Renato Zero
Icaro

I was never a "sorcino," much less a fan of Zero. In fact, I honestly considered him a sort of opportunistic clown tied to the moment, a meteor that would quickly fade away with the musical revolution underway that would overwhelm him. I could hardly stand his somewhat benevolent, yet always politically correct attitude, this kind of self-congratulatory guru that gathered a horde of little fools and their stupid chorus-like chants. Then you change, of course, or perhaps you become dumber, too, (but you choose!!) and you find yourself looking back, picking up and reassessing and re-analyzing what we've missed, misunderstood, or left behind. Sure, those were years where musically speaking, there was really so much, too much, in fact, and you couldn't possibly give a damn about everything and everyone. I rediscovered Renato by chance thanks to a friend, a VHS, and a missed interview for a private radio before a concert.

Icaro already arrives in the 80s, at the height of Zero's success, after 7 albums of growing beauty and success. It is the first live album, and the need to celebrate success. Certainly, self-referentiality is not lacking, but in Zero, it seems to me a non-negative characteristic, associated with the need for expression of his people. The songs, like the character, are honest and truly bravely non-conformist, claims to a right to "diversity" that in Italy at that time was far from given. The melodramatic emphasis is not lacking, but people do not mind the vocal exaggerations that trigger applause, later captured in the caricatures of some comedians. So, let's talk about child abuse, let's talk about abortion, let's talk about the environment, about hunting, and among sequins and leotards, a large following of fans crowns him an eccentric prophet. And so while half of Italy is engaged, shooting and looking at the "engaged songwriters," Zero, between transgressions and moralism, and oaths upon his coherence, accompanies the other half. Often he does not take himself too seriously, but what his true soul is, we are not given to know and in any case, he has never come out and the doubt remains.

This is Icaro, a good album, musically decent that brings together a genuinely "greatest hits" lineup. And perhaps I was wrong.