Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
Buone Notizie

The year was 1981, and the band was fresh off an impressive production of studio albums from the 70s, mostly all excellent. In 1980, the album (which I don't have) "Urgentissimo" was released, and in 1981, this "Buone Notizie".

Undoubtedly, it's not an album for Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso fans; don't expect any progressive, rather it's an album about 80s pop rock. It makes you raise an eyebrow at certain points, while containing some excellent songs. It can be considered a kind of concept album, since the theme of television emerges sooner or later in every song. The opening of "Taxi” is energetic, cheerful in music, absolutely unsettling in the lyrics, in which it describes how
"the president with a natural voice said that tomorrow there's a world war. The president among applause and cheers said that this time it will be definitive".
Although not a masterpiece, this song can provide a pleasant sensation when listening, and its chorus (even as we've seen, it's unsettling) will stay in your head for quite a while.

The following "Canzone D'amore" is in my opinion the masterpiece of the record. A delicate track, but with an aggressive chorus and a very interesting lyric, it tells of a man's suffering, who having left his girlfriend, finds his only outlet in watching television. Very interesting music as well. "Sì Ma Sì" is a harmless and negligible little pop song, while "Michele e il Treno" is a longer song with a more articulated structure, and also quite interesting in melody. "AM/FM" is the only instrumental on the record, and its merit is certainly not in its creativity (a unison riff repeated for two minutes and forty-five seconds), but it's interesting and captivating. "Baciami Alfredo" is one of the worst things in Banco's entire discography, and the same goes for the dismal concluding title track, both oriented on a pop lacking ideas and without bite.

A despite everything appreciable work, but from Banco, we would have expected much more. On the other hand, many (but not all) progressive bands in the 80s experienced a creative decline. Nevertheless, a decent album with some good ideas. It's a shame they didn't dare more...