Reviews by Time Bomb

That votes had to school in themes Fibra? I wondered listening and listening again to the tracks that make up his new album, released in surprise April 7. Fiber has a tendency to not hold the theme. And 'his beautiful, what defines his way of making music and to tell: part with an idea and then rambles on human knowledge. A palette of phrases, ideas, assembled in metric based instrumental duty. "The text you do not understand / I hope so at least" raps in "Alien".
Also heard continuously for a week, leaving sensations that overlap, which require more time to be processed. 85 minutes are not easy, those of "squalor", a rap pepperoni: good stuff, but that does not assimilate and disposing in a blink. No pieces piacioni, duets with the beautiful female voice of the moment, is not "music for the masses."
It is probably right that "The rap in my country" was chosen as the first single, the song is more direct; and then there's dissing with Fedez: the two most followed rapper boot arguing is manna from heaven for the media. Curious, however, that the same song Fiber tent virtually hand Vacca former friend, with whom she has given birth to one year in an endless fight with blows of traces repartee.
If "squalor" has a quality, is that it is unquestionably a disc of fiber, very consistent with what was and is the style of Fabrizio Tarducci: themes, rapping technique, joints of words, thoughts that fall on the trail without mediate with the market, self-criticism (see the song "EURO"), reasoning that to get from place to follow the endless streets of arabesques
. Compared to the past, the artist of Senigallia has lost his way a little 'smile, there's definitely a little joking in "squalor". Tarducci for an hour and a half ago what they like without mediation: extrabeat goes out of the blue, blocks the instrumental, puts the sound of what could be a stuck pig at the end of a track. Himself in "Pablo Escobar" reveals his magic formula: "A tip to all to do it: exaggerated". And he exaggerates, for better or for worse. 21 songs are an overdose of words, not all missed. "How Vasco", for example, has a text really weak, but the songs are not lacking valid: for example "Rock that shit" that houses the French rapper Ypussoupha, "Dexter" and the title track "squalor". Many guests: Marra, Guè, Clementino, Nitro, Salmo just to name the most popular with the last two of the most incisive. Gaber in his famous monologue saying "For me to be good at certain sports is not just that you have to be stupid, but it helps." This disc of fiber is a trip not need to be crazy to enter fully into his world, though probably helps.

It 's true. At first listen, especially if you are lost in the street the extraordinary "Algiers" in 2012, the new Calexico may seem a disc of another band. Listening distractedly "Edge of the sun" and you think: "It is they, really?". The move, slow and insightful, discs more body and tex mex to sound more melodic and immediate, the Calexico they did it through " Algiers ", and with this new studio effort seems to have refined the technique of perfect record. No, I'm not exaggerating. The ingredients are pretty much the same as always, but the recipe is different, the elements mixed together with another spirit , and the result tastes so overwhelming as not doing without.

I had promised to write this review of the new band of Tucson without using certain words such as land, boundary, asphalt, dust, etc., but the disc title already says a lot, so here we are: in "Edge of the sun" and Burns Convertino succeed as always to compose songs each time more evocative and suggestive. A magical journey, which starts with the first track "Falling from the sky" made with Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), and that is a great business card, as was the first single-patchanka mariachi entitled "Cumbia whence the "with good Amparo Sanchez, a member of the Spanish group Amparanoia, exactly.

The album continues with songs like "Bullets & rocks", where we find an old friend of the band, Sam Beam. The song made the leader of Iron & Wine is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of "Tapping on the line", one of the most exciting and immediate steps of the album, which sees the feminine presence of Neko Case, another old friend of the group. With these two songs Calexico show that he had lost none of their cultural and musical, churning out two songs so that fish with both hands in their artistic past (References are records like the EP "In the Reins", so to speak, Incidentally together just to Iron & Wine). Comes the time for the much loved and hated with Latin folk "Coyoacán" - inspired by traditional Mexican, typical of Calexico, certainly, but nice in the middle of the track listing - and the relentless, fast and quick "Beneath the city of dreams "home to the songwriter and guitarist Guatemalan Gaby Moreno. The final disc is not left to chance. There are still many collaborations to explore and there is still time for a relaxing time with the sweet "Woodshed waltz" and to be pampered dall'avvolgente melody of "Never Moon Rises" starring Carla Morrison, young promising pop singer of Mexican descent. Close two goodies worth noting: the hypnotic "World undone", a blues suffered registered with the magnificent Takim, band of traditional Greek music, and "Follow the river" that hosts Nick Urata of Devotchka (remember them yes, the columns Sheet of films like "Everything Is Illuminated" or "Little Miss Sunshine"?).



