It must've happened sometime in the middle of the 1980s. For almost two decades the Netherlands had been Europe's undisputed capital for everything country rock. And while the Dutch still love their line-dancing and their country music, another relatively unexpected country took their place as the place to be if you like country music and - as it came to be known in the 1990s - alt country or Americana. That place is Italy. Do you know what Italians also like? Bruce Springsteen! So, it seemed logical, for a small group of them, to combine their interests. And from that the idea of For You was born - Italian Americana artists covering Bruce Springsteen. Now here's a concept you don't see or hear everyday...
The most recognizable name of the line-up is...not what you'd expect. I - like a lot of people - discovered Alexi Lalas - at the Football (soccer to our American friends) World Cup 1994. He was instantly recognizable with his long red locks and beard. What I didn't know until very recently was that that appearance was enough to get him signed to a small first-league (Serie A) club in Italy and that he also was a budding musician in his spare time. And so, somehow, Lalas ended up on two tracks from the first For You compilation, both very good and present here. Other than that, the artists here are as much a mystery to me as they probably are for you. If they aren't, do tell me more about Francesco Lucarelli, The Blue Bonnets, Rossana Casale, Ricardo Maffone or the Modesta City Ramblers. These are presumably all low-key regional artists, but that doesn't mean that the job they're doing of bringing the Boss' music to life isn't a good one.
There were two volumes of For You - the original compilation from 1995 and a belated follow-up in 2010. I picked more or less pasimonously from both volumes to make a sort of 'best of' For You, specifically picking the artists that covered some of Springsteen's lesser known songs. For one, because songs that aren't done to death are more interesting - and secondly, because the songs covering the old warhorses often sounded like well-meaning karaoke. Admittedly, I played it safe by opening with The Wild Junkers' cover of "Better Days" which...does sound a little bit like well-meaning karaoke. But the good kind! And from there, things do get a little more adventurous. Deep cuts like "Jesus Was An Only Child", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Iceman" and "The Angel" make their apparition, often in interesting, arrangements that tweak things in an Americana direction, though not so much as to denature the originals entirely. On these twenty selections here, the artists find the sweet spot between paying homage and doing their own thing.
So, here it is for you: Italian artists conering that most quintessentially American of songwriters. Some of these work better than others, but all of them deserve the benefit of doubt and a fair listen. So, here they are, For You...
For You
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/TBqWsemFgRf