Edoardo Bennato
I buoni e i cattivi

THE REVIEW

It's 1974: Edoardo Bennato releases his second album (or LP, to use the "language of the time"), precisely "I buoni e i cattivi". From the cover itself, it's clear that we're facing a sort of concept album on the eternal dichotomy of good-bad and that such differentiation isn't always so clear-cut: Edoardo and his Neapolitan DJ friend Raffaele Cascione appear on it, turned away, dressed as policemen and handcuffed to each other. The musical atmosphere that pervades the entire record could be defined as acoustic blues-rock-folk, performed by Bennato in "one-man-band" version: he simultaneously plays pedal tambourine, 12-string guitar, harmonica, and kazoo. Even though there are other excellent musicians on the album: Eugenio Bennato on mandolin and mandoloncello, Tony Esposito on drums and percussion, Bruno Limone on bass, and Andrea Sacchi on guitar. The lyrics of the record are ironic, irreverent, biting, sarcastic, "political". "Ma che bella città" and "Tira a campare" speak of his beloved Naples; the latter, in particular, for me, is one of the most beautiful pieces ever, as it highlights that, despite all the problems Naples may have, in the end, "it's better here: here, at least, for better or worse, there's still a bit of humanity": hard to disagree with that? A vision also still very current. "Che fortuna" talks about a day that started off terribly, continued worse, but ended wonderfully (Ma che schifo di giornata era stata neanche una ne avevo ingarrata però poi che fortuna: quella tenda vicino alla mia era sua: che dite, si parla di sesso?). In "La bandiera" and "Bravi ragazzi", heavy irony is directed at institutions, as in the already mentioned "Ma che bella città". "In fila per tre" perhaps is the most famous piece from the album: here, the school institution is targeted (among others), which, rather than "doing its job", seems to serve only to teach the (subjects, one might say) the rules to follow in life. The teaching method is also targeted: emblematic, in this sense, is the passage "E ricordatevi i libri di storia: noi siamo i buoni perciò abbiamo sempre ragione e andiamo dritti verso la gloria". The "orchestral" arrangement by Roberto De Simone makes the piece beautiful musically as well. "Uno buono" is a direct attack on the then-President of the Republic, also a fellow countryman of Bennato, Giovanni Leone, practically accused of immobility ("Fà qualcosa se sei uno buono). "Facciamo un compromesso" seems like a "harmless" piece, but in reality, it's an attack on the PCI (No, no, no, no, aspettare più non posso e va bene sì, se proprio vuoi facciamo un compromesso). "Arrivano i buoni" is probably dedicated to the Red Brigades, and at the end of the piece, Edoardo intones both "Faccetta nera" and "Bandiera rossa" with the kazoo: in practice, the apotheosis of the (often) false distinction of good-bad. The album closes, not by chance, with perhaps the most sarcastic piece of the whole work: "Salviamo il salvabile": Abbiamo fatto una bella riuscita a questo punto la mela è avariata io me la vedo brutta ma salviamo il salvabile. For completeness, it must be said that in this album, the beautiful "Un giorno credi" is also "recovered" from the previous album, both for the lyrics (by Patrizio Trampetti) and for the music (by Edoardo), now a classic not only of Bennato but of all Italian music, to close this already beautiful album in style. I know there was already another review of this album, but I wanted to "complete it" with my thoughts. Enjoy listening, if you like, of course.