"Edge of the sun", in conclusion, yes wants to emphasize the artistic maturity of Calexico, but with an eye to those who always have their musical roots. And 'why the band embarked on a journey into the heart of Mexico (to record "Algiers" Instead, they moved to New Orleans), almost to breathe again those territories that have inspired more disks roots as "The Black Light" .

So, no matter if you are in a busy metropolis or in a village in the province, listening to these songs will seem to be catapulted into a world full of nuances, energetic, bubbly but reassuring at the same time. A disc perhaps reflective, in its own way, but always practical in musicality and melodies that carry the songs, some species such as the beautiful "When The Angels played" that sees the collaboration of Pieta Brown & Greg Leisz, flowing fast thanks to continuous change of the music calendar. It will be the natural elements that have always characterized their texts (the borderlands, the streets, the sun ... here we go again) but the Calexico have the ability to describe their surroundings in a manner so lively and easy to render (ce) one of the most amazing things in the world. So either the curve of aging has taken early and we are particularly sensitive, or they are really good. Obvious that this is the second.
TRACKLIST
Falling from the sky with Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses)
Bullets & rocks with Sam Beam (Iron & Wine)
When the angels played with Pieta Brown & Greg Leisz
Tapping on the line with Neko Case
Cumbia de Donde with Amparo Sanchez
Miles from the Sea with Gaby Moreno
Coyoacán
Beneath the city of dreams with Gaby Moreno
Woodshed Waltz with Greg Leisz
Moon never rises with Carla Morrison
World undone with Takim
Follow the river with Nick Urata (Devotchka)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome in July 1997. Get ready for a bizarre summer flood and temperature good, although not hot as feared: you hear a lot of El Niño, especially in news and weather reports. We remind you that, from this moment, the Internet will be a novelty and 56k uncommon, your phones will be able to handle only phone calls and text messages (even some of the most advanced photo grainy) and has just released the first chapter of the saga Harry Potter. We are pleased to inform you that smoking in public places is allowed.

Now we are ready to deal with this "The day is my enemy" - the latest effort Prodigy in order of time) with the mood right. The reason? Simple ... in front of a scene changed radically, with regard to electronic, dance, rave and big beat (and those who use the most recent two terms, however?), The Prodigy seem to have taken - and deliberately - the road back to (its) past. So no hints to the recent evolution of the EDM dance scene, but a willingness to comply with the spirit harder, dark, dangerous and a little 'dirty incubator from which the sound of the band was born in 1990.



The gps musical journey contained in "The day is my enemy" seems (and how could it be otherwise?) To point to the coordinates of the successful "The fat of the land" - for episodes more rock - and those of "Music for the jilted generation ". An album uncompromising, therefore, old school, with touches not too hidden by Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine and Sisters of Mercy; all in sauce Prodigy. The impact is good: violent, stun, no half measures. The only problem is that, objectively, a sound like now is stripped (for chronological reasons) of the devastating power that has had 25 years ago ... we metabolized and Prodigy are a well known music category. In short, do not hit like they used to.
The lack of the news does not make the album, however, negligible. If we want, however, is one of the most successful of the recent production of the band, a sort of recovery of the vein and uncompromising hardcore of their beginnings: set out with the intention of criticizing the commercialization of the rave scene / big beat, paradoxically got a great commercial success ... and now seem to want to repeat the concept: the dance music is not only the EDM coated and padded Pop.

Like all "return to the future", "The day is my enemy" is not flawless - at times sounds a bit 'too glossy and built on automatic pilot - but also gives great moments. It would not be fair to crucify Howlett and cronies for some self-quotation too.
All Quiet on the Western Front. But if you loved the Prodigy at their top, you will also like this their latest effort.

Special mention for featuring two nasty philosophers pub suburban Sleaford Mods, who in "Ibiza" hurl themselves - in their uncompromising style and violent - against the EDM scene mainstream clubs of Ibiza, made of superstar DJs and music plastic:

"Attack the cable, pre-mixed stuff, we have fallen all,
it all depends on the equipment,
Friends wankers with bleached hair standing either side of the stage, specially flown,
private jet, pilot staff ".

TRACKLIST:
The day is my enemy
Nasty
Rebel radio
Ibiza
Destroy
Wild Frontier
Rok-weiler
Beyond the deathray
Rhythm bomb
Roadblox
Get your fight on
Medicine
Invisible sun

