Antonello Venditti
L' orso bruno

Usually, I like to review artists that I adore (Pino Scotto, Ozzy Osbourne, Samuele Bersani, Renato Zero, etc...) and today will be no exception as I will review a man who in my opinion is more than an artist... Antonello Venditti!

The album in question is ''L'orso bruno'', which is the second album of the Roman singer-songwriter and the first solo work after the collaboration with De Gregori ''Theorius Campus''. In my opinion, this is the best work produced by this man of culture.

It all begins with ''E Li Ponti So' Soli'', a song about an old Roman homeless woman talking about her life in Rome, all sung in dialect by our favorite singer-songwriter.

''L'uomo Di Pane'' is another socially conscious song where there are various historical references to further describe the splendid Rome.

The third track of the album is ''L'Entrata Della Fabbrica'', which features the participation of Francesco De Gregori who helps the national Antonello with the instrumental part. The lyrics are very engaged and it's worth listening to maybe while having a cup of tea.

''Lontana E' Milano'' is certainly one of the most famous tracks for those who have followed Antonello from the beginning... what can I say... an incredible song like all the others on the album, and here in particular, we find the symphonic pop that we loved so much in Venditti at the start of the '70s.

It's time for the title track... I wonder how the singer-songwriter managed to create such a well-defined work everywhere... even in the details, besides the MASTERFUL instrumental part... the lyrics are equally fantastic where it obviously talks about a brown bear and the respect we must have towards it (those who hunt these poor creatures should be ashamed).

After a huge gust of fresh air, Antonello takes us to other unknown places with the poetic ''Il Mare Di Jan'', which in my opinion is the second best song after the title track... this piece tells a beautiful story with a magnificent and at times dark and ominous musical background (more or less in the middle part of the song).

Knowing Venditti, a love song could not be missing and so here we are with ''Dove'' where Antonello has more '80s sounds compared to the rest of the album that features '70s music, but in any case, textually, the work is always fantastic and it would be worth (as with all the other songs on the album) delving deeper into it to find literal meanings as well.

Antonello Venditti's masterpiece closes with ''Sottopassaggio'' where we can always find great music but above all also a very deep and great text... in my opinion, this is the best Italian song ever in terms of text, for those who listen with detachment I do not recommend this song but for those who want to achieve a complete culture, you should give it 4-5 listens.

There isn’t much more to say... as you have understood from the review this is my favorite Italian album ever... for those who want always and only quality music and are interested in culture and literature, I wholeheartedly recommend it but for those who are satisfied with quick and “zipped” listens this album is ABSOLUTELY not for you!