coolermaster

With "sweet leaf," that genre (subgenre of rock) that would later be called Heavy Metal and then simply Metal was officially born. The riff of Sweet Leaf is, I believe (just like that of Satisfaction by the Stones), one of the most important for rock. Just like "children of the grave," whose eerie ending (that whisper that names the title of the song) was even copied in the soundtrack of the Splatter saga "Friday the 13th." With this album, metal, as we understand it, officially came into existence, and if we wanted to push further, I’d even say Black Metal. Immortal, timeless, a true bible that should be in every collection. The Sabbath didn’t know it, but they were changing the course of youth music forever, better than anyone else. While at that time progressive, folk, and glam were genres aimed at a more... adult audience and with refined ears... with the Sabbath, the ears were assaulted by a delirious sound, now stripped of that electric blues to which they were inspired. Yes, the degeneration of the blues gave rise to metal... in the sixties with groups like Cream, MC5, and Blue Cheer; now with Sabbath, this aberration was codified. Master of Reality is one of the most important, seminal, and beautiful albums of rock as a whole, light years ahead of others... genuine and raw as only a diamond can be. While the intellectual students were putting "Genesis" and "King Crimson" on the turntable to rock their studies, while the masses were mobilizing for the chic prog of Pink Floyd, the Sabbath created a new type of audience... around them gathered a crowd of "different" kids, the last true rebels of rock, who absorbed gestures, ruptures, and idiosyncrasies of rock'n'roll: the Metal people. As Lucarelli would say, let’s set aside Patti Smith, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Brian Eno. The true Rock, the phoenix that died a thousand times and then resurrected, reincarnated thanks to a few enlightened prophets, saw in Black Sabbath the standard-bearers of its rebirth, in the adolescent misfits of the period (younger brothers of the Mods and Rockers) the new adherents, followers of a religion that, after various schisms (on one side the NWOBHM with Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Judas Priest, on the other Metallica and Megadeth), is still more alive than ever today. And as always happens, borrowing accessories from other genres (classical, jazz, progressive), it has been able to reinvent itself. Here, however, we are at year zero...

The smiling and sly face of psychedelia. Light-years away from the apocalyptic "piper at the gates of dawn" by Pink Floyd and the chaotic and vaguely unsettling "Sgt. Pepper's," it’s almost a mocking take on that musical phenomenon that rocked the music scene in just a year.
Why is this? The Who were a Mod group, offspring of that cultural and musical phenomenon that was known here in Italy as "Beat." The famous boys in suits and ties, dressed in black, who popped pills and started bloody brawls armed with knives and chains. The boys who even inspired Burgess for A Clockwork Orange. The Who were the quintessential Mods. From the mods arose, years later, the Skinheads on one side, and the Punk on the other. The Who celebrated their musical and youthful spirit in the double masterpiece "Quadrophenia," leaving an indelible mark of that era which psychedelia and the subsequent birth of Hippies quickly swept away.
It goes without saying that when faced with this rapidly changing world, Townsend and the others could only take it all in stride and poke fun at themselves, with a taste and irony rare in the rock world... Perhaps thanks to Keith Moon, who according to chronicles was the most mischievous of the group, famous for his fierce pranks. TWSO is a great album, masterfully recorded, to be considered as a whole instead of searching desperately for an Hit or a memorable song. A fresh album even today, much fresher than the highly praised (and IMHO overrated) Tommy... comparable only to another gem of the Who, that Who's Next from five years later, with which it shares spaciousness, innovation, and compositional lyricism.

Once a long time ago, Mick Jagger was asked what he meant by Pop music. After pondering for a few seconds, he shot back: Frank Sinatra is Pop, Bing Crosby is Pop: the rest is Rock. In this not-so-perfect analysis of the pop phenomenon, Jagger nonetheless expressed great truths. Pop music (short for Popular, meaning popular) is ancient music that traces back directly to medieval ballads, the French chanson de geste, Irish folk, and right up to the little songs and nursery rhymes that at the end of the 1800s (with the help of lyrical music) codified in Europe and the United States. From this, it can be concluded that paradoxically, Rock is already cultured music because it is a child of Blues and country, yes, but enriched by arrangements and a syntax that is rather inaccessible to the masses. Elton John is pop. Frank Sinatra is pop. The Beatles are pop. Correct and wrong at the same time. Elton is a singer-songwriter and throughout his long career, he has engaged with many styles, appropriating them and presenting them in a personal and very distant way (at least for the first 5 albums) from the concept of Pop-olare. The double album, I believe, is on par with The Beatles' white album, a summa of everything that pop, rock, and art rock (or glam) were and are. Casually meandering between genres, Elton, alongside the great Bernie Taupin, unveils many gems of songwriting. Among acoustic ballads, upbeat tracks, and the incredible beginning of "funeral for a friend\love lies bleeding" (also covered by Dream Theater), he demonstrates that even Pop can be high art, far removed from that Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby who for the youth represented the symbol of a conservative world, of the establishment. GYBR is the last true masterpiece understood as an album, as a discourse that has value and coherence from start to finish, which would later be set aside for easy chart hits. I challenge anyone to find (except for a few well-known big names) an artist who can place at least 8 nearly perfect songs in one album, performed, sung, and arranged masterfully. EJ, beyond sexual tastes and his look (now kitsch, back then glamorous), was one of the greatest songwriters of pop/rock, and some songs have become timeless classics.