Recurrences. Quotes. At one point he went to fashion the term - that for about 25 minutes was also pretty cool - "postmodern." The gist of the matter, that Mr. Noel Gallagher has well understood and handles with skill, is that "creativity" is not necessarily synonymous with "originality" and that to write a good book or a good song - as in our case - you can also adopt a method that provides the citation, the recovery, the repetition, the restyling of themes, styles, patterns, riffs and melodies already heard and / or used. Warning: do not speak of plagiarism, though, but of metabolism and use to create a different job, which in any case - clear - bring evident and recognizable signs of "inspiration" to start.
"Chasing yesterday" is, in this sense, a new, unequivocal manifesto of the modus operandi of Noel, who has never made scruple or worry in the face of raised shields of the critics who accuse him of being repetitive, to write - sometimes - riffs and melodies reminiscent of the great successes of the past (or other Oasis). So, let us rise the tooth immediately: the opening words of "Riverman" remembers "Wonderwall"? To "The girl with X-ray eyes" powerfully evokes the beginning of "Stairway to Heaven" Zep? There are riffs / melodies very same things Bowie? And that aroma strong Bolan and T-Rex?
It's all true. But Noel clearly tells us, with a shrug: "So what?". His poetry, (re) explained in a recent interview promotion is: "It is up to others to decide what it looks like my music. I refuse to puzzling ... play what I play. My influences are those that know and end of the speech. I accepted my limitations and work within those stakes. "



Found the access key to which you alluded, enjoy "Chasing yesterday" is a walk. Why is it, in fact, a collection of songs pleasant, with beautiful melodies of which Noel Gallagher has always championed, and taste very seventies rock to act as fil-rouge. There are very good pieces and other more generic, but never ugly. "In the heat of the moment", for example, with a mood vaguely blues, but also the brilliant "The Ballad of the mighty" (song unusual - a bit 'darker, a little' danceable, a little 'Seventies disco-rock , with the master Johnny Marr as a guest); and then "Lock all the doors" (a nice repechage an almost unprecedented punkeggiante, dating back to 1992), the dall'incedere bull stomp of "The Mexican" ...

Once abandoned the hope of living experiences similar to those that may have given the best Oasis, therefore, it becomes easy to enter the world of Noel and surrender to its sounds reassuring, the result of an undeniable talent, but also a taste for the already known and the reassuring feeling to know where it will end. The genres "classic" rock are all there (from classic to punk, passing through psychedelia and powerpop), the choruses are always by the book and you hang out with solutions that go beyond Oasis-centric universe where Liam is often self-seclusion and / or has been relegated.

To paraphrase Liam, no sense puzzling over such a disc. It's a good album and everyone we find good and bad depending on your feelings; but certainly can not deny that it works.

TRACKLIST:
Riverman
In the heat of the moment
The girl with X-ray eyes
Lock all the doors
The dying of the light
The right stuff
While The Song Remains the Same
The Mexican
You know we can not go back
The Ballad of the mighty

I grew up with J-Ax. I was 20 when I started to go on the radio the first 45 laps of Article 31. Perhaps I preferred the B-side "what 6 6" but, loving rap Italian in a period where the genre hardly existed, I spent side, side b if I could, I would play even the big cardboard cover. It was the period of Onda Rossa Posse, Dj Gruff, the first single from Frankie Hi-Nrg, Only Zippo Otierre him and a few others. There was content also hybrids like Aeroplanitaliani Alessio Bertallot. It was enough to hear words in metric.
"Streets of cities" was the first rap album of Italian commercial success followed shortly after by "Verba Manent" Frankie Hi-Nrg. Franco Godi, the producer of all disks of J-Ax to the previous "Better than before (?)" Of 2012, promised the two boys of the province of Milan a trip to New York if the disc had sold 50,000 copies, made it almost twice.
Thus began the journey in the discography of Alexander Aleotti. Almost 25 years in music, with various changes from the separation with Dj Jad and the dissolution of the Article 31, the transmission of sound, the introduction of the singing, the disk with the former enemy Neffa, now one of his most trusted collaborators (co-signed with 5 songs, here). Were years in which Ax has changed ideas about things and people ("I do not smoke the most with outside the box") has seen its popularity get on and off, won a reality TV as a judge doing that piss off the haters blame a nonexistent inconsistency with the effective closure of the wonderful "SNOB" ("If I fail I bricklayer mica Music Farm"). The main talent of J-Ax has been, in my opinion, to have always had something intelligent to say and to be able to knock it down in bloody metric. A similar longevity in rap is not fresh water, especially if you're not finished singing for 20 years, "Tranqi Funky" the festival of fried dumplings.
"Copy free yourself less pain than be cuts in the heart and blood look for the words" reads a passage from the new album. Ax has put into play several times, you have not followed the hit at all cost or Lenton Paraculo heart / love in salsa street life. Its average quality of writing is such that among my favorite pieces I could mention several songs that have not even seen the light on his album: "People like me", "So hold me", "Knight without a king", "Snob reloaded" .

