REVIEW "MUSIKBOX" DECEMBER 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
REVIEW www.bielle.org NOVEMBER 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
REVIEW www.rootshighway.it OCTOBER 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
REVIEW “VENEZIA NEWS” AUGUST 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
REVIEW “BUSCADERO” JULY 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
REVIEW AND INTERVIEW "A VOICE WE KNOW" JULY 2005
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
REVIEW “BUSCADERO” SEPTEMBER 2000
GUIDO MARZORATI
LIVE AT HOME
(Balancing Act Records)
REVIEW “THE RIVER” N°43 SEPTEMBER 2000
GUIDO MARZORATI
LIVE AT HOME
(Balancing Act Records)
REVIEW IN "MUSIKBOX" DECEMBER 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
Listening to Guido Marzorati on acoustic guitar and at the microphone one is magically reminded of another voice, in tone and vibrations, that of Springsteen. Elisa Marzorati (and here may I say that the latin saying in nomen omen is true) on piano, Iliano Vincenzi on bass and Andrea Scarpari on drums form his backing band the Blugos. The album of consecration for the label Velut Luna is “Journey of Hope” and it’s a collection of jazz, but not too much, country, but not too much, folk and pop, but not in excess. Slow and subdued tempos for the opening track that gives the title to the album. Words and music written entirely by Guido Marzorati, but let’s not forget the band. While they follow his orders they don’t hide behind Guido, rather with fertile reverence, they follow the harmonic objectives of their captain. One feature that your ears pick up immediately is the fact that there are no acoustic dissonances. It is all clear. Words and lyrics that do not hide arcane mysteries and pregnant pauses, created simply in order to give the voice some space. No disharmonies, because the blues and rock & roll don’t get confused with other genres, they know how to diligently follow the rhythms they were created for. Ten tracks full of energy and vigorous anger and protest, searching for a place, that our singer-songwriter still hasn’t found, where hope reigns and where war, if it exists, has a life that is too short to be remembered (“A little story of war”).
ELISA MAURO
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REVIEW www.bielle.org NOVEMBER 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
AMERICAN “IL MILIONE” OF A MODERN MARCO POLO
Second album of Venetian Guido Marzorati, follow up to the self-produced “Live at Home”, released in 1999. It’s incredible how Marzorati, already on his second disc, offers us a record of remarkable maturity, both from the point of view of the music and the lyrics. With the theme “journey” obviously at the centre, he always makes reference to what is happening around us, small events of daily life, love, war.
As far as the music goes: backed-up exceptionally by his fantastic Blugos (the words ‘blues’ and ‘gospel’ put together), Marzorati declares his love for a certain type of American singer-songwriter in typical 70s style, Jackson Browne most of all, but also Leonard Cohen and a pinch of Springsteen at his most intimate.
It is what you call classic rock.
There are only a few “tough” pieces. The first is “Complainer’s Disease”, about one of the big problems of our times, people, above all youth, who confront life with a laziness and apathy that borders on indifference, just the opposite of the main character of “Out Of My Skin”. “Keep Beating” starts with a “desert-like” guitar which opens up into the type of rock that Bob Seeger would like.
When rock and roll rears its head between one track and another in the “sound” of Marzorati’s guitars, the bass of Iliano Vincenzi and Andrea Scarpari’s drums, it is always tempered by Elisa Marzorati’s phenomenal piano that often takes centre stage.
“Journey of Hope” the title track, tells the story of a father to a foreign country, looking for prosperity to offer his son.
“Come to a New Land” and “Virtual Love”, though different, are both songs that talk about love, while “Blooming Roots” is the desperate cry of someone who never wants to give up despite all the bad things that can happen.
In “A little story of war” and “Song from the next world” the reference to Cohen becomes evident. The final track “What can I do?” starts with a steaming harmonica which then hands over to a saloon-style piano and female backing vocals.
We haven’t heard a record like “Journey of Hope” for a long time, a streetwise rock with tunes that are simple and fascinating at the same time.
