Pooh
Dove Comincia Il Sole

I return to listening with pleasure to a Pooh album. "Dove Comincia il Sole" from 2010, and there couldn't have been a better title for this second life of the band. A great and historic group, never to be underestimated. Both because they have been on the scene since the Mesozoic era and have plenty of stories to tell. Great respect in a moment of absolute artistic void.

The Pooh, true dinosaurs, could surprise us with extraordinary experiences that we mockingly ignore or treat with indifference. But that would be a mistake. Go read the biography of Peppino di Capri, to understand, he’s more of a rocker, damned to the core, than a thousand of today's Pete Dohertys.

But let's get back to the Pooh. The album sounds very rock, and finally dynamic. It must be that they rid themselves of that ball and chain, Stefano d'Orazio (the now ex-drummer). At times, it has peaks of melancholic progressive. Let us not forget that these gentlemen hail from the '70s prog rock era. And indeed, that aesthetic is immediately noticeable at the opening of the album. Where the sun begins, part one, and two. A suite. Twelve minutes of Italian rock history. In '“L'Aquila e il Falco”' some passages of the Iron Maiden inevitably come to mind, listening to Facchinetti's choirs and the progression of the chorus, and you'll tell me. It is time for reminiscences throughout the album, perhaps it is the moment to reckon with the past, and they do so without self-pity. At times, the epic of 'Parsifal' emerges, echoing here and there with apocalyptic traits of 'Rotolando Respirando', 'Viva'. The guitar takes center stage. Without the insufferable tons of 'chorus', Dodi Battaglia arranges and produces everything with a more stripped-down and direct sound. Even the pianistic baroquism is reduced to a minimum. Nothing of Sanremo style. The guitar intro of 'Isabel' is practically taken from an Iron Maiden album, orchestrations included, very amusing. Even the voices of the three are decidedly more composed. No vocalizations with vibratos at the limit of the pathetic. Choirs, harmonies, well-measured that do not crush the economy of tracks like 'Fammi sognare ancora', 'Amica Mia'.

In conclusion, it is worth remembering that the drum parts were entrusted to Phil Mer and Steve Ferrone. The lyrics are mostly by Vincenzo Negrini, the fifth of the Pooh, now the fourth... and perhaps they are the only weak point of a mega production entirely made in Italy.