Mixed by Errythe movie of Sydney Sybyliain cinemas from 2 March, dedicated to the first great record pirate in Italian history, opens with an enchanted child in front of a radio, while the notes of I Want You Back by the Jackson Five, sung by a very young Michael Jackson. It’s a beautiful image, the beginning of a Bildungsroman new romantic. Yes, new romantic like the musical genre in vogue in the eighties which is at the center of one of the gags that becomes one of the leitmotifs of the film. But also because, after all, Erry is a sort of romantic hero, one of the many dreamy and unaligned pirates of Sydney Sibilia’s cinema.
Mixed by Errya perfect film in every respect, also owes its success to amazing soundtrack. Allo score original, once again impeccable, by Michele Braga, a series of songs that hit the mark are added. The songs they fit into the film powerfully and work in many ways. They take us to the time in which the story takes place. In some cases they act as a “chorus”, a commentary on what is happening on the screen. And in other cases certain songs new wave, electronic, with their ecstatic and superb music, serve as a symbol of eighties hedonism. And with their electronic drums they seem to further push Erry and his crew towards a fiery ascent.
1. I Want You Back (Jackson Five)
I Want You Back of the Jackson Five it is the first song we hear in the film, the one that introduces the opening credits. We saw Enrico, still a child and not yet Erry, listening to that song on a radio in the appliance and record store where he always goes, just to listen to music. Enrico knows every song that plays on the radio, and when he listens to music, his eyes become inspired and dreamy. This is where his story begins. I Want You Back is one of the greatest hits of the Jackson Five, the first group of Michael Jackson, the first single released with the glorious Motown Records, one of the greatest hits that paved the way for others, such as ABC e I’ll Be There. Note the soul matrix of the piece and the unmistakable voice of a very young Michael Jackson.
Mixed by Erry, the review: copy it again, dj Erry
2. Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Relax of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood is the song that serves to evoke a world instantly. Just feel the attack and we are catapulted into the world of eighties discos. In the scene in question we find ourselves, together with Enrico, in a sort of audition to choose the deejays who will play on the following evenings. The owner of the disco is played by an amused Raiz, former singer of Almamegretta who we have also seen in the series The lying life of adults. He is quite skeptical of the boy. He tells him that Frattasio is not a name for a deejay, and he is not even convinced by the name, improvised on the spot, of Deejay Enrico. “The profession of deejay needs a good presence, international appeal“. Relax, from 1983, is the first single by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, produced by Trevor Horn’s ZTT, historical producer of the eighties. Who, to launch the song, focused heavily on the impact of the open homosexuality of singer Holly Johnson and singer-dancer Paul Rutherford. Horn created a much more electronic and powerful version of what the original song was, working with Art of Noise’s JJ Jeczalik. The BBC, at one point, refused to broadcast the passage, because it was too explicit. And so he did for the video, also followed by MTV.
3. E mò e mò (Peppino Di Capri)
Erry becomes a kind of modern Cyrano de Bergerac. Where the literary character created poems on commission, to make people fall in love, so Enrico creates artful cassettes that serve as declarations of love. And so, when his brother asks him for a tape to declare himself to his girlfriend, he asks him for it Peppino DiCapri. Then, with a narrative ellipsis and a remarkable creative choice, And now and then it also becomes the background of a beating, and in this sense it is used in contrast. And now and then it was presented by Peppino Di Capri at the Sanremo Festival in 1985. It was written and set to music by Franco Fasano, who had sent Peppino Di Capri the audition in which he imitated his voice. The song is a traditional tune but has a typically 80s electronic arrangement.
Sydney Sibilia, director of “I can stop when I want 2”: “I would like to make a science fiction film”
4. It’s Tricky (Run DMC)
It’s Tricky of the Run DMC it’s the song of the explosion. As soon as an explosion has taken place, in the truest sense of the word (it is that of the hideout of the Moroccan mafia, which has become a dangerous rival), another one arrives. It is the explosion of business which, having overcome even that obstacle, begins to go booming. The syncopated rhythm of hip-hop is driving, and is perfect to accompany this ride to success. It’s Trickyfrom 1987, is the fourth single from Run DMC’s third album, Raising Hell. Produced by Rick Rubin, who pushed Run DMC to merge rock and hip-hop, it contains a sample of The Knack’s My Sharona.