Venetians have always been great travellers and Guido Marzorati has taken off for the west showing us that he has made good use of his American experiences (playing in historic venues like the Stone Pony): “Journey of Hope” is the result, his “Il Milione”.
LUCA VITALI
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REVIEW www.rootshighway.it OCTOBER 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
****
There are, to tell the truth ever more rarely, albums that it would be a real sin not to give the attention they deserve. They have a limited release that makes them something for just a few intimate friends. This is certainly not the end that “Journey of Hope” deserves, fascinating confirmation of the songwriting talent of Venetian, Guido Marzorati. He debuted a few years ago with the excellent “Live At Home”, working completely alone, showing the stuff of a storyteller that allowed him to carry an entire album, trusting only to his voice, a harmonica and a Takamine acoustic guitar. In this case the project takes the name of Guido Marzorati & The Blugos, who are Elisa Marzorati on the piano, Iliano Vincenzi on the bass and Andrea Scarpari on the drums. Here they are at work with the usual Takamine on some really beautiful songs. The sound reminds you of the atmosphere of the great singer-songwriters of the 70s, because of the continuous use of the piano, with a rhythm section and a guitar that is never invasive. A breath of air from California seems to waft out of the speakers when, in no specific order, “Virtual Love”, a soft ballad, makes itself heard. The opening track, “Journey of Hope” and “Out of My Skin”, with its slightly more decisive tones yet always staying under control, are two other excellent examples of the composing talents of Guido. The piano of Elisa makes them stand out and moves us. On “Song From The Next World”, Guido demonstrates even further his qualities and the Blugos show that they are certainly more than just a run-of-the-mill backing band. It is one of the best tracks on the album, a progression of chords which are absolutely in classic singer-songwriter style, framed by the constant presence of the piano behind the voice, that, if we close our eyes, transports us, spell-like, to the other side of the ocean, to L.A. about 30 years ago. “Blooming Roots” raises the rhythm, in a really pleasing way. “Keep Beating” has a more urban feel, despite the great instrumental intro of slide guitar, and shows us another face of Guido, who doesn’t pull back if you have to step on the gas a bit more, as happens on “What Can I Do?” the track which brings us to the end of this trip on the free-wheeling tracks of a solid rock that is always softened by the piano. A complete album that grows on you after every listen and has nothing be ashamed of when compared to bigger productions from across the ocean, ones that in some cases certainly lack the heart with which Guido Marzorati carries on his musical discourse.
GABRIELE BUVOLI
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REVIEW IN “VENEZIA NEWS” MAGAZINE AUGUST 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
Three years after its recording and mixing, the second album of Venetian singer/songwriter Guido Marzorati has finally come out on the Paduan record label Velut Luna. The 10 songs on the CD all have lyrics in English, a language chosen, I assume, for export reasons and hence for finding a wider audience in a world brought closer together through the internet. Flicking through the CD booklet, complete with lyrics, the first impression is that here we are dealing with a rock album, for its choice of subject matter, photos and colours. In fact, Marzorati gives us a melodic rock, of medium-slow pace, easy to listen to. His slightly and pleasantly raucous voice reminds us, in a less aggressive way of the Boss, Springsteen and, with less nasality, the minstrel Dylan, in particular in the songs in which not only the guitar but also the harmonica takes the lead (Come To A New Land, What Can I Do?). The song that I liked the most is without doubt the title track and first on the album, Journey Of Hope. It is a soft bossa-rock or rock-bossa depending on the point of view of the listener. A Little Story Of War packs a big punch with its testimony to the futility of war and the hope that history doesn’t ever repeat. In other parts of the album we also find simple romanticism, such as on Come To A New Land in which the chorus says “give me your hand for a journey with no end, come to a new land with me”. Apart from the band’s lead vocalist/guitarist Guido Marzorati it’s worth mentioning the basic trio of the Blugos, piano, bass and drums, who dedicatedly follow the rhythmic variations and emotions of their leader.
