Vasco Rossi
Colpa D'Alfredo

THE REVIEW

After hanging around this site for quite some time, I finally decided to try my hand at being a reviewer. To start, I chose, at my own risk, an album by Vasco Rossi, one of the least appreciated authors by the "average DeBaserian."

The album in question is "Colpa d'Alfredo", dated 1980. At the time, "Albachiara" had been written a couple of years prior, but around the bonfires, Battisti still reigned supreme. In fact, Rossi was virtually unknown outside the limited scope of the Emilia region.

However, things were about to change rapidly: for the first time, critics and the general public began to either pan or notice this strange individual. This was because the new work was very different from the two that preceded it: Vasco became increasingly ironic and aggressive, distancing himself from the intimate tones that characterized his early singer-songwriter style. His music was seasoned with cries and angry guitar riffs rarely heard before in Italy.

This is particularly evident in the title track, the scandalous "Colpa d'Alfredo", or in the punkish "Asilo Republic". Among the harder episodes, there are a couple of catchy songs like the famous "Non l'hai mica capito," pleasant and without great pretensions. Noteworthy are the ballads: the evocative "Tropico del Cancro" and, above all, "Anima fragile". In this piece, the piano accompanies the singer's shrill voice in an improbable but perfectly successful intertwining. It’s impossible to remain indifferent to its sweetness, certainly the best moment of the album. A total of eight tracks, just over half an hour. A unique flavor, an ancient atmosphere, making the listening truly pleasant and distinctive. It's impossible to recreate something similar today. 

After this album, Blasco will realize he has found the key to success. He will increasingly adopt the role of the transgressive rocker to cater to a growing audience. The next album will follow the same formula, targeting that "generation of freaks" who will feel perfectly represented by his music and will start to idolize him. But the character Vasco will become less credible over the years, and his music will lose the spontaneity that characterized it at the start. And we are left with his singles on the radio...