Pino Daniele
Non calpestare i fiori nel deserto

THE REVIEW

Africa, desert, oasis... in short, "Don't trample the flowers in the desert".

After just 2 years from the successful (and especially untouchable) "Che Dio ti benedica" and the acoustic live "E sona mò", Pino in March 1995 released this work, which many consider to be the last work "alla Pino Daniele".

Even in this album, he benefits from numerous collaborations: in fact, Irene Grandi and Jovanotti, still in their early days, stand out, as well as Rita Marcotulli, Lele Melotti, Manu Katchè, Maria Pia de Vito and Mike Mainieri. In short, it seems like he's returned to the early '80s when he used the best musicians of the time to make a record. And the intentions and the result prove him right. Forget about that long-haired and clean-shaven Pino: only the long-haired Pino remains, now he has a beard... so something has changed.

The album’s feel is understood immediately: from the cover and as soon as the CD is inserted into the player… we are in Africa, which is clear from the first 2 tracks: "'o cammello nnamurato" and "un deserto di parole". The latter benefits from the collaboration of the young Jovanotti: the first, another collaboration, will be heard again later in the album. And here comes the moment of the most famous single of this album, which made the album stand out: "Io per lei": the song won't go down in history for its lyrics and content, but it certainly stuck in the minds of those 800,000 people who bought the album! In fact, by the end of '95, it turned out to be the best-selling album in Italy. Another leading single was "se mi vuoi": another duet, this time with Irene Grandi. Follow two very inspired songs by him: "Un angolo di cielo" and "fumo nero": in the latter track, Pino is "accompanied" by the voice of Maria Pia De Vito. It’s time to close the first part of the album, and as in the previous one, Pino chooses the format of acoustic guitar and his voice: it leads to "resta..resta cu’mme": it will be the third single. We start again with "bambina", accompanied by the vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. "Notte che fai" and "E se amore sarà" precede "stress": a song that benefits from the last collaboration of the album: here we see Mike Mainieri and Jovanotti again. The gem Pino gives us is with "anima": one of his top 10 songs ever in my opinion. The album closes with the instrumental "oasi": sometimes words aren't needed for Pino to make us feel.

An album that can be easily cataloged as "World Music". In fact, it features songs in Italian (they're becoming a habit now), Neapolitan, English... musical styles mixed with each other: jazz, blues, rap. Every song contained in this album could have been chosen as a single: in fact, in the end, besides the 3 already mentioned, 2 more were released: "bambina" and "anima". Pino won the Festivalbar ’95 and it was chosen as "best album" at the Tenco award.

In short, an album to have even for those not fond of the Neapolitan singer. As always among fans, some might snub this album, labeling it as the end: my opinion is that it is still passable, not comparable to the golden ones, but of good quality. Here Pino is in great shape, surrounded by professionals and delivers a truly great album.

Maybe it's because I wore out the cassette from listening to it so much back in the day, but "Don't trample the flowers in the desert" remains one of Pino's best albums in the last 20 years: second only to the masterpiece "Che Dio ti benedica".

Score for Pino*: 9.

*clearly referring to the Pino of the '90s.