Pooh
Pinocchio

For those who can't stand this wave of reviews about the Pooh, and in general about the same artist, I reassure you by saying that this is the last review of a Pooh album. Pinocchio was indeed the last of the band's 29 studio albums missing on Debasio. The album was released in November 2002 and represented a preview of the homonymous musical that debuted in the early months of the following year. It contains 11 tracks out of the 24 from the musical produced by the Compagnia della Rancia, led by Saverio Marconi, but with different arrangements. Clearly conceived as a concept album about the character from Collodi, the work is actually a mixture between typical songs of the group and musical songs, which, however, due to their character, can also be seen outside the musical context. The single that anticipated the 27th Pooh studio album was Il paese dei balocchi, released on October 25, 2002. A track with a flavor both rock and fairy-tale like. Among the tracks directly connected to Collodi’s tale, there are the first track, Come una volta, and the second, Gatto e Volpe SPA, while among the more "Pooh-style" songs is certainly Figli, already anticipated in the 2001 collection Best of the Best, with a different arrangement. Figli will be the only song from Pinocchio to also be performed at the band's concerts, as if to sanction a difference between the musical and the normal activity of the group. But there is another sentimental track worth mentioning, which I consider the best of the album, and it is Voglio andare via, which achieved decent success between late 2002 and early 2003. Pinocchio was an atypical album in the Pooh's career, as it was recorded "in progress," with music already ready, composed in the two-year break following Cento di queste vite, and with lyrics and arrangements composed and adapted specifically for the musical. It should be noted that Pinocchio was played by the late Manuel Frattini, who unfortunately passed away prematurely at the age of 54, and whom I had the honor of meeting in 2014, along with the musical's author Stefano D’Orazio. The album deserves 3 stars, a record without blame or praise and definitely transitional. Then in 2004, the Pooh would return to the great pop rock, their trademark, with Ascolta.