"The beauty of being ugly" is undoubtedly a much important for the career of J-Ax, the first without the Best Sound and without Franco Godi, the first from his own producer in that Newtopia which started on the right foot seen the success of the disc Fedez, his companion for adventure and co-funder of this label. Important work in the number of tracks, as many as 20, all with them because, with a story to tell, nothing stuff thrown in just to give playing time. Then, of course, tastes are tastes, and not everything can and should enjoy. For example, the chorus of "Bimbiminkia4life", a duet with Fedez, reminds me too much a piece of "Sleeping Beauty in the Bronx" Partner label as "Candy" with Neffa seems the tenth track of "The Ref". Personally I prefer the rapper J-Ax to the rocker and singing that put even the beeps of the censorship of certain words.
The most interesting chapters? I personally enjoyed the imaginary dialogue of "All or Nothing", the autobiographical reflections of '"Intro" that, in spite of the fact that it is bereft of a title, in my opinion is one of the finest pieces of the disc, or a tribute Freak Antoni in "Rebel and just." Find a place back at the crime scene: a new piece to honor the green leaf from drug effects: "Maria Salvador". In "You broke the catso" who has a good memory he found the angry cry of "Molly" while "The pub song" has an attack that would have liked to Jannacci or cockpit inspired the years.
Welcome back Mr. Aleotti, are the history of Italian Rap but you fell asleep on the pedestal, remaining at the level of the best of at least three different generations of rappers. Do not stop to tell us about your world, do not turn your anger: you were and remain credible. It is no small thing.

The first question to ask is: how it confronts the new album of D'Angelo?
Quick and proper to rewind. Michael Eugene Archer, aka D'Angelo is a singer, musician and composer of black music that has made two albums in two decades, two milestones in the field of new soul and R & B. The last - "VooDoo", tagged in 2000 - was a masterpiece in which D'Angelo emerged as a new Marvin Gaye. Since then, the singer's life was a succession of long silences, detoxification, prison, mystical crisis, short tour abruptly interrupted and long studio session in an attempt to follow the record that at the beginning of the new millennium began agree audience and criticism.
The result, postponed several times, has finally come through the strategy of the hard to surprise year-end that is so fashionable today.
But be careful, "Black Messiah" is a thousand miles away from the operation of marketing of Beyonce. No exclusive contract, no sophisticated viral strategy, just a simple party listening in Manhattan organized by Questlove of the Roots which for some years has become a sort of spokesperson-friend-mentor of D'Angelo.
How then ask yourself in front of this record result of ten years of work, a decade in which black music is much changed, is now married to the hip-hop culture and the EDM, partly volgarizzandosi and partly increasingly sophisticated , becoming the true global mainstream?
Forgetting the first format crafty Pharrell, Timbaland's contemporary or ego overflowing of various Kanye West or Jay Z. Here we are faced with a record that speaks the language soul of Marvin Gaye, who has the urgency of Sly Stone of "That's a riot goin 'on", the psychedelic black Funkadelic and the unbridled sensual charge of the first Prince.
"Black Messiah" is a funk tells of torrid, stratified, not always easy listening (but also with a couple of singoloni as "Really Love" and "Sugah Daddy"). The only signs of modernity are data from the lessons imparted by J Dilla ("1000 deaths" that shows the recent cases of Ferguson and "Till it's done"), with those crooked beat drumming and dissonant and always on top of Questlove. No featuring high-flying (only Q-tip and Kendra Foster as contributors to the texts), only great musicians (bass fretless Pino Palladino is always most present and a lot of guitarists including Jesse Johnson of Time and the same D'Angelo, already excellent keyboard player) and a clear message ("We Should all aspire to be a Black Messiah")
Here and there the influence of Prince is more than obvious - D'Angelo has repeatedly declared his great esteem for the musician in Minneapolis: "Sugah Daddy" has the same gait of "Sexy MF", "The Charade" plays on territory of "Diamonds and Pearls", a funk rock drunk "Prayer" is the son of "Anne Christian", not to mention the end of the sitar "Another Love".
And then inside there is so much swing, jazz and writing a thousand layers of falsetto, strings, harmonies that sometimes seem to be faced with a Brian Wilson of funk, with the same wonderful sound confusion in the head. Finally, the texts alternate reflections on itself (Back To The Future) and his past, and civil and social issues of our time.
A disc is not perfect but sweaty and well played (in the notes refers to the use of analog instruments and vintage) that with each listen reveals a new nuance and a new light. Living material and button that in these times a little 'synthetic and easy impact is musical epiphany.




TRACKLIST:
"Is not That Easy"
"1000 Deaths"
"The Charade"
"Sugah Daddy"
"Really Love"
"Back To The Future (Part I)"
"Till It's Done (Tutu)"
"Prayer"
"Betray My Heart"
"The Door"
"Back To The Future (Part II)"
"Another Life"

Finally back Rancid and they do it in great style. And 'in fact released "Honor Is All We Know", the band's eighth album Berkeley successor of "Let The Dominoes Fall". Five years of silence are many, although we can not speak of absolute silence as the various components have been busy with their respective projects and considered the big operation of discography in 7 "that many times I tried.

