Elio and the tense stories

very personal opinion: the best Italian band in history, along with Area and Quartetto Cetra

I also think they are exceptional musicians !!! Let's not forget Banco either! I adore them...

The song is certainly catchy for those who know music well (changes of meter, rhythm, harmony, wordplay, citations, etc.), but I believe that novices may not be able to grasp the numerous subtleties present, among other things, also in many other songs from Elii's repertoire.

As for me, even though I like it very much, the occasional interjection of "unpretentious little song" disturbs me (see the anacrusis that begins the monotonous song after the "cultured" intro): it is certainly intentional but not always effective; as, in my opinion, some verses and some syllabifications are decidedly less accurate than others.

As performers, hats off—actually, two hats off.

The weak point of Elii is the videos, allow me to say that.

Zedef wrote:

The weak point of the Elii is the videos, grant me this

I agree! Not to mention one they even made for a Siffredi film!

look, there are some Elio videos that are masterpieces... then, well, a certain "homemade" air is their trademark. But the video for "Mio cuggino" or the one for "Pipppero" are priceless

Furthermore, this music video for the song mononota has, in my opinion, a moving backstory... Paolone Panigada, who died years ago, is everywhere. It always moves me to see images of him again; he was a legendary musician and in EVERY CD since he died, Elio e le Storie Tese have included a track with Paolone. It's beautiful that there is now also a video with some of his images, during such an important "occasion" as their second participation in Sanremo.

I agree! And not to mention the meanings of their lyrics!

'La terra dei cachi' is a glaring example (just to name one).

The videos are truly hilarious to me! Like, 'Discomusic' is awesome in my opinion!

Tastes.. and in any case, certain passages like a 70s Zecchino d'Oro little song lower the level a bit. It's a shame because very little would be needed to have masterpieces (some already are.. for example Cicciput is full of them: Shpalman, Fossi figo, Pagàno, Pilipino rock..)

I don't consider Cicciput their best CD, they are more old school, Italian Rum Casusu Cikti and Eat the Phikis are the best :-) my favorite song remains Tapparella.

4 awards out of 6. Second place at the Sanremo festival. It's as if they were the ones who won.

Effectively, in my opinion, Mengoni's song provided more of the Sanremo atmosphere. I was sure he would win and I had placed Modà second and Le storie tese third... I was off by a little bit.

Zedef wrote:

The song is certainly catchy for those who know music well (changes of meter, rhythm, harmony, wordplay, citations, etc.), but I believe that novices cannot grasp the numerous subtleties present, among other things, also in many other songs in the Elii repertoire.

Novices do not grasp the subtleties because they do not know how to identify them, but they certainly notice that the music is better. If it were not so, Telemann would be as famous as Mozart, even among novices, don't you think? The fact that they do not grasp, for example, a well-placed modulation is not a good reason not to write it, because that passage, if successful, will be pleasing anyway (even to those who do not know "why" they like it).

Carlos wrote:

that passage, if successful, will be pleasing anyway (even to those who don't know "why" they like it).

I would quote

Elio e le storie tese make me very angry. It bothers me to see certain potential thrown away like this. They are great, and I believe that anyone who understands even a little bit about music notices it. What makes me angry is that they compose an exceptional musical part, they have immense talents, but they season the whole thing with an idiotic melodic line and lyrics that are even worse. They would have everything in order to be able to sweep away other groups in a flash and compete at an international level, while they "settle" for remaining confined. Songs like Mengoni's, they play them by strumming on instruments while thinking about what to start playing with.

There are some "serious" songs in the history of the group. "Serious" always in quotes...

be' , "the land of persimmons" is one of those

That they are excellent musicians is not up for debate (I have seen them live as well). And I prefer that they continue to remain a bit idiomatic (at least on the surface) rather than adapting to the Sanremo-style little song just to win. One can no longer stand pseudo-melodic songs that are feigned to be "socially committed" according to the current fashion. I don't believe in serious or tear-jerking lyrics; they always smell of cheap gimmicks to me. Irony is much better.

As for Mengoni, it's the same one who, shortly before the festival, was whimpering because no one was calling him to perform shows anymore. Pathetic.

Are you serious Zadra? I didn't know about this. If things are like this, it's truly pathetic!