Zucchero’s covers: I imagined Bob Dylan in a western

Two years after “Discover” Zucchero returns to reread songs by other Italian and international artists, among those he loved most in his life, for the second chapter of his cover project. Tomorrow, November 8th, “Discover II”, composed of thirteen tracks, plus five more bonuses exclusively for the deluxe box version, which features the musician from Reggio Emilia re-adapting songs by bands from more recent generations into Italian than to compare or collaborate with historical names of music.

“This new album is ‘Discover II’. And it wasn’t expected“, Zucchero tells the audience of journalists at the Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber for the presentation of the album. With his unique hat with feather, which he also wears on the cover of the album in the company of his dog Bardolino, and a yellow jacket, the artist adds : “When I did ‘Discover I’, the plan was just that album. Then, in the time I had left to spend at homebeing always on tour and around, I thought I’d take out other songs from the 500 initially selected for the first album, songs that were stuck in my head and that I would have liked to coverrearrange, of which I would have liked to change sounds and even dynamics. The selected songs are all songs that I have always loved and that I would have liked to writeand they are pieces that I have been attached to since I started playing and that remember beautiful moments.”

Anticipated by the single currently on the radio “Love that moves the sun“, cover of the song “My own soul’s warning” of the Killers with an adaptation of the Italian text written by Zucchero himself, the new album by the local bluesman passes from the Italian rereading of “Chinatown” of Bleachers by Jack Antonoff, here entitled “Someone like you“, to the personal version of “Just breathe” by Pearl Jam. “Discover II” also sees the artist confront “Sailing” by Christopher Cross and “Watercolour” by the Brazilian musician Toquinho, as well as with “With or without you” by U2 and his dear friend Bono, whom Zucchero has reread live several times and with whom he duets, and “

Set fire to the rain” by Adele. Among the covers, traveling from “Inner city blues” by Marvin Gaye and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s door” by Bob Dylan, there are also those of Italian songs, such as “Agnes” by Ivan Graziani, together with his version of “Rhapsody” originally written for Andrea Bocelli. The album then includes collaborations with Paul Young in “I see a darkness” and with Oma Jali, vocalist and backing vocalist who has accompanied Zucchero on tour all over the world for years, in “Se non mi hai”. Furthermore, the deluxe box version includes collaborations with Jack Savoretti, Irene Fornaciari, Russel Crowe and Salmoas well as the song “Io vivo (in Te)”. “Discover II” will be released in CD and double LP format. Exclusively on the Universal Music Italia store, signed editions, colored vinyls and a numbered deluxe box (CD + Triple CD) with 5 bonus tracks will also be available.

During the press presentation of “Discover II”, the musician from Reggio Emilia explained how the songs for the new album were chosen, how he worked on them and how he decided to reinterpret or revisit them. “This time I chose mostly from lesser-known songs“, narrates Zucchero: And I like to give a new dress or freshen up some songs. I’m talking, for example, about ‘Watercolour‘ by Toquinho, which has a beautiful melody and extraordinary lyrics, which almost seems like a nursery rhyme for children but in the end it turns out that there is life inside those words.” He continues: “I also wanted to include a cover of ‘Agnese’ by Ivan Graziani, who in my opinion was one of the first rockers in Italy, for his sound and quartet formation”.

The second chapter of “Discover” also draws from more recent times and includes reviews of Killer and Bleachers: “Among the other, more current songs that I immediately liked there is ‘My own soul’s warning’ by the Killers. When I went when translating the text literally into Italian, however, I realized that the translation did not reflect what the music said. I really liked his energy. For me, music already has its own lyricswe therefore need to identify the right one. In my opinion the literal Italian translation did not go well with the music, so I rewrote it and I made a new text.

It was different for the other song I translated, which became ‘Una come te’ da ‘.Chinatown‘ by Bleachers: it’s a ballad as I understand it, very close to my style. And that already contained a discussion that interests me a lot, that is, the theme of the herd, what happens to kids on Saturday evenings and who kill themselves for a pair of shoes until life no longer seems to have any value. And, in this love story, there is this boy who wants to take a girl out of the song, take her away from the sadness of a Saturday night, to find a future together. If I hadn’t found this song, it would have been a topic that I would definitely have covered in an unreleased song of mine“.

