From Vasco to the Rolling Stones: the week of the rock gods

The list of record releases of the week is under the banner of the new albums by Vasco Rossi and the Rolling Stones, authentic gods of rock. The rocker from Zocca releases this Friday “Vasco Live 2025 – The essentials”, an album halfway between a collection and a live album, which revives the emotions of this summer’s stadium tour. Mick Jagger and co respond with a special reissue of one of their most iconic albums, “Black and blue”. But among the upcoming albums there are also those (live) by Elisa and Lucio Corsi. And not only that. Here are our reports.

Vasco Rossi – “Vasco Live 2025 – The essentials”

Not just a live album, not just a collection: “Vasco Live 2025 – The essentials” is both one and the other. The album contains 21 songs recorded during the shows of the last tour of the voice of “Albachiara”, last summer. But they are the ones that Vasco and his entourage define as “essential”, that is, those “indispensable to enhance the concept of this year’s concert: celebrating life”. It is no coincidence that “Vita spericolata” opens the 99 minutes (approximately) of music: “If we want to celebrate life, what better opening song than Vita Spericolata? All the songs that come later in the setlist had to be connected. All my songs are polaroids of life, of certain sensations we feel. At a certain point I understood that we are a life, a reckless life”, comments Vasco.

Rolling Stones – “Black and blue”

“Black and blue”, released in 1976, is a central album in the Rolling Stones’ discography, for more than one reason. It was the first album recorded after Mick Taylor’s release. During the sessions, several guitarists were tried (Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins), but in the end Ronnie Wood was chosen, who became a permanent member of the band. The album is therefore a document of the period of transition and search for the new “Stones sound”. Released after the great success of “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll” (1974), the album represented the beginning of a crucial period, which would lead to the triumph of “Some Girls” (1978). At the time, only the first single from the album, “Fool to cry”, was a great success, while critics were divided. Even those few critics who promoted the album did so with lukewarm reviews. The Rolling Stones are now celebrating their fiftieth anniversary with a special reissue which will contain unreleased songs in addition to the songs originally included on the album. The reissue of “Black and blue” arrives in stores in the form of a mega-box set, a “Super Deluxe Box Set” which Jagger and associates define as “full of unreleased recordings”. The box will also contain a Blu-ray with footage of rare performances, a one-hundred-page book with exclusive photographs and a replica of the 1976 tour poster.

Elisa – “San Siro Live 2025”

The concert that last June marked Elisa’s debut at San Siro after over twenty-five years of career could not fail to become a live album. “San Siro Live 2025” returns all the strength of the artist’s debut in the Scala del Calcio, in a show-event that retraced more than twenty-five years of career through hits that have become part of the Italian pop heritage and special collaborations. A true celebration of Elisa’s live dimension, between introspection, energy and a continuous dialogue with the public. The album is the photograph of an artistic journey that has crossed generations, overcome genres, contaminated pop, electronic, songwriting and soul. In the setlist hits such as “Luce (Tramonti a Nord Est)”, “Eppure Sentire”, ” Anche Fragile”, “O Forse è Tu”.

Nitro – “Nightmares”

After two years, Nitro returns with “Incubi”, a record that promises to push even deeper into his dark and dystopian poetics. The title leaves no escape: it is a journey into fears, loneliness and the gray areas of the mind. We expect tense, industrial productions, with cinematic openings and direct, emotional and angry writing. Nitro seems to be looking for a catharsis, not just a dramatic coup. It is a return that measures the maturity of one of the most interesting rappers on the Italian scene, capable of making discomfort a complete language.

Lucio Corsi – “The guitar in the rock” (live)

Lucio Corsi brings his lysergic and theatrical imagination to the stage with a live performance that becomes a manifesto: “The Guitar in the Rock” is a rock fairy tale, surreal and liberating. Recorded in the summer at the Abbey of San Galgano, in Chiusdino (Siena), together with an ensemble of 16 musicians, the album returns the most authentic dimension of the artist: a psychedelic cabaret between glam, songwriting and Tuscan visions. His cultured irony and attention to staging build a small collective ritual, in which music is both play and confession. Corsi continues to demonstrate that strangeness can be a form of elegance.

Papa V & Night Skinny – “Milk Powder”

The meeting between Papa V and Night Skinny ignites a new level of tension in Italian rap. “Latte in powder” is an EP that will certainly smell of the street, but filtered through a surgical, minimal, almost hypnotic production. Skinny builds soundscapes that seem to breathe concrete and melancholy, while Papa V writes with urgency, alternating vulnerability and harshness. No calculated pose. It is a work that aims to reflect a generation tired of myths and fake storytelling, in search of a more naked, truer, crueler, but also ironic language.