Digressions aside "Honor Is All We Know" comes as a compact disk and straightforward, just the opposite of the previous "Let The Dominoes Fall" perhaps a little too broad in part because of the large number of songs.
The beginning of the album is mouth-watering: Back Where I Belong seems a kind of redemption by Tim Armstrong who wants to tell the world that his way is precisely the way, Raise Your Fist reminds me very closely Cock Sparrer not only from a musical point of view, but also from a lot of opera "riot" (as well as the subsequent a Power Inside and in the Streets), while Collision Course is a veritable ode to punk-rock and music in general. The album flows away like a dream through pieces ska, I think of Evil's My Friend and Everybody's Sufferin ', as pieces pulled Already Dead (very Social Distortion-style) and the closing Grave Digger and Pezzoni in 4/4 simple simple, but at the same time highly effective, as Face Up and Diabolical.
I would make a special mention for the title track Honor Is All We Know, a song that I think is the best philosophy Rancid. Tim, Matt and Lars sing a verse by one, but the chorus is unanimous: "the honor is all we have," and this is shown in the middle of the disk. Listening to him day after day, we feel a passion and an attitude that over the years have made the Rancid what they are today.

Musically maybe it will not be "Let's Go" or "Rancid 2000" definitely will not have the same success as "... .And Out Comes The Wolves" but "Honor Is All We Know" demonstrates once again that the Rancid, after 20 years and passes of activity, they still have a lot to say.

The records from which you expect less often are the ones who end up giving you more satisfaction. Nobody expected this "Under the Radar", and still less could be expected from its content. Posted surprise (it's a trend that now is not surprising any more), is a record of "waste" of other discs, songs recorded at the time, never published in the album for which they were written and recorded. "Waste" in quotes: paradoxically sounds better than a lot of things done recently by Robbie Williams.
In fact, the news of the release of the album sparked especially other reactions. The British media were already smelling blood: released the album Take That, the first of three training - and Robbie released an album, the same week. It was thought the nth replica of a script already seen rivals go head to head in the charts. We imagined news, gossip, analysis of who would sell the most and why. Then the disappointment: this disc, only sold on the site of Robbie, will not be detected by the British charts. Farewell direct confrontation, goodbye blood.
But the story of this record is not only tripped media to friends / enemies Take That - not the first: remember the tour of 2011, in which Robbie came from star and half concert, played some piece alone, before returning to the group? Imagine the negotiations for that ladder ...
"Under the Radar" is the album of a pop singer who makes a move from typical rock singer: publish a collection of outtakes, unreleased studio sessions, such as those collected or box type "Tracks", "Bootleg Series" .. .. And in some ways here Robbie sounds more rock: there are some songs that recall those sounds and generally sounds freer than at any other time in his career in which he tried at all costs the impact pop (ular).

The understatement with which arrived "Under the Radar" is probably explained by the flop of "Rudebox", the disc of 2006 born almost as a divertissement but treated and promoted as a regular disk. Better go easy, so even if "Guy Chambers is not happy that I publish these songs without promotion, no radio or TV appearances," as he himself said Robbie, citing the advice of his historical author.
An understatement even excessive, however: the disc is sold on the site of the singer to 5 pounds in digital (just over € 6). The download contains simple raw files, without the cover (a .jpg file separately to add to mp3), a single detail on additional songs. The CD will come later in the mail, ordered from the site, but not in stores. The album is not on streaming services, but only on YouTube.

This attitude has instead produced a collection of songs that, although from different backgrounds, are more free precisely because they do not have the will to overdo the last "Take the crown" or not necessarily looking for the refinement of Swing "Swing both ways." Robbie has more fun in songs like "HES" - citing the avowedly Springsteen's "Wrecking Ball", is inspired by U2 ("Bully") and puts little electronics ("The cure"), many songs-songs (as "Surrender" or "National treasure") and some ballad ("Love is You", "Green light", with that beginning which brings back to mind something ...). Robbie Williams, the 14 songs he knows what he does best. singing, fun and entertaining, with the usual irony.
In short: do not waste, are not simple outtake. It 'a collection of songs which do not have to deal directly with each other end up paradoxically feel good together. A non-album that is better than many albums: sometimes the sleep of reason - or simply a thought less thought than usual - not generate monsters, but good music.

