Legacy, a band anomalous in the vast pop music scene, came out a few days ago with a new album: "3 Chord Trick" (we talked about it in a previous article and interview). It is hard to define a nationality for the band because it’s mainly consists of Phil Palmer and Alan Clark, from England, and completed by Marco Caviglia and Primiano Di Biase, from Rome. The recording process took place between Los Angeles and Rome, and other world-class musicians such as Steve Ferrone, Trevor Horn, Pino Palladino and Mel Collins, as well as the historic Dire Straits’ percussionist Danny Cummings, played on the record. We are looking at an astonishing record, something that should be studied by everyone (and there are too many...) who is trying to work as a musician, producer, arranger, critic, talent scout, coach or any other role in the Italian jungle of pop music. It would certainly be interesting to subject everyone who works in Italian pop music to this small examination: Write down the song structures and explain the compositions and the arrangements, from the melodic, harmonic and structural point of view; say which instruments were used; say something about mixing and so on… Put in a more explicit way, this record highlights, in a basic and unapologising way, that the main problem of the current Italian musical production, quality-wise, is the lack of value which is created by the frenzy of commercial success, by the lack of ideas, and by the musical ignorance of the industry insiders and the audience. We’re not talking about economic success or downloads; we’re talking about quality. Nobody ever said the quality of a music production is related to the commercial response; as a matter of fact, a great success often equates to absolute crap, which then, unfortunately, often generates more crap. Until the beginning of the 80s, the difference between great music and junk was heavily marked. Perhaps there was too much fundamentalism: the prog lovers would have never joined the fans of the Italian songwriters, and even within the respective factions there were fights between Pink Floyd’s fans and King Crimson’s fans, or between Renato Zero’s fans and Antonello Venditti’s fans. The same happened also in the cinema: shallow comedies were appreciated a lot by boys but nobody thought about comparing them with high quality movies.

Furthermore, the first private radio stations knew they risked a lot if they interrupted a Deep Purple or Baglioni play-out for time issues or for the fear of saying something stupid. On television, the problem did not arise in this way, and that’s because public TV did not decrease the dignity of the tv shows. As Battisti noted: he was in front of the public, not behind. Someone in the early '80s realised that the crocodiles in defence of quality were an obstacle to pure profit, and that it was necessary to neutralise them, and so they did in order to have a free rein on the uneconomical waters that separated "Il ballo del qua qua" from Giorgio Gaber. Regarding Battisti: by the end of the ‘70s, he’d moved his music production to England, with results like "Una donna per amico" and "Una giornata uggiosa”: masterpieces. In one of these LPs there is an electric guitar solo, in the song "Con il nastro rosa", that for many years (like Gilmour's in Another Brick in the wall) has been a problem for all the radio DJ’s compelled to play it, afraid that the ordinary listener would change the station, moved by the repulsion for well played music. The guitarist of that solo is Phil Palmer, a cultured, versatile musician whose language falls between rock, pop and jazz. His enormous musical knowledge, refined sound and creative taste while playing, make him a great arranger and artistic producer. During his career he has played with some of the greatest international artists, from Bob Dylan to Elton John, from Tina Turner to Bryan Adams, from Pet Shop Boys to Tears For Fears, from Frank Zappa to Eric Clapton, and above all he was George Michael’s guitarist; the trusted musician George relied on when he was in the studio in long and exhausting sessions. We could spend a whole article on Phil Palmer, as well as on Trevor Horn and Steve Ferrone, but the work of Legacy gives us the chance to finally talk about music. The "3 Chord Trick" record is made of 11 songs, quite different one from each other, all full-bodied in composition, and every time you listen to it you’ll notice and appreciate something new, especially the care and skill this work is full of. The beginning of the first song, "Epiphany" (Clark-Palmer), is a very Palmerian opening with a beautiful acoustic lick followed by electric and acoustic guitar arpeggios that melt in an effective and refined harmonic and timbral mix. The refrain has tasteful harmonies enhanced by a bass pedal, and the song grows up even more, keeping the electric guitars in strong evidence. Time doubles and halves, there is a superb input of keyboards, everything continues growing, becoming vaguely progressive, until it arrives at the orchestral ending that somehow recalls "Atom Heart Mother". There is life on Mars. "Here and now" (Clark-Palmer) starts with a gospel vibe that develops into a classic Dire Straits’ 4/4, then everything gets lighter in the chorus then black and white join together in the refrain and the rest of the track. The rhythms are very effective, bass and drums here providing a free lesson, as well as on the rest of the album, for those wanting to take advantage of it. "Jesus Street" is the single and, because of this, it has no elements which might hurt the listener’s ignorance in these strange times; it is the only track that the record could easily live without. With the fourth song, we happily go back listening to something interesting; "3 Chord trick" (Palmer) starts with a country atmosphere, the drums are played with brushes, a beautiful vintage electric piano appears and, above all, the composition opens up with a top-class play-out. The CD has set a very high level. This is certainly a work of craftsmanship, a world-class one, but it also has strong contents, good and simple compositional ideas well developed with good arrangements, and it’s been played properly. We must say something about that: while the legendary Missiroli stated that in order to write a good editorial, one idea is enough. Or even none. In music it is the exact opposite. If there are no good, clear and well expressed ideas, the product doesn’t make any sense.

