AMG Review of Rino Gaetano: Live & Rarities

Mariano Prunes
All Music Guide

Rino Gaetano's cult status seems only to grow bigger with every passing year in Italy, with a TV miniseries based on his life, and a number of collections and posthumous releases appearing in the last five years. The latest entry is Rino Gaetano: Live & Rarities, a title that says it all: a double-CD set, the first disc consisting of ten unreleased demos or hard to find sides, and the second of live material coming mostly from a 1977 concert at San Cassiano. Gaetano's fans will find plenty to enjoy here, including duets with Anna Oxa and Riccardo Cocciante, covers of Fred Buscaglione and John Lennon, rare Spanish and English versions of "Ahi Maria" and "Gina," and, of course, the fistful of previously unreleased demos and outtakes that constitute this set's main attraction. While none can be considered essential, at least they offer a much welcome variety to the scores of Rino Gaetano compilations available, that always include the same greatest hits -- many of those are inevitably presented in a live version in the second disc of Live & Rarities.