GIOVANNI GRETO
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REVIEW IN “BUSCADERO” MAGAZINE JULY 2006
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
***
Influenced by American singer/songwriters of the rock/folk genre, Guido Marzorati follows up his first album of 2000 with an album that brings to the fore his more intimate side and his vagabond spirit.
After testing himself vocally and musically during a long stay in New York, where he played in cafés and clubs, such as the Stone Pony, Guido Marzorati returned to his home town of Venice. With the help of a group of friends, he has created a sort of journey through the places of his music and inspiration, a journey of hope as the title suggests, dictated by his love of those American musical paths that formed his (and our) imagination. Dreams become songs, ten beautiful songs played in a style that embraces Springsteen, the writers of the Village and Jackson Browne.
Shy and quiet, a little bit apart with respect to the rest of the Italian music scene, where musicians often fly the flag of a love of Springsteen in order to find their place in the sun, Marzorati is almost unknown. This is a bad thing because his elegance in writing, his romantic voice, the calm interpretation and the care that he takes with the arrangements and the details of his songs all point to an interesting singer/songwriter, who places importance on soft tones and intimate ballads. He has a strongly evocative style in which the guitar is accompanied by a classic-style piano of the highest quality which is one of the most distinctive aspects of the record.
Marzorati is the author of the lyrics and the music but a group of family and friends has gathered around him who participate in the project which he leads. The Blugos are the talented Elisa Marzorati on the piano, Iliano Vincenzi on bass, and Andrea Scarpari on drums. There are also backing musicians, Daniele Scala from the Morblus on Hammond, Filippo Bonini on the violin and three backing singers. Francesca Palazzi is the art director and it’s worth mentioning her given the quality of the sleeve notes complete with lyrics and photos. They have nothing to be ashamed of when compared with the best Anglo-Saxon productions, presenting that style of street-balladeer that Marzorati wants to convey with his music.
The ballads Journey of hope, the touching Song from the next world, the catchy Out of my skin with Elisa Marzorati’s piano playing well to the fore, the Springsteen-like (and it couldn’t have been any different given the title) Come to a new land are among the best things on the record. The more upbeat songs also have their place. Worth mentioning are Blooming roots, What can I do? with its sounds reminiscent of Little Feat, the high-paced Complainer’s disease and those bluesy sounds with the slide guitar and the usual great piano work of Elisa Marzorati on Keep beating. These are songs however that never lose the good manners of a slightly “reserved” rocker who resembles more Jackson Browne than the heroes of the Jersey Shore.
Recorded with professionalism Journey of hope has body, soul and a brilliant sound.
Maybe Guido Marzorati needs a bit of toughness and “nastiness” but then again we know that Venice is a happy island, no traffic jams, no cars, no underground (despite the fact that the album cover has one on it) and nice talks over a glass of wine are still today the daily rhythms of those who aren’t born to run. How can we say that they are wrong?
MAURO ZAMBELLINI
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REVIEW IN “A VOICE WE KNOW ” MAGAZINE JULY 2005
GUIDO MARZORATI & THE BLUGOS
JOURNEY OF HOPE
(Velut Luna)
After the solo album “Live at home”, Guido Marzorati’s new album “Journey of Hope” is now out, for the first time with his new band “The Blugos”.
If you ever get the chance to talk with Guido Marzorati you will be surprised by his silences and his introverted nature. He is a true artist who prefers to make his art rather than talk about it and it’s exactly for this reason that he runs the risk, in this world based on public relations, of not arriving at the larger audience that he deserves.
He sings splendid ballads with that typical sense of wide open spaces that you find in American music but also songs full of that explosive energy typical of rock.
It is his voice that impresses the most. It is warm and harmonious and at the same time penetrating and precise, something that seems in contrast with the quiet and calm image that Guido shows of himself.
It’s on stage that this Venetian boy (he’s so good I can’t believe he’s not from New Jersey!) literally transforms into a perfect stage animal, capable of transporting his band and his audience with the glances, sweat and gestures of an authentic leader, creating those vibrations that every rock concert should. You can see small demonstration of all this on his official website www.guidomarzorati.com with the live video of “From the stable to the stars and back”.