Zucchero, then reveals: “As far as I’m concerned, when you make a covers album, you have to rework and distort the originals a little to find your own. Because it’s not enough to do a cover where the only difference is the voice. At least I work so that a song becomes mine. As if I had written unpublished works, even if the raw material is already there. So there is work and research. And then I also feel a little more free with a cover project compared to making my own album. Making an album for me is a more intestinal job, sometimes you get angry and tormented. This is more of a pleasure, but also a challenge“.

“Discover II” does not fail to include covers of classics and iconic songs, and in this regard the musician underlines: “I have always said to myself: ‘Don’t touch certain songs, certain iconic songs. Fly low’. But this time I dared and chose a challengetherefore choosing to include ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s door‘ by Bob Dylan and ‘With or without you’ by U2. I was undecided whether to wear them or not, really. Then I pictured ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s door’ like a western movie with the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. And this inspired me to reread that classic, twist it, start with a very dark guitar pedal, inserting bells from western films. When I finished my version, I realized that it was actually different from other covers. Just like ‘With or without you’ that has become more ‘rolled’ and less loud, sonically, but softer than the original. ‘With or without you’ is a great love song, there is no war or revenge. Bono hasn’t heard it yet, I hope he doesn’t listen to me, but I think he’ll like it“.

In addition to being a reinterpretation of only Zucchero on the main album of “Discover II”, “

Just breathe” from Pearl Jam’s 2009 “Backspacer” is also presented among the bonus tracks in a version with Russell Crowe, the well-known actor who lends himself to music. In telling how the collaborative cover was born, the local bluesman recalls the first meetings with the star of “Gladiator”: “I’m a fan of Russell Crowbefore him as an actor and now also as a singer“, explains Adelmo Fornaciari, “I played at the Sydney Opera House and Jimmy Burns was there, who I know thanks to one of my backup singers. Having a drink with him I met Russel Crowe for the first time, who I then saw again with Bocelli in Lajatico. On that occasion we were dressing room neighbors. He says to me: ‘We should do something together’, ‘We should do something together’ – at the moment he wants to sing, that’s how it gets to him. He then invited me to one of his concerts here in Italy and I was impressed, especially by two Johnny Cash songs. He has a nice big voice. After the concert we went backstage to drink: he travels with Guinness! While talking we ended up doing this cover of Eddie Vedder’s ‘Just Breath’. Then given the distance between us, I sent him the base and he sent it back to me and we mixed it. It’s not in the original version because I had already recorded it for myself. But he wanted to do it anyway. So I told him, we won’t be able to fit it on the main album: let’s include it on the special edition.”

During the press conference, Zucchero also shared thoughts on current events and to the question about his thoughts on artificial intelligence he joked: “The rhetoric says that it will be helpful, for many sectors, especially for medicine. And to be careful about how to use it. I don’t give a damn, just as I don’t care about social media. There’s Springsteen who says ‘We were born to run’. I say ‘I was born to sing'”.

After the “Overdose d’amore world tour”, with stops in cities on three different continents, including dates in Italian stadiums, in 2025 Zucchero will return live to his country for a new “Overdose d’amore” stadium tour. The concert series includes dates at the Conero Stadium in Ancona (19 June), at the San Nicola Stadium in Bari (21 June), at the Stadio Olimpico Grande in Turin (26 June) and at the Stadio Euganeo in Padua (28 June), plus an appointment in Rome yet to be announced.

Present at the press conference, Ferdinando Salzano of Friends and Partners, promoter of the tour, however made it known that work is being done on a project which, again in the month of June, will see Zucchero take the stage at the Circus Maximus in Rome.

Regarding his new live commitments, the Emilian musician underlines: “After the dates in the Italian stadiums there will be ten dates in the European festivals and then I close, because Around January I want to start thinking about the new studio album and I need to stay at home as much as possible.”

Here is the tracklist and cover of “Discover II”:

01. Love That Moves The Sun
02. Someone Like You
03. Just Breathe
04. Sailing
05. Watercolor
06. With Or Without You
07. Set Fire To The Rain
08. Agnes
09. Inner City Blues
10. Rhapsody
11. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
12. If You Don’t Want Me (feat. Oma Jali)
13. I See A Darkness (Sugar, Paul Young)

These are the 5 bonus tracks exclusively for the deluxe box version:

14. Without A Woman (Jack Savoretti, Zucchero)
15. Moonlight Shadow (feat. Irene Fornaciari)
16. Just Breathe (Sugar, Russell Crowe)
17. Overdose of Love 2024 (Psalm, Sugar)
18. I Live (In You)