voiceface

On solo albums, I agree they leave a lot to be desired, but let’s get to the point: Brian May is not a lead guitarist, meaning he’s not the type of guitarist who can stand on stage and play guitar and nothing else. And I don’t see that as a fault. Brian May is a guitarist capable of tastefully embellishing a pop-rock song, and he has done it well like few others. This is because he has taste, style, and technique, where by technique I mean the ability to produce the right sound and execute the solo correctly. Probably, faced with a score by Satriani or Vai, our May would get lost, perhaps, since he has often played alongside many of the guitar heroes you mention. Secondly, Brian May held up the entire sound carpet during Queen live performances, which is not easy for a band that has made baroque music its trademark. Finally, I bring you a personal testimony; I saw May in action for the first time this year at a concert of the revived Queen: personally, I’ve seen few guitarists capable of being so impactful at a rock concert in terms of stage presence, execution accuracy, sound quality, and timing. Then I reiterate the concept: if you belong to the category of those who enjoy listening to virtuosic solos lasting tens of minutes, then okay, May might not appeal to you at all. Regards.

beautiful review...although I must say that even the best reviewers on debaser (and you are among them) tend to be biased...which, on one hand, adds a touch of passion to the review, but on the other, distracts from the true value of the album.

Well, everyone is free to feel their own Braido of the moment... anyway, luckily for us, Brian May is not a guitarist who had to showcase great virtuosity to establish himself...

It’s evident that there are no guitarists among you; perhaps someone would claim that Jimmy Page is not a great guitarist? ...and yet he hasn’t produced high-level solo work...or what about Mark Knopfler?...or David Gilmour?...Does one have to have released albums filled with shredding and virtuosic displays to be recognized as a great guitarist? I argue that the solo in Bohemian Rhapsody, for intensity and style, is worth hours of recordings from a Malmsteen or a Petrucci...and then you demonstrate that you don’t even understand the parameters used to evaluate a guitarist, starting with the amplification where May set the standard. Brian May is cited in all the specialized magazines: his solos are presented as examples of technique, his amplification solutions are found in all the industry books...it’s clear that if you judge a guitarist by the notes-per-second ratio, then we’re speaking two different languages...

I can't stand Baglioni, but this album is a true masterpiece, and those who judge it without having listened to it are mistaken.

the record is worth no more than 3 - 3.5. Brian May has worked hard since Mercury's death to prove his importance in the entire Queen project. In fact, I believe he has only made the situation worse. He is a great guitarist and an excellent songwriter (at least he was). It’s just that Back to the Light is a merely decent album, released too soon after Mercury's death (a few months if I'm not mistaken); in Made in Heaven he supported a frankly questionable endeavor, and the other solo CD is a mediocre work. I’ll only give him credit for the reunion, which seems, at least so far, to genuinely stem only from the desire to be on the road.

Implicitly, when he recalled, speaking about his recent production, that X Stratagemmi and Gommalacca alongside La Voce del padrone are two fundamental albums for his pop career… I deduce that he considers Ferro Battuto a minor work. If we add that in his last tour he presented from this album only "sarcofagia," I believe that 2+2 makes four.

Well, of course, one cannot fail to include La Voce Del Padrone among the best albums by Battiato, but what you consider the best is just a very happy period of Battiato’s more easy listening phase... to the point that you completely forget masterpieces like Clic (1974) or Caffè de la Paix (1993). It seems clear to me that you have only grasped a partial aspect of Battiato's immense artistic production, and probably so have the “everyone” you refer to. And then Ferro Battuto is a minor album, and even Battiato himself admits it, as does the vast majority of those who have been listening to it for a lifetime.

the album is just one for the wasted opportunity... there are good things but Metallica have managed to waste it all... and yet there’s something in the album that sounds original... what a shame