Editorial Review:

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









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Disc 1:

1. Via con Me
2. Sotto le Stelle del Jazz
3. Elisir
4. Boogie
5. Sparring Partner
6. Come Di
7. Azzurro
8. Un Gelato Al Limon
9. Happy Feet
10. Gli Impermeabili
11. Max
12. Gong-Oh
13. Colleghi Trascurati
14. Bartali
15. Alle Prese con Una Verde Milonga
16. Dragon
17. Hemingway
18. Ho Ballato Di Tutto
19. Quadrille
20. Genova Per Noi

Rating: - * Boogie Woogie ... I don't understand Italian, but the music is universal. The piano is "electric", the beat is ever present, the boogie woogie is contagious, the ambiance is plain fun. I enjoy listening to this CD over and over. Rating: - * MARVELOUS Paolo Conte ... Paolo Conte, whose song made in to Mostly Martha and No Reservations, is absolutely marvelous. A Italian Mel Torme with gravelly voice and perfect timing and phrasing. Rating: - * THE BEST OF PAOLO CONTE ... IT'S PAOLO CONTE'S GRITTY VOICE THAT PROVIDES THE RAW ENERGY TO DRIVE HIS SONGS. HIS INTERPRETATION OF A SONG PULLS ONE INTO THE HEART OF IT AND ALWAYS LEAVES YOU WANTING MORE. IT DOESN'T SEEM TO MATTER THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ITALIAN, EVERYONE PERFORMANCE IS SHEER TOE TAPPING ENJOYMENT. EACH SONG ON THIS CD IS PURE FUN AND YOU WILL COME AWAY FROM LISTENING TO IT WITH AT LEAST ONE SONG ECHOING IN YOU HEAD. Rating: - * Makes me joyful! ... Living in the Northwest the days are gray and long. This CD lifts me up and gives me energy I found Paolo Conte from the movie A Good Year. Rating: - * great Italian jazz ... I love Paolo Conte's voice and sense of rhythm. I found out about him by watching both movies Mickey Blue Eyes and Mostly Martha and I am hooked. The song Via Via is so compelling that I often listen to it 3 or 4 times in a row. Another plus: the words of the songs are included in the album, so I can follow and learn Italian in the process.