Marzorati has found his most sincere and profound language in the tradition of the rock singer/songwriter and through it he expresses his thoughts on the world and the society that surrounds him. He talks about himself but he also moves on to consider other themes in today’s society, both from a psychological and a historical/political point of view. It would be simplifying things to say that his lyrics are only autobiographical, unless you understand that what is autobiographical includes all the external events that we hear about day after day.
On “Live at home”, his first self-produced album, he performed solo, accompanying himself on his acoustic guitar and harmonica. His second CD, “Journey of Hope” sees him collaborating with “The Blugos”, a truly fantastic band formed by Elisa Marzorati on piano, Iliano Vincenzi on bass and Andrea Scarpari on drums. Keeping in mind the current music scene, Guido Marzorati and The Blugos live are absolutely not to be missed because of their intensity and overwhelming force. Other musicians lent a hand in making the disc, such as Daniele Scala (Hammond), Filippo Bonini (violin), Louise Gufeaux, Ruby Williams and Luisa Bittolo Bon (backing vocals).
The recording was done by Enrico Coniglio, always meticulous in his search for evocative sounds, who succeeded in the difficult task of doing justice to this project.
The overarching theme of this second record is without doubt travel. It opens straight away with the title track “Journey of Hope”.Here it is the journey towards a better world of a father who, driven by the desire to offer something better to his son, seeks fortune in another country. He has to come to terms with a new reality in which he feels out of place and insecure, a reality in which sounds, smells and faces are unknown. Suddenly the desire for novelty wears off and the melancholy memories of his own country, the well-known streets of his town and of the much-loved four walls of the family home takes its place. With “Out of my skin” the initial fear of this new adventure vanishes . The protagonist starts to discover and understand this new reality in which he finds himself and is ready to take on any challenge. No matter how similar he feels to someone who is deaf or mute and no matter how much he realises he is not the only one who wants to succeed he is ready to change his skin and fight for his dreams.
Even if the next two tracks speak about love the idea of the journey is still ever-present. The first is about the dream of a specific journey and the second a virtual one. “Come to a new land” is an invitation to the loved one to visit this new land and is filled with the promise and the dream of an eternal love, one that in “Virtual love” seems to dissolve when confronted with reality. The type of love that the dreamer wants to experience seems unattainable. It is a perfect love and so close to expectations when you think about it but not when you come across it in real life.
Half-way through the album Marzorati views today’s society first with irony and then with sadness. “Complainer’s disease” is the description of the so-called illness of those who experience any given moment of the day with no energy or optimism and simply whine. Lots of people have this bad habit of finding themselves in a vicious circle in which they are bored with their own existence and feel helpless and incapable of taking initiatives in order to change something. A subtle trace of irony is hidden in the words: those who complain are in reality confirming that they have everything that they could wish for but they don’t seem to notice and so they live with this absurd and continuous feeling of dissatisfaction.
“A little story of war” instead describes the suffering of war through the words of a woman who first loses her husband, then her son and in the end does not hesitate to sell her body in order to save her only remaining daughter from hunger. That is how far the love of a mother can reach, and how far one can push the human spirit in order to survive. It is a “little story” that unmasks a “great reality” unfortunately still so terribly topical.
“Song from the next world” considers the actions committed by men, when perhaps it is by now too late. Thanks to the space-time distance he reflects with maximum clarity on what has occurred. Inside a war everything is distorted and confused, some things are simply done without thinking. From the outside, on the other hand, you can acknowledge errors committed but you can’t go back. That is how, after such a hard sentence hope rises again. “Blooming roots” celebrates the vital force of humanity, the capacity to get up again, to rebuild and to start all over again from scratch even after the greatest catastrophes and misfortunes, perhaps through the glance of just one person, through a smile. It is the mysterious magic of nature: everything that dies is born again and so destroyed cities are rebuilt and people get together again and gather their strength in order to recreate the future.
