Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Ferro, Tiziano
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2011
Duration: 52.23
Rating: 4/5
Italy has always churned out great musicians, singers and songwriters. A centuries-old bel canto tradition spilled over into popular music too, and the Sanremo festival, which has often turned into a breeding ground for young talent, certainly helped. For a good decade now, Eros Ramazzotti’s footsteps have been followed by his practically next-door neighbor Tiziano Ferro. If he started out dabbling in almost hip-hop-flavored pop tunes, on his later records he increasingly mixed canzone, pop, soul and polished rock. Besides the duets he’s always loved writing and recording, his production work deserves praise too. The current record is called L’amore una cosa semplice (Love Is a Simple Thing) and it has all the qualities mentioned above. A darling of the younger crowd, he’s built his career with care. This is his fifth album, which means he’s spent two years on each one, a pace that suits the new millennium perfectly. It’s just the right mix of faster pop songs, a pinch of urban soul, and deep ballads that may not seem all that meaningful on a quick listen but reveal themselves once you really sit down with them. The work of the whole team shows in the choice of songs, and Ferro finds in his collaborators inspiration and a source of serious work power and help.
If the big three, Zucchero, Ramazzotti and Vasco Rossi, cut plenty of albums in California with renowned, top-notch studio cats, Ferro can’t be left behind either. The flawless sonic impression is the result of solid, craftsmanlike work on both the recording side and the performance side. At home, L’amore e una cosa semplice was mostly received warmly, but there are opinions for and against. And why should Ferro have to keep inventing new musical tricks, anyway? To some extent, an artist has to look after constant creative growth and the quality of how he lays his inner self out for people, who are of course the final judges. Too seldom do most people, in their rush, keep the will to dive deep into the story Ferro offers, or rather gifts them. On that front, sadly, it’s still the artist himself who ends up paying the final price….
Tiziano Ferro is at the point in his career where he’s thoroughly established outside his homeland too, so he’s surely independent enough to convince the bosses at the label to give him a free hand. In other words, he deftly steers between the commandments of the music industry and his own fun and honesty in music. As long as he’s with a big label and laying golden eggs, it’s all good, but after that it probably won’t stay that way… Far too often we witness honest musical ideas being sold off to make a musician’s name sell. All I can do is idealize the joy of just creating, regardless of profit… That doesn’t exist and never will, but still, a music album is not a loaf of bread…
Lyrically he’s sharp, he takes a healthy view of life’s matters from his own angle, and neither he nor the people around him are bothered in the slightest by his declared sexual orientation. That’s the only right way, because only then can he deliver music and words in a healthy, honest way, straight from the heart. Ferro is a creator who thinks of everything. With his team he builds an almost perfect instrumental base, and next to the standard pop-rock band he doses strings into the ballads with a healthy hand, and without them the story would be a lot poorer. His talent was proven long ago, but even at home, to hold on to his position, he has to keep offering interesting content and honest music. L’amore e una cosa semplice is full of stories from life, and watching what goes on around him is Ferro’s daily inspiration. Recently, by his own words, he turned a new page in his life, which gave him much-needed creative freedom. You can hear it in every verse and every note on L’amore e una cosa semplice.
Lineup
Tiziano Ferro – vocals, keyboards
Michael Landau – guitar
Reggie Hamilton – bass
Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
Production
Michele Canova
Tracklist
- Hai delle isole negli occhi
- L’amore una cosa semplice
- La differenza tra me e te
- La fine
- Smeraldo
- Interludio: 10.000 scuse
- L’ultima notte al mondo
- Paura non ho
- TVM
- Troppo buono
- Quiero vivir con vos
- …Ma so proteggerti
- Per dirti ciao!
- Karma (feat. John Legend)
