Where there's two there's three

Adriano Celentano's latest recording, “Per sempre”, hits the shops in the wake of the extraordinary success of his 2 previous albums (over three million copies sold), and is very likely to make it a hat-trick. The cd follows the same guidelines as the other two, which achieved such excellent results: once again, there's Gianni Bella and Mogol, with one of the songs (the lovely “Vite”) written by Francesco Guccini, and in another three  - “Per sempre”, “Mi fa male” and the exuberant “Radio Chick” - there's the famous jazz musician Chick Corea on piano.
As for the actual value of the work, it must be said at the outset that “Per sempre”, on careful listening, is less compact and inspired than its two forerunners. Although the arrangements of Fio Zanotti are clever and effective and the music of Gianni Bella mostly lovely and valid, the lyrics of the well-known writer Mogol are not amongst his finest (with those of “Una luce intermittente” and “Pensieri nascosti” being some of his poorest ever).
There are, however, some good-quality moments: "Più di un sogno", for example, is pretty and intense, destined to be remembered for a long time. Best of all, though, are the more risky and off-beat creations: “I passi che facciamo”, with music by Leon, has lyrics written by the young Luigi De Crescenzo, stage name Pacifico. "Vite", which has also been performed live by Guccini himself, is rendered superlatively: Celentano does something different with it, which comes over just as well, clever as he is at reinventing the songs of great artists (just think of the mythical “Azzurro” by Paolo Conte). Finally, the cd title-piece is by Gianni Bella and Stefano Pieroni, a CET protégé of Mogol: here too, the result can be said to be satisfactory, albeit entirely in the traditional mode. All in all, though, the general formula seems to be entering its twilight zone: perhaps the time has come when Adriano should make a change and reinvent himself again, as he has done often in the past. He's certainly not lacking in pluck and ideas.

Francesco Troiano

Where there's two there's three

Adriano Celentano's latest recording, “Per sempre”, hits the shops in the wake of the extraordinary success of his 2 previous albums (over three million copies sold), and is very likely to make it a hat-trick. The cd follows the same guidelines as the other two, which achieved such excellent results: once again, there's Gianni Bella and Mogol, with one of the songs (the lovely “Vite”) written by Francesco Guccini, and in another three  - “Per sempre”, “Mi fa male” and the exuberant “Radio Chick” - there's the famous jazz musician Chick Corea on piano.
As for the actual value of the work, it must be said at the outset that “Per sempre”, on careful listening, is less compact and inspired than its two forerunners. Although the arrangements of Fio Zanotti are clever and effective and the music of Gianni Bella mostly lovely and valid, the lyrics of the well-known writer Mogol are not amongst his finest (with those of “Una luce intermittente” and “Pensieri nascosti” being some of his poorest ever).
There are, however, some good-quality moments: "Più di un sogno", for example, is pretty and intense, destined to be remembered for a long time. Best of all, though, are the more risky and off-beat creations: “I passi che facciamo”, with music by Leon, has lyrics written by the young Luigi De Crescenzo, stage name Pacifico. "Vite", which has also been performed live by Guccini himself, is rendered superlatively: Celentano does something different with it, which comes over just as well, clever as he is at reinventing the songs of great artists (just think of the mythical “Azzurro” by Paolo Conte). Finally, the cd title-piece is by Gianni Bella and Stefano Pieroni, a CET protégé of Mogol: here too, the result can be said to be satisfactory, albeit entirely in the traditional mode. All in all, though, the general formula seems to be entering its twilight zone: perhaps the time has come when Adriano should make a change and reinvent himself again, as he has done often in the past. He's certainly not lacking in pluck and ideas.

Francesco Troiano