Alberto Camerini

But tonight at the arena there's a rock concert, there are rubber teenagers, zoo martians, plastic monkeys in blue jeans, at least a dozen lions all convinced they're the only ones, and there's a band playing, but who's actually listening to the music - nobody cares, the real show is the crowd!

Before the electronic Harlequin, before synthetic easy-pop, before punk, and before ska. An often underrated, if not outright unjustly forgotten, great innovator, Alberto Camerini launched his career with Cramps Records with "Cenerentola e il pane quotidiano", on which he fused progressive and jazz-rock lines with folk and singer-songwriter music, a touch of country, rock 'n' roll, beat and samba, along with various elements typical of the sound of his native land, Brazil. Already an established musician, by 1976, the year his debut was released, he had reached a solid degree of maturity, having racked up numerous collaborations as a sessionman with top-tier artists, among whom stand out Ornella Vanoni, Donatella Rettore, Patty Pravo, Eugenio Finardi, Lucio Fabbri (PFM), Ricky Belloni (New Trolls), Claudio Rocchi, Fabio Treves, Matia Bazar, Equipe 84 and Fausto Leali.

Produced together with Finardi and Massimo Villa, the concept album tells the story of a modern Cinderella (for the Seventies, and ultimately even for today's reality) and the world surrounding her, including Camerini's earliest attempts at songwriting, in which he begins to experiment and play with fairy-tale themes that would recur throughout his body of work, skillfully blended with subjects of society, customs and politics. The recording sessions also brought together numerous top-notch musicians in support, including the aforementioned Fabbri on violin, Pepè Gagliardi and Patrizio Fariselli on electric piano, Paolo Tofani on guitar, Walter Calloni on drums, Lucio Bardi on electric mandolin, Paolo Donnarumma and Hugh Bullen on bass, and Claudio Pascoli on sax.

The album opens with the bare, lopsided melody of "La ballata dell'invasione degli extraterrestri", built around voice and guitar alone: at the time probably an allusion to the extra-parliamentary groups and to those who felt represented by no one, it still sounds remarkably relevant today when applied to the broader concept of diversity and to the invisible people living on the margins. The infectious rhythms of the instrumental "Maracatù F.C." give way to the bittersweet samba of the irreverent anthem "Pane quotidiano", a key track in which the singer-songwriter dives headlong into the subject of food, a fundamental element of life, here used to offer a cross-section of society and its cultural ideologies, perfectly balanced with a pinch of irony and a spoonful of bitterness.

Artificially soothing there's the radio, the TV,

Chemically gratifying, the pill lifts you up,

Fuel for the car so you can forget

Remarkably ahead of its time, "Droga (aiutami dottore)" focuses on the sense of alienation and the reliance on medication and mass media in an attempt to counter stress and depression in everyday life and find some essential balance; the mind immediately jumps to Prozac+, who would arrive a full twenty years later, and of course to today's world as well, where television has been replaced by the need to be perpetually online, and addictions to substances used to escape (if only for a while) from reality are rampant.

Another track that is nothing short of prophetic is the autobiographical "Sicurezza", a critique set between country and folk, driven by acoustic guitar chord progressions and swirling piano flourishes, inspired by popular movements and the fear of straying from paths deemed conventional.

But you don't want to change anything

You don't want anything new

Everything suits you just fine as it is

You already know how it'll end anyway

With your guaranteed paycheck

Nothing here is going to change

In your future, already mapped out

Fear of Freedom

Among the standout tracks are the pairing of "La straordinaria storia dell'invenzione della televisione (A colori)", an orchestral triumph of arpeggios weaving together electric strings, mandolin, guitar and piano, closed out by drum flourishes and cartoon samples, and the sweet ballad "Tv Baby (Gli eroi della televisione)"; both take aim at the models and false "ideals" put forward - today we'd call them outright "imposed" - by the media.

The frenetic folk celebration of "S. Marta", a blazing tarantella dominated by jaw harp, violin and mandolin, opens the way to the epic closer "Cenerentola". Across its eight minutes, the song travels through frantic fusion rhythms, prog-rock influences seasoned with synth and Minimoog, a parody of pop chanson à-la "Je t'aime... moi non plus" (even including a brief, fleeting cameo from Eugenio Finardi) and an instrumental coda masterfully carried by drums, sax and electric piano, tracing step by step the overwhelming Saturday night of a young woman, alone and exploited at work, forever waiting for the weekend and a possible Prince Charming.

A concept album steeped in the disillusionment that dominated the Seventies and still tremendously relevant today for the many issues addressed in its lyrics - sharper than a first, distracted listen might suggest - "Cenerentola e il pane quotidiano" quietly planted many seeds that would bear fruit on Alberto Camerini's later albums. Within a few years he would become known to the wider public through his masks, his glam makeup echoing rock stars like David Bowie, (introducing and) navigating on sight between punk, new wave, electronica, ska and much more. Chameleonic, elusive, and free of labels and compromises of any kind.

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24/11/2024