release date: Sep. 14, 2001
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Corrado Rustici
label: Polydor - nationality: Italy
Track highlights: 1. "Sento le campane" - 4. "Ali d'oro (with John Lee Hooker)" - 5. "Ahum" - 6. "Scintille" - 7. "Baila Sexy Thing" - 8. "Dindondio" - 10. "Shake"
9th studio album by Zucchero is released by 'Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari' and it follows three years after his most recent studio album BlueSugar. In '99 Polydor released the compilation Overdose (d'amore / The Ballads with a mix of Italian and English-versioned ballads. Shake doesn't signal big changes to the formula. The album is released on the same label he has been with since his debut, and it's his sixth consecutive (seventh so far) to be produced by Rustici. The international version comes with six translated songs out of a total of eleven compositions and it also has a different running order (also a Spanish / Mexican and a US bonus track version was released).
The album seems like a pumped up pop / rock release, which points in too many directions. Predominantly, it has fast blues rock tracks and slow ballads, and then it contains pop soul and a relatively new addition to his repertoire: dance pop or: italo pop compositions. Ultimately, it turns out as a show-off thing to satisfy a broader international audience. The track "Ali d'oro" with John Lee Hooker was Hooker's last studio recording before his death (Jun. 2001).
The album is not really bad. Zucchero is too fine an artist to make nonsense and he is a remarkable songwriter with a nose for song structure. The downside to it is that it mostly sounds like Zucchero on cruise control. He wants to make a new album - he starts the engine and swings the bus on to the motorway where he swims like a fish in familiar waters. It may not impose too many speculations - he knows this ballgame, and it you get what you get: a new bunch of swinging Zucchero, which is not the same as brand new material. He lends, borrows and steals from his own back catalogue. The manager doesn't mind, the fans don't mind, so why care? The album is Zucchero's sixths consecutive number #1 album in Italy, it's his second to top the charts in Switzerland, and it's his album that has spawned the largest number of single releases with six selected songs (tracks #7, #5, #8, #1, #9 and #6) (something he would copy with albums released in 2016 and in 2019). The first single (track #7) is his so far only second single to top the charts in Italy, and it was made in various other versions: one "Baila Morena" featuring the Mexican band Maná topped the charts in France in 2006.
So, in terms of sold copies and exposure, Shake is definitely another grand success of his, so why change anything? Well, fans who look for artistic and musical nuances may not be overwhelmed. I guess, Zucchero cares but also thinks he will do what he feels is the right thing to do. I'm not overly enthusiastic about his recent albums and direction but I must admit that he continues to spit out delicious compositions. However my luke-warm enthusiasm for his recent works, Shake is admittedly another fine album, and I truly prefer any album by this man to the most recent musical direction by artists like Bowie, Depeche Mode or U2 - any day, but that remains a complete other story.
I cannot hand this my warmest recomendation - and for a first purchase with his music I will instead gladly direct anyone to his earlier works, which still dominate his 'best of' releases anyway.
Note: The front cover is identical for the various versions. It comes with two dedications: 'Dedicated to Mr. John Lee Hooker' and with: 'In Memory of Angiolino Figliè'.
