
Good intentions. Again. To write more on the blog. Work is not an excuse anymore; it seems unreal, but after May 15th if I’m not just fooling around at the office, I’m quite close to that.
And so I’m writing.
I’m writing about Ligabue’s new record, “Arrivederci, mostro!” (”Goodbye, monster!”). I must confess I wasn’t expecting it with a lot of impatience, maybe because I felt it was going be a certain kind of record that wasn’t going to amaze or elate me.
A little introduction: my love for Liga dates back to secondary school (1995) and, as many others I think, to the timeless “Buon Compleanno, Elvis!” and its “Certe Notti”, which was for many the initiation to Ligabue. From there I began discovering the older records (which ended up being my studying companions, together with Litfiba), then the wait for the double live “Tra Palco e Realtà”, then the subscription to the Fan Club… and finally the first concert. My first Liga’s concert, my first concert overal, maybe a bit late: 2002, San Siro. First we endured the rain shower, then we enjoyed being right under the stage… and from there I started following Liga in a string of concerts… Palaignis in Varese, Palamalaguti in Bologna, Teatro Medica in Bologna, two fan club meetings in Modena, one at the Festa dell’Unità in Reggio, the humongous Campovolo, then the Alcatraz, San Siro again, the Arcimboldi, Assago Forum and the marvellous frame of Verona Arena…
Sure, some are waaaaaaay crazier than me, but I can say I hold my own.
Lately, though, I must say my passion for Ligabue has decreased a bit… who knows, maybe I had too much of it… but I can say that I didn’t find “Miss Mondo” as good as the previous records… “Fuori Come Va?” was better again, I liked it a lot… but “Nome e Cognome” didn’t capture me much. Yes I have to say it, musically speaking Liga doesn’t convince me as much as in the past… less rock, more melodic/pop… less new stuff, more similarities to old stuff…
That’s why I didn’t expect much more from “Arrivederci, mostro!”. And indeed it isn’t more. After the first listen I didn’t notice anything especially new, with the exception of the marvellous and at the same time terrifying “Quando Mi Vieni a Prendere”, which tells about the tragedy of Dendermonde nursery in Belgium, from the viewpoint of a child. A very unusual track for Liga, but it really turned out perfect.
And still… and still, Liga is Liga. Just in the same way as I rediscovered “Nome e Cognome” after a few years, also this record, after listening to it more carefully, can pull out that special something…
It can’t be helped, Liga can always catch me, and I realized why.
Because when he wants, even if sometimes it’s only in parts of a record, he can write that kind of music that gets inside you and can touch the right strings… a solo, a chorus, a verse…
Because, even if he isn’t creating many new things, he always pulls off those catchy songs you end up singing in the street or under the shower…
Because even if his music hasn’t always convinced me recently, his lyrics always strike… sometimes they might seem trivial, but it’s rare when Liga doesn’t sing little big truths…
Because his tracks have that feature that I think is fundamental to make you fall in love for a song: they can be universal. They had a meaning to the one who wrote them, and it shows… but at the same time they’re indefinite enough to allow everyone to “wear them”… to make them his own… to live them in a way, and relive them in another way after years…
And exactly because of this, because Liga is always there when you need him… when you think too much and you want to keep hurting yourself (metaphorically speaking)… when you don’t want to think, but to smile… when you want to scream towards the sky…
Oh yes, Liga is Liga.
Objective vote: 6/7
Vote for Liga: 8 e 1/2