Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Jovanotti
Label: Universal Music Group
Release: 2012
Length: 160 minutes
Rating: 4.3/5
Rome native Lorenzo Cherubini – Jovanotti – is without a doubt one of Italy’s musical institutions. His career has unfolded more beautifully than almost anyone’s. From the second half of the eighties on he worked as a DJ, and later, with some nudging from his friends, he tried singing a bit himself, or rather, rapping. His transformation from DJ into rapper and singer, and especially into songwriter, surprised a lot of people. It also proves the often conveniently ignored fact that some people have more than one talent. Jovanotti developed his in parallel, slowly and surely. By picking seasoned collaborators, he crowned a successful start with a debut that sold 600,000 copies at home, which is a big number for Italy. The 1989 Sanremo Festival brought him his first win with the song Vasco, which, logically, is dedicated to his idol Vasco Rossi. Backup 1987 – 2012 sums up all twenty-five years of Jovanotti’s career. From pumping funk, through hints of disco, to rhythm and blues ballads that never drown in a sea of tears and always offer a little light in the dark. His pop is cheerful and clear like the sky after a heavy downpour. Every time you hear Ragazzo fortunato or L’ombelico del mondo, you smile without even realizing it. He wins you over easily and convinces you to forget everything else, as long as you give him those few minutes of your attention. The music is built on the legacy of jazz, rock and pop, and Jovanotti adds a pinch of his own humor to the whole thing. He’s a sensitive observer of a mostly angry world, and especially of Italy, which isn’t what it used to be. If something bothers him, he says so – out loud. He can afford that, even though nobody took him all that seriously at first. Going from DJ to singer only works out for a few. Over a quarter-century career, Jovanotti has built an exceptional treasure trove, and plenty of people know him in the US and elsewhere around the world too.
The whole Backup record is lyrically varied, with themes swinging from love to the meaning of life. Jovanotti has probed the depths of his soul and his relationship with the world, and vice versa. He also gives a prominent place in his work to world peace, which will probably never be fully achieved, but songs demanding it are always welcome. At home he’s a star of the highest caliber, with perhaps only Eros Ramazzotti, Vasco Rossi and Zucchero Fornaciari ahead of him, but they’re all so different in style that each of them easily finds enough of an audience of their own. Check out his website – on the 2013 tour he’ll be playing only the biggest Italian stadiums. Of his twelve studio albums, only four failed to hit number one, and even Ora from 2011, despite the commercially unfavorable times, reached 400,000 copies sold, which is an extraordinary achievement. You can get Backup 1987 – 2012 as a double or quadruple CD. And if you’re an extra-devoted Jovanotti fan, the fan box is just right for you (7 CDs, 2 DVDs + an 8 GB USB stick with everything he’s recorded in his career: reportedly over 500 songs and a 180-page book). Well, that’s part of the music business in 2013 too.
Even in its most stripped-down two-disc edition, Backup 1987 – 2012 wins you over with every word and note.
Lineup
Jovanotti – vocals, guitars, keyboards
Michele Canova Iorfida – keyboards
Riccardo Onori – guitars
Saturnino Celani – bass guitar
Pier Foschi – drums
Production
Michele Canova Iorfida & Jovanotti
Tracklist
Cd 1
1. Tensione Evolutiva
2. Gimme Five
3. La mia moto
4. Gente della notte
5. Ciao mamma
6. Muoviti Muoviti
7. Non m’annoio
8. Ragazzo fortunato
9. Chissà se stai dormendo
10. Serenata rap
11. Piove
12. Penso positivo
13. Io ti cercherò
14. L’ombelico del mondo
15. Bella
16. Questa è la mia casa
17. Per te
18. Terra Degli Uomini
Cd 2
1. Ti Porto Via Con Me (feat. Benny Benassi)
2. Stella cometa
3. Un raggio di sole
4. Ti sposerò
5. (Tanto)3
6. Mi fido di te
7. Una storia d’amore
8. Fango
9. Mezzogiorno
10. A te
11. Dove ho visto te
12. Come musica
13. Baciami ancora
14. Tutto l’amore che ho
15. Le tasche piene di sassi
16. Il più grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang
17. La notte dei desideri
18. Ora
19. Ti Porto Via Con Me
20. Estate
