Italy

Rodney Anonymous vs. The World

by Rodney Anonymous

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Published: Feb 13, 2007

Rodney Anonymous vs. the World

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Artist: Patrizio

Album: The Italian

Country of Origin: Italy

If your name is Patrizio Buanne and you have olive skin and dark, wavy hair, you probably don't lose a lot of sleep worrying about being mistaken for a Swede. So calling your CD The Italian is tantamount to Denzel Washington starring in a film titled That Black Guy or the Rev. Ted Haggard titling his autobiography Confessions of a Meth-Buying Closeted Self-Loathing Homosexual. Some things are obvious even to the casual observer.

The casual observer — after scanning the list of songs on the back of the CD and seeing "Home to Mamma" and the theme from The Godfather — might also be tempted to dismiss The Italian (Universal) as a cheesy attempt to exploit an ethnic stereotype: the way you'd think of the Sopranos-inspired anthology Mob Hits or Joe Pesci's magnum opus Little Joe Sure Can Sing, when you're not busy trying to not think of them at all. Further examination, however, reveals a few inspired choices such as "A Man Without Love" (which has also been covered by Killdozer) and Il Mondo. Apparently, this is one of those rare CDs that we have to listen to before we can pass judgment.

About 11 milliseconds into The Italian, it becomes clear that Patrizio is the real thing. He may not have the greatest vocal range (falling somewhere between Engelbert Humperdinck and that guy who played Carmine "The Big Ragu" on Laverne & Shirley), but his phrasing is incredible and the orchestral arrangements are spot-on. This makes Patrizio the most suave human being since Ben from Blue Velvet drank beer from a glass. The guy simply oozes cool, which may be why he doesn't feel the need to do anything gimmicky like rap or sing a duet with Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth. True, he does cover Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over," but since he sings it entirely in Italian, we can forgive him. Which means you guys in South Philly can stop breakin' his balls.

Verdict:

How can we properly thank a country that has given us Cicero, Galileo and Enrico Fermi? Not portraying its denizens as a bunch of gun-toting, pizza-spinning greaseballs would be a good start.

(r_anonymous@citypaper.net)

Get told how to live at www.rodneyanonymous.com.

 

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