Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari
All The Best

THE REVIEW

Adelmo has come a long way, the farmer from Emilia. Now he calls himself Zucchero "Sugar" Fornaciari and with his extravagant ways tries to imitate the great music stars, without denying his humble rural origins.

A musician of rare talent unfortunately considered success and profit as primary goals; and he could reasonably consider himself satisfied given the millions of albums sold and the good international reputation he enjoys. Not to mention the series of friendships (more or less constructed) he can boast in the music field. So, objective achieved? I have some doubts. By analyzing this collection and his music in general I will try to explain why. I will not evaluate the work itself since it is a mere commercial operation, but I will take it as a cue for my discourse.

In recent years, Zucchero has given us only one album of new material (not exceptional) and three collections. That he is therefore running short of ideas is evident and this "All the best" is the proof: of the five new tracks, four are covers, while the fifth is something truly horrible, in perfect "Grande Baboomba" style. So, not a great effort. Let's leave these tracks thrown in to make it more marketable and run through the other titles. We find the blatant rip-offs (Blu, Un Kilo), the usual damn catchy tunes (X colpa di chi?, Diavolo in me), the sweet ballads (Così celeste, Ahum). In short, the classic simple and catchy radio singles. However, buried amid all this are tracks of a much higher level. And it's frustrating to see how much talent has been wasted, because when Sugar applies himself, he can combine impeccable melodies with decidedly evocative lyrics. This happens when the author arms himself with humility and explores the most intimate nature of feelings. And then the tones become melancholic and subdued. The splendid "Dune mosse" is the most striking example, but not the only one. We also have "Diamante" and "Pane e sale", both written with the help of the good Francesco De Gregori.

Now I wonder: why bother personalities of the caliber of Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, etc., when at home we have a De Gregori? It may not make a scene, but the result is better and feels less constructed. Less known are "Ridammi il Sole" and "La promessa"; beautiful because they are sincere, beautiful because they are full of genuine passion. And what about "Madre dolcissima"? The search for love, understood in the deepest sense of the term; faith in God wanes and to achieve spiritual salvation nothing remains but exchanging affections with other human beings. "Madre dolcissima carezzami la testa..." Few phrases of strong impact send shivers every time they are heard. Finally, the melancholic "Hey man" must definitely be mentioned.

In short, the path of imitation (or worse plagiarism) is decidedly less tiring, but will never lead to such results. Yet Zucchero rarely found the courage to break away from the banality of simple commercial success. He has thus opted for compromise, juxtaposing masterpieces with pieces of dubious quality. Coming back to the initial doubt: why do I think Zucchero has not fully achieved his dreams of glory? In my opinion, he paid the price for always being on the edge: by offering something unconventional he failed to capture the large masses. Sure, he's not an unknown, but he's not able to fill San Siro like some of his colleagues. At the same time, the niche audience reasonably decided to abandon him due to the lack of coherence. What a pity. The farmer has made a career, but he hasn't managed to enrich our musical landscape as (perhaps) he could have.