In “Keep beating”, perhaps the strongest “rock” track of the album, even love is reborn and affirms its own strength thanks to constancy and faith.
The last track on the album is “What can I do?”, a totally enjoyable “country” song when the songwriter seems to shake off all the accumulated dust of numerous roads travelled and shakes his head knowingly about the impossibility of living in a perfect world.
Guido Marzorati colours his stories with music that is energetic and vital and that always leaves room for hope. One could almost think that the imperfect existence of humanity related in his lyrics is purified and finds equilibrium and redemption through music.
His music perhaps doesn’t satisfy commercial requirements that follow the fashions of the moment but this is music that is made to stay, for those who want to listen to clean sounds, hard-to-forget melodies together with lively and tough rock that tells stories that make you think, dance, dream, travel.
Isn’t that perhaps something that everybody wants to hear?
Interview with Guido Marzorati 07-07-2005:
They say that you are the new Italian Bruce Springsteen…
GM: (laughs)… that’s an old story. When he came out they said that he was the new Bob Dylan. Obviously the comparison makes me very happy, it fills me with pride and responsibility because he is an artist that I really admire, but I think that everyone in their own small way, in their own genre, in their time, has something very specific. Every artist represents something unique, his or her work is the fruit of a specific soul and how he or she manages to communicate with all the other souls is what makes every one of us different. Having said that, perhaps there are resemblances, some common ground, but just like there has never been another Bob Dylan there will never be another Bruce Springsteen.
What are your musical roots that have driven you to make the music you make?
GM: I grew up in a family of musicians. My father is a double-bass player and my mother a flautist. From an early age I breathed in music every day, with that spirit of enjoyment, that joy of playing that my parents transmitted to me, without ever forcing anything onto me. I think that this particular environment also formed me from a human point of view. I started to play the piano, then the violin, I went to Music School for a few years, then at a certain point I understood that my path was different and that my way of communicating needed something else. I started to write music for the piano and to play keyboards in a band and in the end I understood that I wanted to sing, to say something and that acoustic guitar was the ideal instrument for doing it. I started out self-taught, playing along with every record that I happened to have, just like lots of people. Having played the violin it was relatively easy for me and little by little, through the force of my enthusiasm I started at first to imitate and then I found my own style.
How did your parents react when you decided to leave classical music for Rock and Roll?
GM: They always said to me “Do what makes you happy..” in reality I think that they were scared stiff, also because I was at a particularly difficult age, as an adolescent. Now they are my biggest fans!
Which singer/songwriters did you start with?
GM: In my house we only ever listened to classical music and pretty much up to the age of 15 I didn’t know any songs, then a friend recorded a cassette for me with the Beatles on one side and Bruce Springsteen on the other. It was the spark for me. From that time I took on the long and stimulating task of research, through many and varied musical genres, to get to know all the greats and to understand what was my way. I listened to records for the first time that had come out perhaps 30 or 40 years earlier like Elvis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and all the other that for my “virgin” ears were real and authentic “bombs”. I think they had the same effect on me that they could have had on young people in the 60s. Still now when I buy a record besides just listening to it I like studying it. It is useful for growth and for moving on, for understanding what point you are at and what other people are doing.
A record that you have particularly liked recently?
GM: Damien Rice’s “O”.
The last book you read?
GM: Novecento by Alessandro Baricco, I really enjoyed it a lot!
Many people continue to say that Rock is dead, that there is no good music anymore. What do you think?
