LIBERATO - Radio Liberato

An anthology? A record/non-record with only two new tracks ahead of the first-ever concert at the Maradona stadium? Or simply an intangible project put together just to revisit old glories under the magnifying glass and gaze of other musicians, after somewhat disappointing expectations with a third, self-titled release that was anything but thrilling? Plenty of questions arise while listening to the fifteen moments of "Radio Liberato", the project dropped "as a surprise" by the most "mysterious" singer-songwriter around, at least on our shores, during a guest appearance on Rai Radio 2 on the night of May 9th, complete with a flag hoisted on the historic broadcaster's Roman headquarters, a scene immortalized in the shot chosen as the "album" cover on Spotify or YouTube.

For his strange greatest hits, Liberato and his team have called in pretty much half the world. There's Mahmood, who covers "INTOSTREET" in his own way, anesthetizing it a bit too much; Modeselektor, who attempt to remix the vibrant "GUAGLIÒ", one of the Neapolitan keyboardist's best songs, with (mixed) success; up-and-coming Sara Gioielli, who has just joined Caterina Caselli's roster, taking on Liberato's finest ballad, "NIENTE", though delivering a version that's occasionally cloying, graced only toward the end by a rock guitar that steps in and out at the front; all the way to the (uncalled-for) stretching-out by Iosonouncane on "GAIOLA", treated for the occasion as if it were a Burnt Friedman score to slot into a dj-set for old hipsters nostalgic for "other" music.

And then there are the voices of Stefano De Martino (?), Alberto Angela (??), Serena Rossi, Stash, not to mention Neapolitan actress Maria Esposito, star of yet another thousand-season series pitched somewhere between rubbery and hemorrhoid-inducing (you be the judge), who reads the interlude "ALESSANDRO MAGNO". Forgive the relentless capslock, but apparently LIBERATO can't do without it, as if he'd arrived before MYSS KETA, and on top of that, like so many others in the new Italian pop scene and beyond.

Anyway, getting back to Liberato's digital work, the feeling is that of being faced with a mixed fry-up, as the musician himself explains (translated from Neapolitan): "'Radio Liberato' is a sonic stream of consciousness where there's new music, covers, remixes, spoken word, a fry-up of shrimp and squid to taste, all inside the 'liberatoverse'."

Charming presentation aside, the trouble is that this little fry-up served up by Liberato ultimately turns out bland, lacking any real flavor, and when some vague taste does hit the palate — sorry, the ears — like the loosely electro-disco remix of "OI MARI'" courtesy of Dj Python or the Calcutta-flavored cover of "ME STAJE APPENNENN' AMÒ", smugly dished up with vocals styled after Daft Punk, evidence of a glaring, generic lack of ideas, all you want to do is crumple up the paper cone and toss it in the nearest bin. Especially after also sampling the previously unreleased "GOODBYE", whose riff is a carbon copy of Meredith Brooks' "Bitch". Yes, you read that right.

In the end, Liberato attempts to celebrate himself with a rather peculiar "collection", at least on paper, but ends up both jumping the gun—given his still "slim" discography—and shuffling the cards on the table a bit too much. All that's left, then, is to pretend it's "NOTHING", and go straight back to enjoying the best moments of a past that is thankfully still recent, perhaps live, perhaps right in the stadium he holds dearest. For now, at least, the "elusive" Neapolitan talent needs something quite different to properly astonish us again.

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11/05/2026