This time Francesco Wilking even sends David Bowie on an Italo-pop vacation.
Is it possible that Major Tom wasn’t lost in space, but instead made an emergency landing in Tuscany? At least that’s easy to believe when the Crucchi Gang opens their new album OMBRELLONI & GRU with their version of “Space Oddity”. As soon as the four minutes of “Ragazzo Solo Ragazza Sola” are over, it is hard to imagine that David Bowie could ever have meant his famous song as anything other than an Italian pop song.
That’s the trick of the project by Francesco Wilking (Die Höchste Eisenbahn, Tele): not only translating well-known songs from every conceivable genre, preferably from German pop history, into Italian, but also transforming them into smooth Italo-pop hits. So the Bowie cover remains an international exception, after which Paula Carolina is allowed to sing her own “Would it be ok?” as “Ti sta bene” turns into an airy, light summer hit, Anda Morts’ rough-and-tumble “Filter” becomes the astonishingly elegant “Filtro,” and Fettes Brot are guests to finally drown their “Manuela” in ice cream.
The originals are not always present to be sent on vacation, but Ideal’s “Blue Eyes” is in good hands at Fil Bo Riva. Sven Regener bows with vocal effort to Hildegard Knef (“For me it should rain red roses” becomes “Mille rose”), and then for dessert “Oggi Qui Domani La”, yes exactly: “Here today, there tomorrow”. Hannes Wader couldn’t be won over either, but Clavdio sings with similarly roughened vocal cords. Just great!