5. Kids In America (Kim Wilde)
Mixed by Erry has become much more than a stage name, it’s a record company, a company. That term was not used then. But today we would say that it was a brand. So that boy who just wanted to be a deejay really goes to the disco to play records, and as a guest of honor, acclaimed. Just as he plays Kids In America Of Kim Wilde he meets that beautiful blue-eyed girl, who asked him for that music tape new romantic. Kids In America is the first single and first hit by English pop star Kim Wilde, and has a sound close to the synth-pop of OMD and Gary Numan. Somehow we are close to that sound new romantic which Erry tells his beloved about.
6. What women don’t say (Fiorella Mannoia)
And so that girl Erry still doesn’t make the tape new romantic, but he takes it to his “laboratory”, where he duplicates the cassettes with hundreds of recorders. And she makes her listen to a song, which has just been broadcast in Sanremo, but hasn’t yet been released on record. Mixed by Erry she already has it, ten days before the official compilation comes out. AND What women do not say Of Fiorella Mannoia. Erry puts headphones on the girl’s ears… like in Apple Time, but instead of a Walkman they’re plugged into a stereo that’s duplicating cassettes. Enrico Ruggeri wrote with Luigi Schiavone What women don’t say for Fiorella Mannoia for the 1987 Sanremo Festival (but Lena Biolcati or Fiordaliso could have sung it) where she won the critics’ prize.
7. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Eurythmics)
It marks the entry into the luxury apartment of the young Camorra boss who, given the success of Mixed by Erry, invites him and his brothers to a party, eager to get in touch with them. There is also a photographer who takes Polaroids, which will have a sequel in the story. As is happening to Erry, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) represents for the Eurythmics just the definitive explosion: in 1983 it was the fourth single from the album of the same name in England (it reached number 2) and the first by the band of Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox in the United States (where it reached number 1). Symbolic song of the Eurythmics and of the new wave, it made a great success thanks to the video and the androgynous look of Annie Lennox, who appeared with short orange-colored hair and a man’s suit. Classic example of synth-pop, the song, which talks about the end of the previous band, The Tourists, was born while Lennox and Stewart were playing two different synthesizers. What came out was a duel between two synths.
8. Fade To Grey (Visage)
It is the sequence of the arrival of Mixed By Erry, of Enrico and his brothers in Milan, invited by the great manager Arturo Maria Barambani (played by a textbook Fabrizio Gifuni), who offers them an agreement for the exclusive sale of blank cassettes. The music of the Visage tells the story of entering the world of luxury, in a fish restaurant in Milan, between raw fish and fine wines. Fade To Grey, from 1980, was the second excerpt from Visage’s first album, is another shining example of new wave, new romantic and synth-pop, which are a leitmotif of the film. The lyrics were written by Midge Ure but it was Steve Strange, the leader of Visage, who had the idea when, in West Berlin, he looked through the “Wall” to East Berlin and everything seemed grey. He also saw an old man go by and such Fade To Grey“fade to gray“, became a tale of old age.
9. What will remain of the eighties (Raf)
The song of Raf it’s played by a cover band, an orchestra that is playing at Erry’s baby christening. It is clear immediately that it is not the original version, and when the scene widens, showing us that the music is diegetic, we understand why. But the song seems to be a sort of “chorus” to Erry’s events, making us understand that we have reached a point where, shortly, Enrico will have to take stock and understand what will remain of this experience. Raf wrote What will remain of the eighties with Giancarlo Bigazzi and Giuseppe Dati, and presented it at the Sanremo Festival in 1989: it finished fifteenth, but then reached sixth place in the standings. The song is just a balance sheet of the eighties. “Years like days have flown by“: certain moments, lived intensely, made time pass without realizing the importance of what happened. Between the personal and the political (Ronald Reagan and Michail Gorbačëv) is an intimist and generational hymn.
