Vinicio Capossela
Live in Volvo

THE REVIEW

Question: Do you think Capossela belongs to this world?!
No, it can't be ... his world is not "ours," the one we see every day. This "young old man" who seems to have fallen still in infancy from the big top of any Circus Togni, has found in recent years his dreamy-visionary dimension outside the usual Italian standards of understanding "Italian song".
Always considered an emu (or very close) to Tom Waits, our Vinicio has managed over the years to maintain the formula of the American bard, adapting it however to the stylistic and sonic stylemes of the Bel Paese, reinventing a refined and enveloping music heir of the last century that almost always projects us into shabby theaters, smoke-filled clubs, alcohol and sweat to suddenly elevate to poetry by raising eyes to the moon.
In Vinicio, the part of the lyrics, always outlandish and visionary, should not be underestimated, filled with prose in verse with evocative, seductive, and melancholic lyrics that speak to us of fiery nights, melancholy moons, memories muddied by sweat, visions, and "souls in pain."
Nothing is ever explicitly circumscribed or definitive, but everyone must dig their own truth and adapt it to their experiential repertoire: and so it happens unfailingly in this beautiful Live work from "LiveinVolvo" by CGD East West (released in 1998) containing 18 tracks, each more pyrotechnic and imaginative than the last.

A kaleidoscopic whirl of sounds, noise, and country festivity, recounted with a bohemian spirit stuffed with a "solar" and gypsy decadence indeed atypical for an Italian singer who only a decade ago was singing the jazzy "slip away" or "New York night" in a strange cross between Fred Buscaglione, Paolo Conte, and Rino Gaetano, perhaps more canonical and less original than now.
All that's left is to be charmed by this unique live testimony (an unmissable DVD version also exists!!) truly amazing even for the atypical presence of the Kochani Orchestra, virtuous and overflowing like never before in recreating the atmosphere of a Village Festival so dear to ours.
So on with "Una Giornata Senza Pretese," "Stanco E Perduto," "Scivola Vai Via," "Ultimo Amore," "Il Fantasma delle Tre" and the beautiful cover of Bruno Martino's "Estate," poignant as few.
And we continue with the unleashed and syncopated brass of the Kochani Orchestra: "Contrada Chiavicone," "Zampanò," "Al veglione" to end in a whirlwind of emotions, with the previously unreleased "Scatà, Scata, Scatafascio," theme of the old show hosted by Paolo Rossi.
Capossela is indeed a true force of nature, an engaging head-comic capable of twisting a tango in the song "Cristal" or the "rotten and dingy blues" of "l'Accolita dei Rancorosi," another great piece (very much indebted to the latest Waits, his cross and delight).

A precious and sublime Live in its "crudity" that immerses us in that carnivalesque atmosphere, exalts us, and makes us "seem there, a few meters from the stage" with a reconciled smile with the future of Italian Music.
Italian?
European?
Global?
Because do you think Capossela belongs to this world?!
In doubt, I hit PLAY again: "That's intratteinment!" Vinicio yells hoarsely and we start celebrating again among rum, mosquitoes, bon bons, and cha cha cha. Yes indeed, as far as I'm concerned, this "night" might as well never end.

Bau Bye.