Zucchero
Miserere

What can I say... I like Zucchero, and I also appreciate his latest albums a lot, often criticized for taking a pronounced pop turn that makes one long for the good old days of "Blue's" and "Oro, incenso e birra." So please excuse me if I won't be objective and will highlight aspects that might not actually be noteworthy.

"Miserere" is Zucchero's least known album, not always appreciated, and the only one from which no successful singles were extracted (except perhaps the titular Miserere). Only recently does it seem to have been reassessed by the public and by Sugar himself, so much so that more and more often in concerts we can hear songs from this album, and in the latest All The Best, we can find as many as three.

Zucchero tells us about his period of crisis; it's an album characterized by profound sadness and an almost unfillable void. The times when he sang the sinful "Diavolo in me" or "Il mare impetuoso al tramonto..." seem far away! After a brief instrumental introduction, it begins right away with "L'urlo", an outburst against everything and everyone. Significant is the phrase "Ma cosa c'è di volgare oltre all'essere scemo?", in my opinion, very beautiful and sadly true.

Now the sweet notes of "It's all right (La Promessa)" begin, the gem of the album. Beautiful and melancholic, it deviates from the mostly harsh and direct language of the other songs and is addressed to the woman who hurt him so much in a significantly gentler way. But the calm tones last very little; in fact, we move on to "Il pelo nell'uovo". Hundreds of authors among the most famous have talked about unrequited love through songs, poems, and more. Here Zucchero sums it all up by simply saying "L'amore è cieco! E a me mi girano le palle"; who could blame him?

The next tracks are "Miss Mary", sung in English with a very pleasant melody, and "Anna Solatia", an instrumental piece where chilling laughter (or sobs, hard to tell) are heard in the background. The break lasts little as the compelling rhythm returns with "Un'orgia di animi perse", followed by "Pene". The title raises a few doubts, and suspicions are quickly confirmed: "Lecca le mie pene, begli occhioni blu". It makes you smile, but it is the least successful song, repetitive and too long.

Then comes "Povero Cristo" and here I wonder: why ruin such a beautiful song by making the spoken part incomprehensible? The voice is a whisper and gets overshadowed by the music, capturing only parts of the words this way. With "Ridammi il Sole", Zucchero turns to his woman with sweet and desperate words: "Della solitudine infondo dimmi che ne sai; e di un'anima grande come il mondo dimmi che ne sai".

Completely different is "I frati: delirious lyrics and very catchy music, one of the best. It seems like a cheerful tavern song, but in reality, between the raspberries and the self-citations (from "Senza una donna"), it's perhaps the most desperate song of the whole album. All hope seems gone and all that's left to say is: "Non ho più un soldo e non ho neanche lei, ma va bene così anche se va male".

Finally, it closes with "Miserere", about which there aren’t many words to spend. Suffice to say it's a duet with Pavarotti, in which the two voices intertwine perfectly.

An intimate album capable of stirring strong emotions like few others. It’s definitely worth listening to, no matter what is said about it. Particular sounds and not at all trivial lyrics.