The Best of Paolo Conte

Paolo Conte

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 9, 1998)
• Original Release Date: June 9, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000006R56
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,970 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Music > Pop > Euro Pop > Italian
  #31 in	Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Italy
  #39 in	Music > Jazz > Latin Jazz

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 1998
This poet, painter, and former lawyer from Asti, Italy, has been dazzling Italian audiences since the early 1970s but has just blazed into U.S. consciousness like a meteor with his Best Of debut album on Nonsesuch. After listening to his European style of cabaret music, you too will be hooked on the crooner who is widely appreciated for rhyming Napoli with Minneapoli. The selection of 20 songs ranges in style from a mixture of French chansonette to tango. All feature his raspy voice (Americans may be reminded of Tom Waits) with unmistakably wry lyrics that offer lovers and listeners alike the sensuality and complexity of gelato al limon (lemon ice cream). --Cristina Del Sesto

Amazon.com
Paolo Conte is a completely original talent, and his leathery, life-weary face on the cover is the first clue to the evocative music of this poet, painter, musician, and lawyer from Asti in northern Italy. Observations on the tide of human existence deftly rendered in vividly poetic lines that startle with their originality are highlighted in smoky vignettes of '40s jazz- and tango-inflected tunes, teetering between Cabaret, The Circus, and 42nd Street. Conte's unfiltered raspy voice is the perfect vehicle for his poignant view of the foibles of adult life mused from the corner barstool, admiring women whose "pungent smells [beckon] him like an old-fashioned grocery, its doors flung open to the spring outside." The music is a treat in itself, but the real gold is to be found in his lyrics, and luckily translations are in the liner notes. --Derek Rath

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Polished nonchalance, June 17, 2003

By	Eric J. Lyman (Roma, Lazio Italy) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Italians, I think, take Paolo Conte for granted. His raspy voice, playful melodies, and knowing lyrics have been part of the musical landscape in Italy for years, and many local fans have come of age listening to his music. But when a mature listener tunes in to Mr. Conte's music for the first time, that is when the magic happens.

I have seen Mr. Conte play live twice -- once here in Rome, once in Paris -- and his on-stage persona does nothing to district from the cosmopolitan musical image his recordings convey. With a dozen supporting musicians, Mr. Conte sits behind his piano in a tuxedo, surrounded by a cloud of unfiltered cigarette smoke, a stiff drink (grappa?) at his side, on the stage of a dark auditorium filled by his coarse singing voice and intriguing music. He doesn't play to the audience but rather for himself, and that is also part of the charm.

Much of that comes through with his recorded music, as well, and this "Best of" CD is, of course, the best place to start. There is a variety of musical styles on this CD, ranging from his version of tango, to jazz, to songs designed for street musicians, to tunes that at times seem to be aimed at children (I am thinking of Happy Feet). But my favorites are when he mixes those influences with his sophisticated signature cabaret style, as with Sparring Partner, Hemingway, and Sotto le Stelle del Jazz.

One side note: though I am a big fan of Mr. Conte's, and I think that anyone who buys this CD will eventually want to hear more of this man's works, I will caution against buying much of what Mr. Conte recorded before the early to mid-1990s, when he came into his prime (none of the songs here fall into that category). If you do, you will surely miss much of the roundness and polished nonchalance that makes Mr. Conte's music so appealing, though you will be reminded that even someone who makes it seem as easy as Mr. Conte does had to evolve from somewhere.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Haunting, Mesmerizing Voice with a Beat to Go With It, December 18, 1998

By A Customer

Having first encountered the haunting voice of Paolo Conte this past summer on one of the Greek Islands, I have found his voice, songs, rythms and arrangements VERY difficult to get out of my head! "The Best of Paolo Conte" is just that! I feel that once the listener hears this album it's only a matter of days (if that long) that he/she orders Mr. Conte's full discography!

Mr. Conte's haunting voice and the words (you don't have to understand Italian to enjoy them)and music keep returning to both your conscious and sleep (unconscious?) states. I defy you to ignore his spell!

Although there are those that have said Mr. Conte is comparable to other singer/song writers throughout the world (Montand? Cohen? Brel?) I feel he is in a realm of his own as far as memorability of tune and beat. . . .

"The Best of. . ." will ONLY lore/entice you to call amazon.com and order "Aquaplano", "Paolo Conte", "900", etc.

Paolo Conte is a master 'spell caster' and will, I am sure, DEFINITELY cast his spell on YOU!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Via con Pablo!, November 5, 2002

By	Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Paolo Conte is enjoying a recent burst of near-popularity in this country, mostly carried by word of mouth as you won't hear him on many radio stations. He's the very model of a cabaret singer- a style still popular in the clubs of Europe, and in the clubs of New York, where performers like Blossom Dearie still can pack a club, but seldom heard on TV or radio in this country since Jimmy Durante had his TV show.

Not to say that Conte has much in common with Durante. Well, there is that rough, whisky and cigarette voice, and the half sung, half spoken lyrics. But Conte is more lyrical. I'd compare him to great performers like Maurice Chevalier or Yves Montand. The music is very much in that European cabaret mold- think the Jazz Manouche stylings of Django Reinhard, with a tired, world weary voice. When he sings "Via con Me" you think yes, maybe, perhaps.

It's a hypnotic, compelling combination.