This album should be listened to on some late autumn evening, with the rain pouring endlessly and a nice glass of brandy in hand. A unique case of blending Progressive, Rock, and Hard Rock, the New York band delivers an outstanding work, where every instrument is not just placed there for the sake of having it, but disregarding the Anglo-Saxon Prog Grammar, they create an album that is coherent. Songs, songs, and songs, not endless suites, phrases, and duels between instruments as per the English (or Italian) script. PM is a Rock album, a great Rock (Hard) album, where flutes and violins are used to enrich the sound and not just for their own sake.

Revolver is, along with the White Album, the masterpiece of the Fab Four, the group that redefined the grammar of Pop: pay attention, I said pop, not rock 'n' roll or jazz... just as Miles Davis didn't invent Bop... he took it from Charlie "Bird" Parker, twisted it, and reinvented it. The greatest merit of the Beatles was to absorb the music of other artists and reinterpret it in a personal way. They did this first with rock 'n' roll, then with pop. Let’s not forget that while the four from Liverpool were racking up hits and hordes of heat-stricken girls were getting wet in their panties, other geniuses were shaking up the world of young music. From the Shadows of the early 60s to the Kinks (the ones that many, including me, believe invented hard rock), from the Rolling Stones to the Small Faces, from the Byrds to the Doors, from the Velvet Underground to Simon & Garfunkel... passing through Bob Dylan, the Who, the Spencer Davis Group, and so on to the lesser-known (but not less significant... indeed) like the Troggs, Love, Zombies... and so forth... The Beatles somewhat overshadowed the success and innovation of others, but the quality of their work was always extremely high and they wrote a couple of gems that belong to the history of music: Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby, indeed... just to be very harsh. I could also mention half of the White Album... "Nowhere Man", "Michelle", parts of Abbey Road and Hard Day's Night... Revolver was their cornerstone... the album of the definitive turning point not so much towards Psychedelia as many claim, but towards that refinement of sound that would later converge into genres like ART ROCK, PROGRESSIVE, and BAROQUE. Revolver is a summa of the Liverpool scamps and the pop of the late 60s that was gradually transforming... On the other side of the ocean, there were the legendary Byrds and Jefferson Airplane performing the same transformation. A year later, with the DOORS and LOVE, music would never be the same... and it never will be again...

Do you know the Beatles?? First phase, from Please Please Me to Help.... second phase from Rubber Soul to Magical Mystery Tour... third phase: from Sgt. Pepper's to Let It Be... This is IMHo, of course... then there are the cornerstones... for the Beatles, the cornerstone, the link between the second phase and the third is Revolver!!! For Lucio, "the drums, the double bass..." was the cornerstone of Battisti's "new course." Anima Latina, on the other hand, was a unique case... an exploit... I hope I have been clear...

I wonder if those who write certain nonsense have lived through the '80s... that end of a decade so magical, unrepeatable... and just as Vasco (already a national figure back then) reminds us, he gifted us this pearl... I should mention that until 1988, I couldn't care less about Vasco, as they say... yes, I was also silly enough to judge him without listening to him... the singer of the "truzzi," the "tamarri"... back then, I was a paninaro... imagine that... Vasco was banned from our groups... But you know, then you grow up... and you meet the first great love of your life: mine was a girl far from being a "truzza," a lover of good music... and a lover of Vasco... That's how I started, with the first Vasco, the one from "la nostra relazione," to move through "La strega," "Colpa d'Alfredo," "la noia," "canzone," "ogni volta".... So when she gifted me "liberi liberi," fresh off the press, it was a lovely surprise... I still remember the clip for the title track... a rare gem in Italian music, a corollary to an album that, while not possessing the subversive strength of the early works, is rich with magnificent arrangements and very inspired songs, okay, very '80s, which beautifully concluded that decade and my adolescence. I would be grateful not to hear more nonsense such as... better Vasco or David Bowie??? What the hell does that even mean??? Better Mozart or Stravinsky??? Do you realize the immense nonsense you're saying? Comparing an Italian singer with an Anglo-Saxon one does justice to neither... Bowie, the great, immense, and stratospheric Bowie also wrote and sang immense nonsense!!! The last 6 albums should be forgotten... But even Let It Be by the Beatles isn't exactly their best... and neither is "the final cut" by Pink Floyd a masterpiece... so???? That doesn't take away from their greatness... and Vasco, even when, as some claim, he became an industry, has churned out many more pearls, like Sally and gli angeli... the latter being one of the most beautiful ballads in Italian rock, with a spine-tingling lyric... and anyone who disagrees can always listen to the sweet and persuasive voice of Bob Dylan... now that's someone who knows how to sing :-))) But please.....