TRACKLIST:
Bully
Raver
H.E.S.
The Edge
Climb on
Surrender
Love is you
The cure
The pilot
The Brits
National treasure
Super tony
Greenlight
bullet

Fourteen years after its official debut with "Xdono", Tiziano Ferro public "TZN - The best of". But it is not a "best of", as the misleading title may suggest, but a larger project. It is not a hard (rather: the basic version are two disks; in the deluxe version are four discs, and are four well as in special fan edition, which will also include two dvd), is not a collection, not an anthology (because for an artist behind only fourteen year career can not yet speak of anthology). But then, what is this "TZN - The best of Tiziano Ferro"? Here, to establish exactly what this new album of Tiziano Ferro is a bit 'complicated; probably the word that can best describe it is "story".


Yes, "TZN - The best of Tiziano Ferro" is just a story; but it is a reverse chronological narrative, that part that is in this (indeed, from the future, because next to the titles of the new songs "The stadium" and "Enchantment", the tracklist, shows the year 2015) and rewinds the tape to to 1997, which is the principle of the recording career of Tiziano Ferro. Presented himself, just seventeen, the Academy of Sanremo with the song "When you shall return" (written in 1997), Titian aroused the curiosity of those who - a little later - would become his "mentors" and producer of her first two albums ("Red relative" and "111"), Alberto Salerno and Mara Maionchi. It was through these last two that Iron came into contact with Michele Canova (now one of the most popular Italian producers): the two began working together in a room of Padua, as recalled in the same Titian great booklet in this special fan edition, with some computers and many ideas. So many that these ideas then got out of that room, have also gone beyond national boundaries, and who also inside of the discs of other artists. Here, with this tale Tiziano Ferro wanted to retrace the key stages and the highlights of his first fourteen years of his career; but on this record are not content only his greatest successes, but also some rarities, songs known to his audience why finished in Network versions in "pirate" and never officially published on disk, songs that do not fit within the previous albums, demos of songs written for other artists, unreleased recordings of some important performances and the inevitable unpublished (so the story, as well as being reverse chronological and has succeeded in depicting the key stages of the first fourteen years of career of the singer, also widens the speech to what we might call the "behind the scenes"). All this, in the special fan edition, one that we decided to take into consideration for this review, is divided into four discs: the first disc retraces the period 2015-2007, the second disc goes over the period 2007-1997, the third disc contains some rarities, the fourth instead contains all duets already published.

The unpublished "TZN - The best of Tiziano Ferro", and "unpublished" means the songs never published before (or disk, or in versions of "pirate" on the Net) are four, each one different from 'other for content and sounds: listening opens with "the stadium", a pop song characterized by the presence of some choirs who have the task of fomenting the public concerts that Titian held in Italian stadiums this summer: it is therefore a case if the song has this title and also talks about concerts in stadiums; continue with "Incanto", a beautiful song sounding distinctly folk and rhythm ternary (written together with Emanuele Dabbono, best known for taking part in the first and historic edition of "X Factor" - here you can listen to his "There will find here ", presented just during the final of the talent: curious to remember that in the same year he signed Tiziano Ferro Giusy Ferreri for the new" Do not ever forget me ", presented on the same stage and on the same night - and for signing, with the same iron, the song "Do not ever be afraid" section of the debut album by Michele Bravi). The third song to be considered unusual, although published as chosen as the lead single of the project, is "Without escape ever": this is an important song to Titian, who for the first time in public career that sees him sing a song in explicitly homosexual love (from the musical point of view, with its sounds r & b song seems to reconnect to the very first production of iron, represent a kind of look in the old days). To listen to the other unreleased must instead wait for the track number four in the second CD: the song is titled "If the world were to stop" and is characterized by sounds decidedly swing. Titian had written, in 2005, according to an album of swing music to be published after "111" (album where iron had been experimenting those sounds thanks to songs like "Temple Bar" and, at least in part, "You were as gold now are like them "); The project, however, for which the singer wrote maybe even songs like "TVM" and "Quiero vivir con vos", both merged into de "Love is a simple thing", did not go ahead and "If the world would stop "has remained to this day in a kind of limbo.

