Timoria
Un Aldo qualunque sul Treno magico

Beat… from the English "battuto"? "loser"? or as Kerouac suggested, an abbreviation of the Latin "beatus" (blessed, aspiring to sainthood?). Perhaps it's precisely this "Un Aldo qualunque sul treno magico", it's a circle that closes and completes the Beat restoration started by Timoria in 1999. That year, Francesco Renga's departure from the group made the Beat ethic and style, the identification of the saint in the loser, salient features of our work. "Un Aldo Qualunque.." is therefore the unintentional point of arrival, the epilogue of a career, the highest point of thematic and stylistic research begun years ago, not strictly a concept album, which follows a logical thread, a well-defined plot, and it's no coincidence that it is the most cinematic among Timoria's works. If I may take a small liberty, the Timoria's career itself could be considered a "concept," a journey spent investigating certain themes, values, and ideals, in a process of refinement so profound and meticulous that it ultimately changes the stylistic and sound features of the group itself. This latest work is a journey that, unlike the previous ones (Viaggio Senza Vento and El Topo Grand Hotel), no longer concerns the pure and losing hero, Joe, but Timoria themselves, their story (Non è divertente, Casa mia, Treno Magico).

A leap into the past

In the 1960s, the Beat Generation first, then the hippie movement and the student protest, introduced new topics, values, and polemical goals into international youth thought: the critique of the civilization of machines and consumption, to moralism and bureaucracy, to the dogmatism of religions and states; the ideals of pacifism, social and racial equality, ecology; the utopias of communal life, solidarism, a moneyless society based on barter and alternative production, of travel and music as factors of experience and communication. Timoria were the greatest heirs of this "ideal" heritage at least in the Italian rock scene of the 1990s. The group drew from that "magic" season, certain thematic strands, which over the years, were elaborated with increasing skill, soon becoming the emblem of the group itself.

The roots

First of all, I would like to emphasize how a historical theme once again comes to the center of this album, the relationship between different generations, which was already the hobby horse of the Italian beat movement (for example, Nomadi and Guccini). In this work, Timoria, who had already tackled the theme before (L’Albero, Sacrificio, Senza Vento, etc.), investigates the generational relationship through well-evident sound and thematic shades that sigh, envy, and admire that generation, the values that were proper to it, and the "wind" that moved its deeds (Il mare nella strada), themes and sounds that are children of an era, indeed, "better," envied, and now lost.

Art cites itself

Again, a deep love for contamination peeks through; Timoria boasts an artistic interdisciplinarity rarely conquered by other groups in the national rock scene. Let's think of the numerous and varied citations: Neruda, Campana, Ferlinghetti, Calvino, Hugo, Leone, Jodorowskji, Hesse, Kerouac, Dostoevskji, Castaneda, Camus, the cursed poets. We already recall in Ritmo&Dolore from 1991 the poem by Hermann Hesse "Jugendflucht" adapted and recorded, or "L'uomo che Ride" inspired by Hugo's novel, again from Hesse they draw inspiration "Boccadoro" contained in 2020-Speedball and the entire album "Viaggio Senza Vento", where one can see the same human parabola present in the splendid "Siddartha" by the German writer. "Un Aldo qualunque.." is the extreme consequence of this love for contamination so much so that the songs of the album are also the soundtrack of the homonymous film by Dario Migliardi. The music and lyrics of the songs reflect the atmospheres described in the film, set in 1970s Turin. The sound owes much to many historical groups and it is not by chance that a concept in vogue thirty years ago is taken up, that of the "magic bus" (converted into "Treno Magico"), introduced by the Who and then become a symbol of an era.

Illusion and control

The third theme evoked in the album is the criticism of the virtual world, a theme on which the songs of the album 2020-Speedball were spent, and which Timoria have returned to on other occasions (Mandami un messaggio), denouncing the potential danger of technological tools, in their abuse, in the loss of relationship, in an instrumental and not creative use of the object. In the album "Un Aldo Qualunque", a modernity emerges that takes away air and space from sentiment and true things, I am thinking in particular of songs like "Fresco", "Treno magico" and again "Il Mare nella Strada" and "Vivo alla giornata".

The journey

Finally, the cornerstone theme of a career, the Journey. Two albums, in particular, were centered around this theme: "Viaggio senza vento" from 1993 and "El topo grand hotel" from 2001. These are two albums, inspired by the concepts of the '70s, whose protagonist is the already mentioned Joe, a warrior in search of himself. Investigated by Timoria, always as an inner, philosophical journey and not necessarily from a physical and geographical point of view, the journey also finds some space in the latest work (think of "Fresco", which is a journey through illness, and "Treno Magico", an escape from reality). This last journey is autobiographical in shades, featuring Timoria themselves, their story ("Casa mia" and "Non è divertente"), struggles, discomforts, and changes upon arriving in Milan, in an inhospitable place, which follows logics and dogmas that certainly do not conform to the "holy" and "losing" souls. The final solution will be the long escape on the Magic Train, an escape from which our protagonists, unfortunately, will never return.

The lost style

Besides the aforementioned thematic revisitations, in this album, the archival work developed over the years comes to completion, the sounds of the tracks are totally borrowed from the '70s, from the Beat, from psychedelic rock and from the groups that served during that period: I Camaleonti, Equipe 84, The Mamas & The Papas, the Bee Gees. From this perspective, Timoria proves to be accurate and harmonious communicators, providing praiseworthy interpretations, slightly more electrified and powerful, even of great tracks from the past. Two gems above all, the hit "To love somebody" by the Bee Gees is excellently reinterpreted, more than a choice, a necessity, as the royalties required for the original song would have exceeded the entire budget of the film itself, and Symbolum '77, a great classic of the oratorian songbook reconciled with the very seventies taste of the album thanks to an impetuous electrification.

Classics and avant-garde

Far from market logics and those of easy alternativeism, what is most appreciated when listening to the latest Timoria is a classic sound that delivers an album with pleasant timelessness, at once avant-garde and old collectible vinyl, analog and past sounds, true and healthy vibrations contrasted with disillusionment and a feeling of loss and deprivation. One holds a complex product, rich in meanings and symbolisms, that demands the knowledge of the sources the group draws from to be fully understood; a knowledge that should always be considered for singer-songwriter music. It's unwise to shoot down these gentlemen who have worked with artisanal expertise, solely for the stylistic shift chosen and sought after. For whoever is writing to you, such change was a necessary stop at the time; it always is, when a fundamental piece of the picture is missing, it's better to shuffle the cards, reinvent oneself and start over, avoiding approximating sterile copies of oneself (Litfiba).
Henri Bergson said: "To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly". But doubt is sacred.