Vannelli Returning To The Stage At A Critical Career Point -
Evelyn Erskine, The Ottawa Citizen - November 16, 1990

Twelve years ago, Gino Vannelli moved to Los Angeles,the home of the music business. Montreal's man with the big voice became visible to the industry, but disappeared from his fans. The move worked. His albums, laden with the synthesized dance hits of the day such as Black Cars and People Gotta Move, were usually successful despite his hiatus from performing. But now, Vannelli has reached a critical point in his life, which is starkly chronicled in his current release Inconsolable Man. He is turning the tables around. The singer-songwriter is now looking, for a ranch in rural Oregon where he plans to raise his four-year-old son. And after much soul-searching, he has jumped back into the spotlight for his first tour since 1978, including a date at the Congress Centre Monday.

Vannelli is uncertain how the process began, saying it was never part of any grand plan. "I got burned out in the early days," he said. "I went through personal changes where I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go out on the road anymore. Then I got the itch. I came to the point where I knew I wouldn't be happy if I didn't get back out there." It has taken Vannelli more than six months to prepare for his return to the road, both psychologically and physically, "I realized that if I were to go back out I would have to be strong. I started hiking on long trails, doing martial arts two or three times a week. I got to the point where I was running four miles a day. "But all of that is blown out the window when you hit the stage. That hour and a half is so intense. It has a life and timing of its own."

Vannelli has never been known as a soul-baring singer-songwriter. There was always an elusive buffer between the man and the music. Inconsolable Man is different: it is a personal album and those personal feelings are made public. "Sometimes you feel your chest is out there with a bull's-eye sign and people are just throwing darts at it".But Vannelli never allowed himself to think about public perception when he wrote the songs. "Heavens no. If I did that I would never write." For Vannelli, Inconsolable Man was an essential journey. It put him in touch with diverse religions and philosophies including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism and mystical Christianity.

"When you are inconsolable, you look for answers. Some would go back to the roots. For me, I started reading the esoteric arts. I wanted to know why I felt what I felt," he said. "And I began to understand wonderful philosophies and ways of life that people all over this planet are practising and believing. For me, it was the only way out of an otherwise vicious cycle that keeps spiralling and spiralling until you die."

Much of this turnaround can be attributed to the birth of Vannelli,'s first child four years ago. He started to take a harder look at the world he had brought his son into. Sometimes feelings of futility take over as in Rhythm Of Romance. "There is this realization that I can do nothing about it. I can only talk about it, laugh at it, poke at it, then turn away from it for awhile." Several songs are graphic portrayals of the street life in Los Angeles. Vannelli looked at his own young son and decided he would move to to rural Oregon where his wife hails from.

Yet Vannelli understands that he has a choice while most other parents in L.A. probably do not, so he selects his words carefully. "I don't want to sit here and say by moving my son out, that I am condemning millions of children living there. This is personal preference. I would prefer that he be brought up in a rural atmosphere and go to the city when he wants to go to the city." There is no reason to believe that Vannelli's next album will be much like Inconsolable Man. Then, he will likely be in a new, more relaxed setting and will have relived the excitement of the road.

Inconsolable Man reflects an important point in Vannelli's life which he feels everyone experiences at some stage. He is not concerned that his audience may not accept his introspective side. "If I viewed my audience as just people who bought Black Cars, I may not have recorded an album like this. But I don't. I view them as having the same thoughts and having the same questions. I am totally at ease in knowing they have a sympathetic vibration to it. I don't think they see the darkness as much as the longing to get out of it."