THE KING IS NOT FUN
not possess plus the original box that I bought in bulk along with six others from Ferretti, my colleague at Tematex in 1974. E 'was also distributed to listen to her friends and no longer came home. The cover was posted scanned from the cd that "clear", I bought back. The others, besides Moods Neil Diamond I mentioned in post # 5, were history of an employee of De Andrè, the Penguin Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa Over nite Sensation, the lover of Mina and Wisbone value of Ash ' eponymous group, which will be the subject of my next musical memories. All for the modest sum of 14,000 lire. They were the original boxes and still incellofanate. My colleague, before becoming lent his work in that Brebbia, his hometown in the province of Varese, near the Doge, a small record company but they could afford to have those prestigious names in the catalog. Of course he could have products with great discounts, so it could afford to sell them at affordable prices. At the record company, not necessarily where the works were recorded, however, he worked in the duplication of original master recordings from which to my eyes was considered an expert and a connoisseur of music. Securities mentioned he offered them to me. He left that job to be employed in our factory in an occupation suited to the studies he had done, and more rewarding. But his passion for music remained. I went several times to his house because he could already have a sophisticated stereo system, for me lay a poor tape holder, from which up to then hear sounds that I had never heard.
Today we talk on the other, seem to suggest the professor Vecchioni. In fact, after numerous stories of walking and walking, with this post back to revisit my first music purchases in strict chronological order.
"A king is not amused" I was strongly advocated by Ferretti as the work that had received the critics' award for the recording quality of the texts. It was not easy to assimilate and understand immediately, but that is why taking a charm particular. Before then I could say about Roberto Vecchioni only because of his name memorable and special, especially if combined with Lo Vecchio, his musical collaborator, who was very close in the early period. Suffice it to say that I almost still hear the echoes of a reminder of their song, which I appreciated very much, by I do not know which presenter at the Sanremo Festival in 1968: "The Flack - The Old, Sera. Valci Sing Giuliana ". That strange combination to me so stuck to the point that they remain forever in my memory, partly because that song took me by his interpreter and even more, although it was not very graceful with his voice as well as famous colleague to whom he was matched: Gigliola Cinquetti. The interpretation of Valci was more naive and experienced, in my opinion, and resulted in significant effects, both visual and vocal: I am fascinated that his image as a girl "nature" with long hair and smooth, hippies and very different from other singers who trod the stage of Sanremo. So for me it was Flack, since then, essentially an obscure composer and lyricist in the world not connected to the fore and in the shadow of pop music.
And so I left a little biased to listen to the tape. I was not prepared yet to texts that seem "weird" at first glance. I appreciated very much, however, the clarity of the voice of Robert. Per certe caratteristiche la accomunai a quella di De Andrè che comunque al tempo non potevo dire di conoscere bene, avendolo solamente ascoltato alla radio. Scansione delle parole ben udibili e tonalità a volte grevi e profonde come quella di Fabrizio, pur se non disdegnasse escursioni nel falsetto. Credo di essere comunque rimasto un pò deluso, al tempo, poichè mi ricordo che non lo passai molte volte nel mangianastri. E, forse ancora più significativo, fu il fatto che nessuno dei miei amici lo reclamasse all'ascolto. Cosa che invece succederà un paio di anni dopo con "Elisir" e "Samarcanda". Velasquez addirittura fu caldeggiato da Geo per interpretarlo con l'allora nascente gruppo dei "Pulsar" e diventò una delle prime cover di successo quando si esibivano in pubblico. Ma questa è un'altra storia che avrò occasione di riprendere e raccontare.
Per ritornare a "Il re non si diverte", posso dire che l'ho ripreso ad ascoltare dopo il successo riscontrato da Vecchioni con i lavori sopracitati, ed anche in tempi più recenti è ritornato abbastanza frequentemente nel mio lettore CD.
A farmelo apprezzare fu sicuramente la mia nuova favorevole predisposizione per l'allora fiorente mondo cantautorale d'ultima generazione (De Gregori et similia...), ma anche la conoscenza più approfondita che iniziavo ad avere dei contenuti letterari e musicali delle cose che ascoltavo. Fondamentale per la comprensione dell'opera del primo Vecchioni, fu il periodico LatoSide, a fortnightly tabloid-sized daily newspaper of the time, who published monographs on artists of the moment with a particular preference, just the world of songwriters. Even the articles published on Hello Enzo Caffarelli 2001 period were important for my nascent musical culture.
transcribe here a small part of the interview "monuments" to Robert, made by Michelangelo Romano, eclectic character of the music world at the time, that at the time he produced his records. An excerpt that mentions evolution of Flack with his third, from the "hand side" mentioned, with the memory of the author to three years after publication, when it was a name di punta del fenomeno cantautorale.
"Col terzo LP cambiano molte cose, insieme ad una mia, chiamiamola crescita politica, c'è una maturazione complessiva; anche i miei rapporti privati, sentimentali, cambiano: Il re non si diverte l'ho registrato nel '73, quando anche il mio lavoro nell'insegnamento si evolveva; entravo a far parte del gruppo sindacale della scuola ed ho conosciuto molta gente preparata che mi ha dato tantissimo e mi ha chiarito in senso politico molte cose che prima sentivo in modo più indefinitivo, chiamiamolo sentimentale... la mia vita precedente era a compartimenti stagni, c'erano delle paratie tra un momento e l'altro, che a poco a poco, se non sono crollate del tutto, si sono certo molto assottigliate and sometimes disappeared. This time, he began his friendship with Gucci, I know more closely the people who play with me, Tony Esposito and Mario D'Amora, and a way of life different from the bourgeois peace enveloped me like a hood and does not accept more; I saw more and more critical to the lives of my friends and I always seemed really stupid of things for which you were busy, the problems of their days, the success carrieristico, the money, the car ... all this that I will say so, confusingly, it was not transferred immediately into a song, even today, three years after the beginning of this change is not yet fully become a song, is a research which continues even now and will probably continue for a long time ... "
To return to the tape in question, I can reaffirm that then you do not have the valorizzai. Over the years we went back over and he could appreciate some compositions such as" Saturday Stars "and" A king is not amused ", still enjoyable. But what fascinates me most is still dark and almost surreal atmosphere supported by the almost prevailing in the sound of the piano compositions, without many frills boundary. Some tracks also give prominence to the guitar, but does not disclose the percussion, while assigned to the rising talent of percussionist Tony Esposito from Naples, which will be part of the so-called Naples Power that characterized that period of music in Naples. (In the photo shown above is reflected in the recording studio along with Flack).
It has a certain effect to see that the arrangements are by Paky Canzi, then famous for being the leader of the formation of New Angels, a band whose repertoire was clearly oriented toward the pop-friendly consumption, and also levied a success audiences. Suffice it to mention a few titles: "Women's happiness," Singapore "are the first that come to mind. But even more it's like the light that Flack was the co-author of those songs ... The turning point
Roberto directed towards the most challenging roads and the content more personal and distinctive, just a spoon with this work. From now on he will become a "songwriter" in the true sense of the word, leaving the work of lyricist devoted to the fortunes of other singers. It will be part of the small number of those which will last over time and that still, after well over thirty years, forms a significant and important in the Italian musical world.
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