GM: People have been talking about the death of Rock since the Beatles, the Stones and artists like Bob Dylan seemed to have reached an unimaginable perfection in their work and it became difficult to see how much further it could go. Still today I don’t think that rock is dead. If you turn on the television or the radio you could almost think that all the good music is dead. A while ago I was watching the MTV music awards and I found it really sad and worrying that during almost the whole show they only spoke about videos and the “look” of the presenters. The world of musicians has been invaded by this culture of image. I have the feeling that frame has invaded the space of the painting! I don’t think it is right that music has to be simply the frame at the Music “Oscars”. Either the name of the programme is wrong or the content. When MTV and Vh1 were born everyone thought “Oh great! Now our songs will be stronger, more powerful, more beautiful!” and instead it wasn’t like that. In a really short time everything changed, instead of it being a musical experience only appearances became important. It’s for this reason that now all these people don’t know how to write or sing. People limit themselves to putting on a tape and dancing. It is a trick, these people don’t have anything to say to anyone, they don’t want to communicate, they just want to show how pretty they are.
Personally I am absolutely convinced that there is a heap of good new music out there, it’s simply that it isn’t easy to find. They say that in 10 years the recording industry won’t exist anymore and that thanks to Internet just the artists will survive. Seeing how things are going we can only hope!
Talk to us a little about your new band “The Blugos”. And if there is one, give us an explanation of this slightly curious name.
GM: After “Live at home” came out I absolutely wanted to form a band for “Journey of Hope”. I started to arrange tracks with my sister (Elisa Marzorati) on the piano, then Iliano Vincenzi, a bassist that I had admired already for a long time, recommended Andrea Scarpari as a drummer. So we started to rehearse all the new material together and straight away there was that magic kind of spontaneity that you find when everything is in its place. Every one of them has really specific characteristics, different personalities that come from different musical experiences that together give life to the sound of our band. We have been playing together for 3 years and now we work really well together. We have a lot of fun and there is a great atmosphere between us. That is really important for me. Feeling good together helps us to make good music. You can see those sorts of things on stage and the public perceives it. Sometimes it happens, during rehearsals when I bring a new song, that they are the ones to anticipate what I perhaps haven’t been able to put into words and often their suggestions go beyond my own imagination. That’s fantastic. I will always be grateful to them for the enthusiasm that they put into following my ideas and my music. It isn’t easy to find a group of people like that. I’m really lucky.
As far as the name “Blugos” is concerned, I took the first three letters of the word blues and the first three letters of the word gospel, I put them together and I liked how it sounded. In reality we don’t do either blues or gospel but if you look closely at my songs, going right back to “Live at home”, blues and gospel are the two elements that are often right at the heart of the matter. If you take “From the stables to the stars” or “Force of habit” or, from the new record, “Blooming roots” or “What can I do?” if you listen to the verses you find the blues and when you arrive at the chorus there’s gospel. Put the two things together and at the same time you are lifting people up even while you are keeping them tied to the ground. I love the blues/gospel framework because it lets you express and balance contrasting emotions and feelings.
I saw on your website (www.guidomarzorati.com) that you did a tour of 20 gigs in New York in 2003. What was your experience and how did they react to you?
GM: It is an really incredible city and of course I’m not the only one to find that out. For a musician, perhaps more than for any other person it is really the place to live. I was there for three months, amongst other things in a really specific time which was the invasion of Iraq. Despite the tense atmosphere, despite the fact that it was a city with its wounds still open, it’s interesting and significant that among all the different people that I met in one way or another I didn’t meet a single person who was in favour of the invasion. It made you think “thank heavens America isn’t just Bush”. Apart from that I tried to take maximum advantage of everything the city has to offer just from a musical standpoint, going to see as many shows as possible or imaginable. Then I threw myself into the ring, after all that is precisely why I had gone there. I was a little bit nervous because I was singing in English on their home ground and it wasn’t easy. The reception was really incredible. Lots of people could finally appreciate my lyrics as well as my music and that was a huge satisfaction for me considering how much work and commitment there is behind it all. One day a guy came up to me after a gig and said to me “ I can’t believe you’re not from New Jersey.” I’m counting on going back there soon.
Which song on “Journey of hope” do you feel is most “yours”, which one represents you the most?
GM: I like to think that it is all of the songs together. I am tied, for different reasons, like a father to his kids, to all of the songs on the album. If you ask a father of three which is his favourite child what can he say? He can’t answer. Perhaps the song that I feel is the closest to me is always the next one.