Congratulations!! Everyone is a critic in this forum... especially polite and civil. Well, after all, we are in Italy... "Vado al massimo" is a manifesto, along with the following "Bollicine," of the new Italian rock, a rock finally free from Anglo-Saxon influence, conceived and written for the kids, for ordinary people... No, sure, Vasco is not Battiato and he’s not even Battisti, just as the Rolling Stones are not King Crimson... so?? What is the problem... Raw, old, dirty rock'n'roll without frills with a couple of anthology ballads. An album that is not affected by the judgment of time... Fresh and modern even today, immortal.

Legend has it that Pink Floyd first entered Abbey Road studios in 1970 during the time of Atom Heart Mother, while the Beatles were recording "Let It Be" in the next room. Wish You Were Here is the album that has influenced my life as a music lover more than any other, perhaps because it was "absorbed" during my childhood. I still vividly remember my father leaving for Brazil after two years, leaving me sprawled on a typically '70s sofa, long hair, a beard, a Marlboro in my mouth and a Martini glass in my hand: on the turntable was Wish You Were Here, the album that most defined that period for me, a complete masterpiece of psychedelia, when psychedelia no longer existed... One of those transgenerational masterpieces that, in 50 minutes, embraces Progressive, Rock, Psychedelia, and even winks at the then-famous "cosmic rock" of bands like "Tangerine Dream" or "Amon Düül" ... as if to say, "everything was born from us." Yes, because Pink Floyd, more than anyone else, deconstructed post-Beatles rock/pop since 1967 when they wrote the "manifesto" of new music, that "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" which is the "Stockhausen" of light music, the album that swept away the notion of what rock could be in 1967, much more than its antithesis, "Sgt. Pepper's" by the Beatles.
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a hallucinatory journey into the human psyche, but in the Greek sense of the term "Psyche" (pronounced tsuchè), meaning soul... Syd Barrett, the splendid diamond who roamed like a ghost in the grooves of Floyd for years, is exorcised with WYWH in one of the most poignant, beautiful celebrations of a person still alive…. The crazy diamond who, for fun, by chance, began the adventure of the "Pink Floyd Sound" in 1966… who created them and tried to destroy them not because he went crazy as many believe, but because he was searching for a new evolution in the band's sound… an evolution blocked by Waters.
A legend says that on that day in 1975 at "Abbey Road," that strange man who wandered around lost in the studios, that chubby bald guy whom the old mates could hardly recognize, told them after a rehearsal performance of "Shine On," "Yeah, cute, but the sound is a bit dated, stuff from a few years ago."… That was Syd… the genius... A genius is someone who, despite their mind being shattered (as happened to many artists), can still understand and judge from just two notes… Perhaps they listened to him, given the turn of "Animals"…
Goodbye Syd, from up there where you are now, you will continue to shine for many generations to come.

I still remember the excitement that overwhelmed me when back in 1987 I heard about the latest effort from my all-time favorite band... I also remember the fear... the fear that it would be a clone of the last Floyds, especially those from "The Final Cut"... but I knew that Waters had long since gone out of the cojons :-) and I would add: At last!! Then the first notes started, and a tremor seized me... that tremor was ancient because as soon as I looked at the cover in front of me, another one came to mind... Two men, two managers shaking hands while one of them is on fire! "Wish You Were Here," the album of my childhood, my memories... one of my all-time favorites, for me (IMHO) the true masterpiece of the Floyd. There it was... emerging from the digital grooves of 1987, amidst a phrase here and there, between one computerized effect and another... "On the wings of the night"... from that night in the second half of the '80s at my high school friend's house... she standing with her back to me, preparing tea, and the video of "On the Turning Away" playing in the background.... Call them emotions if you like... :-))