Antonello Venditti
70.80 Ritorno al futuro

There is only one way to hold your head high when inspiration has been gone for years: to revisit your past. That's what Antonello Venditti has finally done, let's be honest, taking advantage of a year off before his new album of original songs by choosing to spend this time in the best way possible: by offering his old songs from the '70s, songs he hadn't performed in concerts for 20 years, reminding himself and the audience of who he was. Eighteen concerts, all sold out between January and April of this year for "70.80 Ritorno al futuro", a title obviously inspired by the famous Zemeckis film with Michael J. Fox, which could bode well for a return to those sounds in his upcoming albums of original songs. Twenty-four tracks are packed into two CDs to offer the listener a purified Antonello, who even took off his glasses during the concerts (it really doesn't seem like him without the iconic Ray-Bans he's worn since 1972), and he returned permanently to his beloved piano. But that's not all; he also returned, after more than 35 years, to collaborate with the band Stradaperta, which accompanied him in the '70s! A full circle return, in short. In the album, which faithfully reflects the concert setlist, five songs saw the group's participation: "Giulia", "Sotto il segno dei pesci", "Bomba o non bomba", "Sara", and "Modena". The order of the songs is almost chronological, spanning the period from 1972 to 1988, from "Theorius Campus", represented by "Sora Rosa" which opens the live album, to "In questo mondo di ladri", represented by the eponymous track that closes it. Some tracks are lengthened in their new version, while others are shorter. It is notable that the albums "L'orso bruno" and "Ullalla" are not represented, the latter being among the lesser successes in Antonello's career, while the single "Grazie Roma" appears, with which Antonello celebrated the Giallorossi championship in 1983 with a special live "Circo Massimo". If there are some absences, there are, of course, presences, and what presences! "Compagno di scuola", "Lo stambecco ferito" finally played in full, "Penna a sfera", three songs all worthy of 5 stars, among the best B-sides (in the recording sense, considering the connotation used in recent years, it's better to specify!) in all of Italian singer-songwriting. But also the return of "Marta" and "Campo de' Fiori", from the album "Quando verrà Natale" which turned 40 this year, and the great return in concert of "Modena", chosen alone to represent "Buona Domenica" instead of the title track, marking the slow but inevitable draw of Venditti towards the sounds and sentimental themes of the subsequent decade, which closes, as does the live album, with "Ricordati di me" and "In questo mondo di ladri", '80s hits from Venditti's last work that scored above average. Then, from 1988 to today, except for the slight boost from "Dalla pelle al cuore", a decline that hopefully, with this album, will transform into a resurgence. A resurgence that begins with the grade I give.