Reveries

1	Reveries 3:50
2	Gioco d'Azzardo 4:21
3	Dancing 4:00
4	Aguaplano 4:05
5	Nord 6:52
6	I Giardini Pensili Hanno Fatto il Loro Tempo 3:32
7	Fuga All'inglese 4:03
8	Madeleine 4:34
9	Blue Tangos 3:58
10	Novecento 3:34
11	L' Avance 6:01
12	Sudamerica 3:03
13	Parigi 3:28
14	Chiamami Adesso 2:56
15	Diavolo Rosso 6:15
16	Come Mi Vuoi 4:22

Barnes & Noble

The surprising international success of Italy's Paolo Conte is testimony to the power of music to transcend language. You need not understand a word of Italian to grasp his appeal. The gravel-voiced septuagenarian effortlessly conveys the kind of dissolute languor that seems ubiquitously European, from the rain-soaked streets of Paris to the shadowy alleyways of Greece, but utterly unknown in America. The closest this country comes is Tom Waits, to whom Conte is often superficially compared -- but the Italian shares little of Waits's affectations or quirks (except for his occasional tootle on kazoo, that is). No, Paolo Conte charms for the same reasons Serge Gainsbourg and Leonard Cohen do: They are men who look back on life through the lens of experience, through the glass of regret, and in chops-licking anticipation of more games to come. Leading a swinging jazz combo that moans dark and low, Conte rasps in Italian and occasional English about age, travel, trust, and desire (the excellent liner notes translate his impressionistic poetry). Idiosyncratic moments punctuate his reflections -- in "Aguaplano" he spies a grand piano floating in the sea, while "Come Me Vuoi?" asks for "a sandwich and a bit of indecency." Such urbanity comes easy to Conte, as does a spirited, swinging tune with the occasional Gypsy-jazz accent. These are songs warbled by a spirit at once mysterious and inviting, leaving their mark long after -- like a lively café conversation with a grizzled roué who spins yarns for hours, then slips quietly into the night. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

A return album for the U.S. after the success of the Best Of album from Paolo Conte. His gravely voice croons through some works and narrates others. The compositions are all older works, revised and rearranged for the purpose of Reveries. At times using elements of Neapolitan music, at times stuck in French chanson, and at times in the cabaret forms, Conte is constantly moving from one style to the next, ably changing the mood with the piano before he even utters a word in the next style. There's a clear disenchantment with love coming across despite language barriers in many of the tracks, and an extraordinary use of language and poetry to convey just the opposite in others. References to tango are many, as Conte makes use of a bandoneon player to enhance the South American mood here and there. The elements of jazz, and even R&B, are exploited a bit as well, maintaining a supreme level of cool as he effortlessly croons to each of them, reciting his poetry casually. There's even a short bout with a kazoo, during which the singer (inexplicably) continues to maintain his cool. There's a fascination with cool jazz here, and a fascination with the work of Piazzolla, but most importantly, a willingness to explore any number of territories and incorporate them all in the process of presenting an outstanding finished product of poetry in the form of high musical art. This is one of a small number of albums produced each year that should be heard by listeners from outside the genre's core, and experienced at least once by all. Adam Greenberg