In most of the current Italian pop music there are no musical ideas: there are only tricks, which is a whole different story, "all packed in art in favour of the absolute dominion of the vulgate, the average and attested judgment, as if the taste was moulded by inertia on the most obvious modules ", as was sadly but masterfully identified by Berselli, explaining his brilliant "paradigm of Domenica In (Italian TV show)". We get to the fifth song, "Looking for America" (Clark). Let's use it as an example: the intro has a vaguely oriental atmosphere, and the verse is painted with a beautiful interaction between piano and guitar, well written and well played. The melody is nothing memorable but it is a good rock-blues style song, the start of the rhythmic section enriches the simple but effective chorus. The whole thing is increased by the sense of space created by the electric guitars (something very rare in Italian productions). The timing of drums and bass are simply right, background vocals are huge, there’s a great solo on the ending, and ideas are good and well exposed. "Magdalene" (Clark) definitively leaves speechless everybody who has a minimum of intellectual honesty, as well as the basis of musical knowledge. Polyphonic intro, classical piano with a warm strings background, a beautiful song which develops nicely. Just piano and strings, occasionally voices. Like at the end of a great drama, something remains and tastes good. "Bounty Hunter" arrives (Caviglia-Palmer-Clark) very light but pleasant. The verse is driven by the vintage sound of an electric piano, the instrumental theme is very nice, the singing parts are airy and positive, and the acoustic guitars are in great shape. You can make a pop song with dignity. "Tell Me Why" (Caviglia-Palmer-Clark) is reminiscent of an Eagles or Chicago ballad. It celebrates Mel Collins’ sax, which is clearly stating that the right notes and, more importantly, the right way of playing them make all the difference. With his beautiful sax solo, it’s apparent that the reason why sax almost disappeared in pop productions is because people can’t play like this. Another vintage electric piano riff introduces "Twisting the knife" (Palmer), a beautiful song in a country-rock flavour like Crosby Stills Nash & Young, supported by the elegance of Steve Ferrone’s brushes, a great bass and beautiful guitars. "God's Land" (Clark) intro takes us back to fascinating atmospheres: it is a ballad that passes unexpectedly from a very Knopflerian style to an opening reminiscent of Pink Floyd once again. This atmosphere continues in the closing song: "Two days off" (Clark) which, with its very interesting harmonies, grows big and gives the impression of paying tribute to the rock of a more distant area such as the "Dream Theatre", while daring to use musical intervals usually associated with the world of metal music. The CD is over and you want to listen to it again, something that hasn’t happened for a long time, like when we quickly used to reset the pin on vinyls reverted back to the “A” side. Who knows, vinyls are back with hi-fi systems, people talk about the resurrection of tape cassettes... This record testifies that good music and good musicians still exist, and we hope that maybe the trend is changing and we’re going back to music written, played and performed by real musicians, and saying farewell to all the "computer messes" that have been bad company in recent decades.