So then what can we expect in the future, after “Live at home” and “Journey of hope”?
GM: I am already writing new songs. Most probably they will need to sound slightly different. It could be that the time has come to take up an electric guitar. I don’t know if it will be the very next thing that I do, it’s still too early to say but it’s a big challenge that I find really fascinating, also in order to be able to explore sounds that are new for me. We’ll see.
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REVIEW IN "BUSCADERO" MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2000
GUIDO MARZORATI
LIVE AT HOME
(Balancing Act Records)
***
One day I was wandering through the streets of Venice (with a friend who lives there) when the distinct, clean and unmistakable notes of The Ghost of Tom Joad came floating up from a little square. It was a Sunday in June and Venice was welcoming the arrival of summer with doors open to music. Amateurs, semi-professionals, bands and simple lovers of jazz, ethnic music, rock and classical music made the most beautiful city in the world even sunnier, bringing happiness and good vibrations beyond the usual and annoying traffic of mass tourism.
Among drums, saxophones and double basses and some folk bands from the Tirol my attention was captured by a young man in jeans with a Takamine who alone brought to the lagoon a sign of the Boss. An authentic needle in a haystack because Guido Marzorati, that is the name of this atypical Venetian storyteller, showed signs of good guitar playing skills and vocal interpretation, choosing a repertoire, that of solid rock , that here in Italy is anything but popular.
Later, when I came into possession of his self-produced CD, I realised that not only does Guido Marzorati have a great passion for Springsteen but he is, as they say on the other side of the Atlantic, a singer/songwriter of good promise that would not be out of place doing a set in some café in Bleecker or MacDougal St. in Greenwich Village. His style and vivacity remind you of the singer/songwriters of the Village from the end of the 70s, above all Steve Forbert and Willie Nile and his compositions have exactly those suggestions and colours of the East Coast songwriter sound.
In his songs, and the CD Live At Home shows it, there is not the standard folk/acoustic sound because Marzorati, even just with his Takamine and harmonica, manages to give vivacity and toughness to songs that have an implicit rock strength.
Marzorati assails the songs. He is never too intimate, even when he sings of love stories and the small vicissitudes of life. His voice is not a lament and his strumming is alive and energetic while at the same time clean and precise.
Live At Home is a completely self-produced work and on one hand shows the songwriting talents of the author (the ten songs are all his own compositions) and on the other Marzorati’s initiative in controlling his own music.
Live At Home was in fact recorded (really well, hearing is believing) at home, simulating the live atmosphere with friends, with the help of Michele Saviolo on the mixing desk. He then made a CD from the recording which includes a great book with the lyrics and excellent photos in cloudy, bluish tones, a perfect representation of a type of music that owes much to the lights and shadows of the night and to the streets that belong to no-one which can be placed on that Dylan/Springsteen axis which has made so many people dream.
Even though it is self-produced it is a completely professional product that is a precise image of Marzorati’s bitter and poetic rock and of his love for a musical landscape that in Italy is often snubbed and marginalised.
Ten songs for guitar, voice and harmonica, with the Village in their heart and the lagoon in their eyes, here is a personality that absolutely must be discovered. Some of the titles are Time to Choose, Work in Progress, From the Stables to the Stars, Wavelength (nothing to do with Van Morrison), The Night Alone, Tight-Rope Walker. This young man doesn’t seem to know what boredom is and rocks with his acoustic guitar like the Americans do.
MAURO ZAMBELLINI
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REVIEW “THE RIVER” N°43 SEPTEMBER 2000
GUIDO MARZORATI
LIVE AT HOME
(Balancing Act Records)
Venetian Guido Marzorati has put himself to the test with the album “Live at Home” on which he plays acoustic guitar in the best tradition of Woody Guthrie. Recorded live entirely in the lagoon city, he sings and plays the ten songs written by his own hand. Nice work, congratulations!!!
VITO GIANFRATE
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