Zucchero
Miserere

THE REVIEW

Never heard of Miserere?!
If that's the case, you did well to open this review. The legendary “farmer of the blues” once again grabs his guitar and hat and starts sowing sheet music in Kenya, Louisiana, and Great Britain. Zucchero’s mood is shattered; a period of great depression is fought with assertive and overwhelmingly happy notes (“Ridammi Il Sole” and “I Frati”). One vents to the rhythm of “l’Urlo,” as the word itself suggests, and with “Un’Orgia Di Anime Perse,” “Il Pelo Nell’Uovo,” and “Povero Cristo”: energetic songs with vivid and colorful lyrics! You are listening to a still strong Zucchero, as arrogant as the funky-soul doctrine advises. Beautiful ballads like “It’s All Right” and “Miss Mary,” sweet with a British style, are not missing and will accompany the bluesman in the albums to follow.
With “Anna Solatia” (an “instrumental” song accompanied by recited poetry verses), you venture beyond the hedge of a fantastic landscape where you feel a musicality detailed, poetic, deeply confined in emotions that only an Italian landscape can convey. Its opposite is the ambiguous and rough “Pene”; what Zu’ wanted to tell us with this text remains a mystery, but it's not hard to listen beyond the lines: lecca le mie pene… …I won't reveal anything more!
I would finish by quoting the self-titled “Miserere” orchestrated by Michael Kamen (composer of film scores like “Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves” with Kevin Costner and “What Dreams May Come” with Robin Williams). A true classical masterpiece, contaminated (in a good way) by Zucchero’s soul voice accompanied by the great tenor Pavarotti.
Miserere is a sunny and magical album. It attempts surrealism and amplifies joy and sadness by 100%. It will be impossible for anyone to remain insensitive to this masterpiece.