The rarity: it is songs that, if for the most casual audience can appear as unusual, in fact they are not. We are indeed talking about songs never published officially by Tiziano Ferro on his records before and circulated on the Net for years in versions of "pirate". And they are: "When you shall return" (which is also published officially, not in an album by Titian but the disc anthology of the Academy of Sanremo 1999), a ballad is characterized by a certain immaturity in the arrangement (linear, focused on some notes played on the piano and guitars) in the text (characterized by easy rhymes and elementary: "Tell me if you live in a little ', or not," sings Iron in a sentence of the text); "On my skin", a pop song rap from the sounds and rhythm and an addictive melody easy grip (Iron built it in 1998, in collaboration with the duo ATPC and is contained within the album "Body and Soul "the same duo); "My angel," which mixes pop sounds to more r & b singer-songwriter care (is the Italian version of "Angel of Mine" of the Eternal, never released on disc); "The Wind", a song dating back to 2000 which seems to contain in itself the seeds of what will become in a short time the characteristic traits of writing composition of iron, from the ability to play alternating different vocal registers. In these passages, all contained in the second CD, then you have to add "Latin", a song - included in the third CD - from the arrangement simple, that is situated around the piano: Titian has executed only live during a concert held in his hometown (which, as you might guess from the title, is dedicated: "Spread your wings and then, you feel that there's scent from now: spring blossoms already in Latin," reads a sentence of the text). A "rarity" can also be considered the cover of "The passers" Fabrizio De André that Tiziano Ferro has achieved in January 2009 during a special episode of the television program "Che tempo che fa" dedicated to the Genoese singer-songwriter and present "TZN - the best of Tiziano Ferro" own version "live" of 2009, with the voice of Iron who plays with depth and with great firmness voice every single word of the text, without letting go of unnecessary virtuosity.

The "re-appropriations" contained in the third CD are songs originally written for other artists. In order of appearance: "Air Life", written by Giusy Ferreri and contained within "Gaetana", the first album released by the latter after the moral victory to "X Factor" and the success of "Do not Forget never to me "(the version of Tiziano Ferro is an acoustic version of the song, the less sensual than that of Ferreri and immersed in a certain bitterness, as suggested by the initial guitar arpeggios and disillusionment with which Iron plays phrases like" and you think ... What a world of shit "); "Rescue me forever," written for the album "Pure Love" Alessandra Amoroso and here in this version "demo" (already particularly poignant version of Amoroso, sung by the warm and deep voice of Iron the lyrics are even more intense, intimate, enveloping); "The love and nothing else", also written for this "Gaetana" Giusy Ferreri and here in this version "demo" ("And my only I know the story with those who loved me and who really with me has prepared a suitcase and looked at me and said: 'you run, do not feel alone, that with you I'll be there as well. it felt tired if you want: you deserve it sometimes, my love, "sings Titian in beautiful crescendo of the song, almost to want to reclaim the autobiographical manifesto written by Giusy); "Changing the house", written with Michele Canova for Alice (who inserted it in the album "Samsara", delivered to the market in 2012, and here present in a very faithful to the original engraved version electropop singer).

Duets: Also of note was the presence of important collaborations: with Jovanotti, unpublished, to the tune of a "(So) ³" made in 2005 in relation to a possible launch of Jovanotti on the Latin market and then remained locked in a drawer (it a sort of divertissement, a question and answer hectic between the two artists - appreciated the ability to Titian to enter into the rhythm and mood of the song until it's); one with Fiorella Mannoia the tune of "The King of those who love too much" recorded live at a concert given by the singer at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome in 2009 (with the voice of Titian that appears a little 'surprise, almost stealthily, in the bridge that connects the first verse and chorus - the whole song deals with the voice of Mannoia, and Iron is entrusted only some work here and there); Liah with the notes of a "Sere black" in Brazilian version (the duet, as impressive and functional than the original version of the only Tiziano Ferro, if only because of the inability of the singer to his and interpret with more "belly" less vocal technique and the words of the song was recorded in 2005 and was included in the album "Perdas and ganhos" of the same Brazilian singer); and the one with the German singer Cassandra Steen on the notes of Italian-German version of "Love is a simple thing" (with the voice of Steen who plays with sweetness and exquisite refinement to the song, supported by the interpretation safer and direct iron), originally included in the German version of the eponymous album. A considerable number of duets is also contained within the fourth CD, but it is already known to most as duets included or within the previous studio album of Tiziano Ferro or because included in the album of artists with whom the singer has had the opportunity to work during his early career. Have learned from previous efforts record of Iron (and their respective versions for the foreign market): "Karma" with John Legend, appearing in "Love is a simple thing" of 2012; "Time itself" with Franco Battiato and "Breathe Gentle" with Kelly Rowland, both contained within the album "At my age" of 2008; "The gift mas grande" with Amaia Montero, who charged her performance with excessive emphasis, contained within the Spanish edition of the same "At my age"; with Biagio Antonacci in "Kissing women", from the album "No one is alone" in 2006; and Pepe Aguilar in "I think", a song that mixes acoustic sounds to more electronic, originally included in the Spanish edition of the same "No one is alone" and the album of the same name of the Mexican singer. Come instead from albums of other artists: the duet with Mina, slightly dirty blues, to "de Cuestion feeling" (from the album "Todavía" 2007); what - virtual - with Dean Martin on a passionate "Arrivederci Roma" (originally included in the album-tribute "Forever cool", made by a cast of international artists, which included well Tiziano Ferro, in 2007); what, almost confidential and fraternal, with Laura Pausini in "I do not know how to explain" (from the album "I Sing" in 2006); ones - recently published - with Luca Carboni in "People silent" (from the album "Body and political" the singer from Bologna) and Baby K in "Killer" (from the album "Serious"), published just last year; with Miguel Bosé in "Amiga", sounding latin, taken from the collection "Papitwo" the Spanish singer; and, finally, the surprising - at least for those not familiar already - with Line 77 on "punkeggiante" "Dreams shine" (originally included in the album "Horror vacui" of 2008 the band Turin).

