Search - Almamegretta :: Sciuoglie e Cane

And now for something completely different . . . (sort of)

ragazzo texano | houston/ledbetter, tx | 07/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to qualify this album as a departure from the "typical" Almamegretta cd, because if you really listen to all of their albums, it's hard to pin down an Almamegretta "sound." That said, die hard Almamegretta fans might be taken aback after first listening to this album: as far as I can tell, Raiz -- with his Peter Gabriel-esque voice -- is nowhere to be found on this album. (It's not clear whether he's left the band from the Almamegretta web site.) As such, this album has a marked difference from the last few albums, including the outstanding "Imaginaria." But before you discount this album --I did after listening to it the first time -- think again. This album is actually spiritually, though not necessarily stylistically, closer to Animamigrante and Sanacore: there are a variety of singers here, it seems a little more experimental in some places, there is an overall "coolness" to the album, the lyrics -- for those that can understand them -- seem fairly poetic, and sounds are pulled/blended from a variety of different music types and cultures. A few tracks are closer to traditional Italian hip-hop. Portuguese is added to the Italian-Napolitano-English mix (and this time the English doesn't seem as forced.) Overall, it is a well put together album with all of the intelligence and creativity that Almamegretta fans look for and love. I'm rating this album a four now, but I must admit I feel as I get more comfortable with it, I would consider raising that to a five. I may get to the point I would consider it my favorite, though until now I've never really been able to say whether Sanacore or Imaginaria is my favorite.PS When I first ordered the album through Amazon, it was not supposed to be shipped for several months. In reality, that ended up being more like three weeks to a month. Worth the wait."