Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari - Oro Incenso & Birra (2004 Remaster) [SACD]

Oro Incenso e Birra is the fourth studio album released by the Italian singer-songwriter Zucchero on 13 June 1989.
As with his previous album Blue’s, the album is credited to “Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari”. Its title represents a pun on “oro incenso e mirra”, the Italian for “gold, frankincense and myrrh”, with mirra being replaced by birra, meaning beer. It has sold an estimated 1.7 million copies in Italy and 8 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album internationally by an Italian until it was overtaken by Andrea Bocelli’s album Romanza in 1997.
This was the last Zucchero album to be sung entirely in Italian: subsequent albums have been released in international versions with English lyrics on some tracks. The guitar solo in “A Wonderful World” was written and performed by Eric Clapton, a close friend of Zucchero’s. The Italian singer-songwriter Francesco de Gregori wrote the lyrics for the song “Diamante”, one of Zucchero’s biggest hits to date. On the album credits “Diamante” is dedicated to Diamante Arduini Fornaciari, Zucchero’s grandmother (nonna). The song was included in the Baywatch episode “Tequila Bay” in Season 3. The album also features guest performances by Clarence Clemons, Rufus Thomas, James Taylor and Jimmy Smith.