primiballi

a beautiful film, perhaps the absolute masterpiece of WA considering how perfect it is in every aspect (screenplay, imagery, harmony with the soundtrack). A perfect tragicomedy. WA will surely create other splendid films afterwards (I find "Settembre" really beautiful among the "serious" ones and "Herry a pezzi" among the comedies, let's say) but the peak, we could say, of "synthesis" reached with "Manhattan" truly has no rivals (and, for me, he knows it well too...).

The live performance with PFM is an absolute masterpiece and an exceptionally high point in the history of Italian music. The others are, by the artist's own admission, a faithful reproduction of the album (so much so that the "new" ones sounded identical and he kept the PFM arrangements for the old ones, with the beautiful exception of the arrangements of La Buona Novella). But you can't tell me that "M'innnamoravo di tutto," useful only for the wonderful duet with Mina, is a piece that is entirely "non-commercial." I believe that compilations are always largely avoidable, but that’s just my opinion... (I think they are, more than anything, a very easy way to make money when there are few ideas or especially when Christmas is approaching...). Of course, you are right that they cannot be artistically defined as "a phase" of the career.

Thank you all: the fact that this debate has come up is already proof that the album is far from negligible. True (I repeat) it doesn't say anything new, but it's "how" it says (or doesn't say) that matters. The more I listen to it, the more I understand that it is a concluding album (we'll see...). @davejon: there’s an "apparently" as big as a house... Faber and Battiato, but also Battisti, have never done real “commercial” work, but some compilations, certain live albums, and even some records get close, apparently, to commercialism: examples include "una donna per amico" and the thousand (authorized) compilations of Lucio, the compilations and live albums (identical to the record) of Faber (at least the ones authorized during his lifetime; for the others and subsequent ones, I think the worst possible, but I’ve already said that elsewhere a thousand times), just as Battiato authorized too many live albums and compilations (and there’s some crazy person who talks about the commerciality of "la voce del padrone"... certainly not me, who considers it an absolute masterpiece).

"Learning" is an apparently trivial piece... in reality, it is anything but, much like the rest of the album. I repeat: in my opinion, it is Gilmour's best work post-Waters (along with the last "On An Island," which is beautiful).

The album is beautiful, super-arranged, and produced like a god (for its time, and even today...): that said, I liked Battisti and Mogol more (especially regarding Mogol) when they were friends and wrote together (that is, before "io tu noi tutti"). Here, you can feel a certain kind of detachment, which diminishes a lot (it must be said) in the demos that circulate, just voice and guitar, where the songs seem much warmer and more heartfelt...). Artistically, at least 4 albums of the duo (for me, Anima Latina, Il Mio Canto Libero, Il Nostro Caro Angelo, and La Batteria, Il Contrabbasso, etc...) are definitely superior, while from the perspective of pure experimentation, the subsequent "E già" is the true leap into the future, or rather into the "altrove." (ah… I almost forgot, for Dave's delight: primiballi.blogspot.com)

And setting aside the fact that until '83-85 it was infinitely superior, I still believe that here and there our Lucio can still deliver some gems (even now). In every album, even in the worst ones, there's something good (which I don't know if it’s more infuriating or enjoyable), and for instance, the latest double DVD, aesthetically identical to the Christmas compilation, is really nice: the idea of the parallel between the classic group and the jazz group is valid in itself, plus it's executed very well. Too bad, the guy, perhaps too egocentric, really knows nothing about marketing (the talent, that’s certainly not lacking...).

I think that in Battisti/Panella everything was incredibly intentional. Everything and never so much everything. Including the electronics, sometimes deliberately arid and cold. It should be clear (but from my reviews and from other things, it is understood) that I consider the Panellian adventure the ultimate evolution of Italian singer-songwriter music (not surpassed by the excellent Capossela, who is nonetheless too indebted to Waits, while it's quite difficult to recognize Battisti's debts). However, we are straying too far from the matter "at hand"....(it's Mogol who deserves a pre and a post, even within the Battisti era)

beautiful phrase (in the sense of a very well-constructed verse... but Rino was talented, and it’s known). The doubt that lingers for me is whether he, today, would have what is nonetheless a good artistic coherence (like the one I personally attribute to DeGregori, who isn’t free of commercial ties but is moooore blessed with less blatant commercialism than others)... of course, we can never know, but how many strict and austere musicians from back then today do duets with Giorgia, never miss a Sanremo, and live in the hope of selling a song to an advertisement...? coherence is quite difficult... @happypippo: curiosity (from which I will deduce a few things about you, without any offense, I hope) what do you think of the Battisti/Panella adventure?

The important thing is to understand that Battiato and Battisti are not (entirely) strangers to you... and that your view was (at least in part) provocative. Well... then everyone can have their own idea about singer-songwriter music, success, life, and death, Foffy Ratzy permitting. Labranca, whom I adore and whose work I have read in full, humanus est (and thus can make mistakes) and, alongside his dislike for the text of "prospettiva," cites "il re del mondo" as one of the most beautiful texts ever. In my opinion, in the latter case, he has a point (especially for the opening), in the former he exaggerates, caught up in the ecstasy of finding the banal even where - alas for him - there isn't any... but these are opinions... Cheers (and it’s true, it was still a civil dialogue, and that’s a good thing).

if it’s not sad, it doesn’t deserve...: sorry, but this is the sad drift of the little scheme: it’s the slogan...sadness. The fact is that your reasoning (anyone who writes music, lyrics, or sings it all can call themselves a singer-songwriter, others can’t...and those others, of course, include everyone, D'Alessio and Nek above all) is a (dead) track that you’ve built for yourself to justify your position. However, I’m a relativist, even if I risk not pleasing the Pope...so I respect your thesis, even while considering it a “reassuring simplification” that, despite knowing you little, doesn’t seem worthy of your intelligence (sure that Rino would have appreciated this reasoning...sure he would have liked to be placed on the same level as a Pupo just because he wrote the nonsense he sang...???)