesn't betray, it all originates in the capital of Campania. With a group of musicians that would make any American band envious (the names include Gigi De Rienzo, Agostino Marangolo, James Senese, Enzo Avitabile, to name just a few), Pino Daniele creates a 41-minute album in which every note exudes a desire to live (even in the more melancholic tracks) and a love for music.
Remarkable from the get-go is "I say I' sto cca," with a memorable saxophone intro, and right away it sets things straight, what follows is a sound festival like never before seen (in Italy, no one had reached this level in those years), and the entire Bel Paese falls in love with languid ballads like "Quanno chiove" or pieces that are nothing short of "electric," where it's impossible to stay still, like "Musica musica." And to make it clear that the blues is the main source of inspiration, here is the wonderful, and equally exhilarating, "A me 'me piace 'o blues."
Remarkable, beyond all expectations, are the intimate moments as well. On side A, "Voglio di più" stands out, a pacifist track with some spine-chilling passages (the children with the "wrong" accent), and the very fast (lasting less than 2 minutes) "Appucundria," which should not be translated as the Italian hypochondria, but with the Neapolitan "deep melancholy" and which closes the first beautiful side.
On side B, there's "Alleria," which deserves a separate discussion. Google points out: "Alleria is a word in the Neapolitan language that has a deeply melancholic meaning. It's that light breeze that arrives while you're thinking about something, taking you back in time to happier moments. It also means joy, but with a veil that settles over it, making everything more muffled." Everything changes, time passes, we grow, improve?, worsen?, but that's how it goes, and that sense of melancholy that is in us remains, and Pino Daniele tells us from his perspective with few notes and much awareness. Perhaps, hearing it now, at 40 years old, it's the best track on the album.
Noteworthy is the all-musical closing of "Sotto 'o sole," which would also be the title of one of his live performances dated 1991.
A spectacular album, with very high-level musical solutions, often brilliant lyrics, and a way of conceiving and understanding music that has long gone out of fashion. From Pino Daniele to Tony Effe the step has unfortunately been brief.
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