Grasshopper

Thanks for helping me dredge up from some hidden fold of memory the good Fanigliulo, and among other things with an excellent review. I'm not able to assess the album: I only know that amusing nonsense, but also poisonous, that is called "A me mi piace vivere alla grande." I didn't know he had also gone to Sanremo: too witty for that stage. Instead, I had heard about the premature death, the same fate as Ivan Graziani, another who had the gift of irony, which evidently isn't appreciated up there.

I don’t make commitments because then I think and rethink before sending a review (and plus, right now I can’t even find time to write one, and I'm out of ideas for 10 days), but one between "Un gelato al limon" and "Appunti di viaggio" wouldn’t bother me, even if it would already be my fifth review of Conti. Let’s see what happens...

Ajeje, the spice of life is the diversity of opinions, not without reason dictators and aspiring ones seek to nullify it. I find you as the only support in downplaying a bit the value of "La Voce del padrone" by Battiato (although your semi-panning seems a bit harsh: I’m leaning towards a 4) and I completely disagree with your judgment on Vol. 1 by De André. Music for this great poet gradually became more and more important, until jewels like "Creuza de ma" and "Anime salve," but here we are still close to the beginnings, and its function is relegated to a background, against which the words stand out clear and powerful. Nevertheless, it is far from unpleasant: certain ballads for acoustic guitar like "Si chiamava Gesù" and "Canzone di Barbara" have a nice sound, essential yet pure, and the trumpet that adorns "La stagione del tuo amore," also mentioned in the review, is a lovely surprise, especially for the time. Even the medieval setting, complete with horn and harpsichord, in "Carlo Martello" is a bit naïve, but not to be discarded. In short, considering such a record mediocre or at most decent (3) just because of some musical naiveté seems truly excessive to me. I wholeheartedly agree on "Spiritual," the only blemish on this great masterpiece.

Massimof, let’s not play the game of misunderstanding each other. That the album is beautiful is beyond discussion, and I’ve listened to it thousands of times. In my opinion, it simply isn’t as phenomenal as its widespread success might suggest. The components of success are sometimes irrational: I believe there are certainly albums that are on par with this one ("L'imboscata") or even better ("Gommalacca") that, however, not having become a "cultural phenomenon," are deemed inferior. Who knows, maybe this album had the advantage of being released at the right time, when there was a surplus of silly Sanremo and summer songs, and consequently a fierce hunger for something more intelligent, a hunger that perhaps had already been somewhat quelled in the '90s.
Anyway, I'm not a snob: I’m just someone trying to evaluate the album for what it is, regardless of its immense impact on the audience.

Dear Enea, I’m sorry to have hurt you, however inadvertently: I am a nonviolent Gandhian and libertarian (as Pannella used to say before he got silly) and I hate violence. However, I only expressed my opinion, which I reiterate: excellent album, but epochal only for inscrutable and little rational reasons (fashion, dark glasses a sign of charisma and symptomatic mystery, summer madness of 1981? Who knows!). Besides, you yourself have wisely and eloquently illustrated one of the weak points of the album: the absolute flatness of the music in "Bandiera bianca." I would add the pretentiousness of certain parts of the lyrics in "Sentimiento nuevo" (Shivaistic tantrism... ?!) or the charm of the flight of "Uccelli" brutally interrupted by the reference to the "rules assigned to this solar system," plus the surplus of popular song quotes in "Cuccuruccucucù"... in short, there are some flaws, even if it always remains an album of excellent quality, which is an ordinary matter for Battiato. For me, this is not at all better than "Patriots" or "L'era del cinghiale bianco," to be clear. Anyway, don’t feel hurt over such a small thing.

Long live good intentions, but if "Ballad of Big" was meant to echo "All in a Mouse's Night," it really fell short. Above all, it lacks a finale that is even a distant relative of that beautiful, symphonic, and touching one of its "ancestor."

There is no doubt that the album is epoch-making: selling over a million copies for a series of "cultured" songs is an unprecedented fact. Whether its historical significance corresponds to an actual excellence of the content... well, I have some doubts about that, and I allow myself to give a judgment that diverges from the mainstream. For me, it remains an excellent album that has achieved the success of a masterpiece. A review even better than the album.

There's no need to apologize, Mullah: when you hang around the same kind of music, it's bound to happen that reviews get “stolen.” And to be honest, there's no regret: there would only have been if someone who doesn’t understand anything had talked about a record like that, maybe to trash it.

At the risk of being repetitive, the decline of Genesis is not as abrupt (from stars to stalls, from 5 to 1 in terms of debaserian ratings) as many would have us believe. There are still some decent episodes, and this "Three Sides Live" is an example of that. Unfortunately, that cannot be said for "Abacab," let alone "Invisible Touch." Of course, the best Genesis belongs to another era.

For me, alongside "Paris Milonga," it is Paolo Conte's album that comes closest to perfection... and the lawyer, with his artisanal, anti-commercial mindset, absolutely immune to trends, has often approached perfection. Mullah is, as usual, up to the task. The only regret: I would have liked to write this review myself, but I procrastinated too much.