Antonello Venditti
Antonello nel paese delle meraviglie

THE REVIEW

In the break that separates "Prendilo tu questo frutto amaro" from the next album, which would have been "Goodbye Novecento", Antonello Venditti takes the opportunity to summarize 25 years of career with a collection of his most famous songs, but rearranged in a symphonic style. To do this, the singer-songwriter from Via Zara employs a powerful orchestra, the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Renato Serio. The symphonic album represents a unique episode in Antonello Venditti's discography, as well as the reassertion of his classical roots, which he had the chance to showcase mainly in the first four albums. The symphonic album would also become an inspiring reason for other colleagues, consider Pooh, who released "Opera Seconda" in 2012. Regarding the album, it features 12 tracks including one unreleased, "Ho fatto un sogno", written with Sergio Bardotti and Ennio Morricone, a choice perfectly aligned with the sound of the album, whose title is inspired by the famous novel by Lewis Carroll. The unreleased track also speaks of a dream, which is a paraphrase of Alice's dream, and it's a song about Rome: "Ho fatto un sogno e l'ho chiamato Roma", a track neither infamous nor praiseworthy, fitting into the genre of songs about the City that the singer-songwriter would continue with "Che c'è". The other tracks are well chosen, balancing the '70s and '80s, and the most interesting component is how a '70s track becomes symphonic and how an '80s track does as well. In the case of the '80s and early '90s, the arrangement seems a bit forced, given the musical distance, while with the '70s the arrangement stands out. Among the famous Seventies pieces are "Buona Domenica", which opens the album, "Sara", "Le cose della vita", and "Campo de' Fiori". From the Eighties, "Ci vorrebbe un amico", "Settembre" (which succeeds better than the others in its new version), "In questo mondo di ladri" and "Ricordati di me" appear, while from the current decade, the Nineties, Antonello chose "Amici mai", "Benvenuti in paradiso" and "L'amore insegna agli uomini", which was already an unreleased launch piece for the live "Da San Siro a Samarcanda" and is further reevaluated here. The production was by the usual Alessandro Colombini, for an Antonello Venditti who tries to rise again in the '90s by further promoting pieces of his glorious past, as the albums of unreleased tracks from that same period will be among the worst of his career. A three-star album, recommended for its peculiarity.