Edoardo Bennato
Io che non sono l'imperatore

In 1975, Edoardo Bennato presented the urban planning for Naples concerning railway transportation. REJECTED...
It's a famous story, everyone knows it! The cover of this album depicts that urban plan, and the song lyrics all somewhat evoke the same theme. It's an attack on censors, organized propriety, and the pretentiously cultured. In my opinion, it's not one of the best albums of that period. Surely it's a wonderful record, tackling well-chosen themes as always. But perhaps the only real flaw of this album is the music, which might seem too often harsh and not very catchy to some people.
Indeed, even though many of the songs from this album have gone down in history, neglecting the charm of the original, they are much more listenable in versions offered in later albums, at least the couple of songs that became an Edoardo standard. An interesting fact is that the album contains relatively few tracks and is, relatively speaking, quite short.

In vinyl order, the tracks are:

SIDE 1
Che ora è
Meno male che adesso non c’è Nerone
Ci sei riuscita
Il Professor Cono
Io che non sono l’imperatore

SIDE 2
Signor Censore
Feste di Piazza
Io per te Margherita
Affacciati, Affacciati!

As for the vinyl of this album, like the previous one, it is quite common both in its original version and in the Orizzonte reissue, so you can easily find it at an acceptable price. A curious version that I presume exists, but have yet to find, is the first Orizzonte reissue without the corner with clouds at the top left. It's also noteworthy that the original features a gatefold cover with photos, while the Orizzonti one has an inner sleeve printed with the same photos. Among these photos, there's one of Edoardo, Eugenio, and another guy I can't recall, looking at a window with a wedding dress inside. On that occasion, Edoardo had the idea for the lyrics of “Ci sei riuscita”.
If you manage to completely decipher what “Che ora è” says, we’ll give you a prize. Furthermore, it's worth mentioning that “Affacciati, Affacciati!” is a live recording performed at Bocconi University in Milan, and at the end of this piece, there's a second version of “Io che non sono l’imperatore”, really stunning (but I think Eugenio had a hand in it).
It seems there's nothing more to say, so: GOOD VIBRATIONS!