The two DVD: we could end our story here, but it is worth spending a few words on the two DVD content within the special fan edition: in the first of two DVDs include, in addition to an introductory comment by Titian, all of the official videoclip singles released by singer-songwriter from 2001 to 2014 (and therefore from the video for "Xdono", with a Tiziano Ferro greenhorn and danceable, that of "no escape ever again", in which live all his "alter ego" of the nerd "And Raffaella is mine", the player failed "At my age," the boy from the disfigured face of "I love you", the romantic "Ti scatterò una foto", to name a few); the second of two DVD is instead structured in two-part form. In the first part include video documentation of the work of this "TZN - The best of Tiziano Ferro" realized at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles with the interventions of keyboardist Jeff Babko, bassist Reggie Hamilton, guitarist Tim Pierce and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta that by means of some short interviews expressing flattering comments towards Titian and its working methods. "I wanted to give a cut to the new songs that might be almost the natural progression of what we did in the previous album. I wanted this record to become a kind of testament and that represented the time line that led me in 2014: did not have to miss anything because all these songs have marked my life, "says then Titian in a sort of commentary on the disc content," I chose those little stones that alone maybe would have never found a place in a conceptual album or genre but that in 'economy of a collection so multicolored found their way up. "There are also records videos of unreleased studio recordings of "Without escape ever again" and "Enchantment". Noteworthy also is the long interview this in the middle of the second DVD on the genesis of "TZN - The best of Tiziano Ferro", lasting less than 43 minutes, in which there are also reflections of Titian on these first fourteen years of his career (including curiosity, background and anecdotes). In the ideal second part of the second DVD included instead the official videoclip of the tracks made by Tiziano Ferro paired with other artists (Italian, as Laura Pausini, Baby K, Luca Carboni and Fiorella Mannoia, present in the video documentation of the duet Olimpico on "The king of those who love too much", but also foreigners, as Amaia Montero and Kelly Rowland).

Not easy to do R & B Beyoncé era, that era of who succeeds at the same time to be very large in terms of popularity, and it also allows you to go deep with sounds sophisticated and little commercial (his last album "Beyonce "contained no singolone pop and it was very dark and staff, and still had a great success).
So to be relevant in terms of sales and status you need to invent something new, raise his head from the usual sounds of the studies in Los Angeles, New York and some hip-hop and go where those things come from new enough to have been already been partially digested by the ears of the public.

And 'this more or less the reasoning should have done a little' time ago Mary J Blige, ultra forties black singer defined is the heir of Franklin and Chaka Khan, in order not to spend the rest of his career in some concert hall of big hotels in Las Vegas, he went to London to learn about prominent personalities of the EDM (Disclosure) and pop soul (Sam Smith, Naughty Boy, Sam Romans, Prezzemolina Emeli Sandé). After a couple of sporadic collaboration - with Disclosure in F for You - here comes this, didactic from the title, "The London Sessions.


It breathes London since the first track; in "Therapy" atmospheres and text report now to Amy Winehouse and her "Rehab", also with an opposite direction ("Why should I spend the rest of my days unhappy / When can I go to therapy twice a day?" sings between Mary Hammond, clap hands and gospel choirs). All disc moves between the soulful house mixed electronics and a range of ballads. The songs with Disclosure ("Follow", "Right Now") are those that strike at first listen, but the other pieces up time as "Nothing but you" and "Pick Me Up" (another great floorfiller where to Mary one point, taken by the enthusiasm, he launches into a michaeljacksoniano "Shamone") work wonders. As for the ballads alternate the classical repertoire black ("When You're Gone", "Not Loving You", "Worth my time") to songs like "Whole Damn Year" a masterpiece of synthesis of new soul English played with an intensity rare to find among the English voices, usually quite cold and set.

And here lies the greatness of Mary J Blige: both if you put it with U2 or with Andrea Bocelli, with nerdoni Londoners or with more tamarro rapper from LA, he always manages to convey his soul without distorting it.

TRACKLIST:
Therapy
Doubt
Not Loving You
Where You're Gone
right Now
My Loving
Long Hard Look
Whole Damn Year
Nobody But You
Pick Me Up
follow
Worth My Time