tom traubert

Max Gazzè is great. But he has done better things; this is a nice album, a good debut, but he still needed to fine-tune it, even in terms of vocal interpretation, and you can tell.

Listen, flat judgments like surfboards... Taylor shouldn't be judged only for his drumming; he was also a composer. Do you know that the song you call "one of the five most beautiful songs of all time" was written by him? What do you say to that? Technique doesn't mean a thing... what counts is what one gives in terms of sound and creative contribution, and it's hard to dismiss someone who has written some of the biggest hits of the band (I won't even name them; you should know them) as just a background musician. And the comparison between Mozart and Mercury, I'll come back to that, doesn't irritate me so much because of the sacred monster being touched, which I don't care about, but because it cuts out 99% of the history of classical and contemporary music in such a superficial way that it can't help but be annoying. Regards.

poor thing.

The album is amazing, but the review... With all due respect, but really, the comparison Mercury-Mozart is very juvenile, and if you say that Taylor is not irreplaceable in Queen, it's better that you listen to something else, I don’t know, the Blue...

It doesn't soar high and fast like the Birds from the previous album; it’s darker and more tormented, perhaps less inspired, and understandably so: it’s the period in which Battiato and Pio, in a couple of years, churn out albums repeatedly, also writing entire albums for Milva, Giuni Russo, Alice, and even Giusto Pio himself! So, it’s definitely a dip compared to the stunning previous trio of aces (Cinghiale-Patriots-Voce), but it's still a really great album. And Battiato deserves credit for not trying to create La Voce del padrone 2 - the revenge. Voglio vederti danzare remains a monumental classic, and Scalo a Grado is as wonderful as it is overlooked.

The best Battiato from the early period. An incredibly successful album, balancing between progressive and primordial ethnic hints, in a magical equilibrium. More mature than the two predecessors and paradoxically even more than the overly experimental successors (Clic aside). Evocative lyrics and hypnotic music for an absolute and unrecognized gem of one of the true Greats.

A record more beautiful than some may remember (or admit). It may not be the best, but it certainly isn't the worst. Compared to Final Cut, it's definitely a step (if not two) forward. The regenerated Pink Floyd of 1994 would have played it better, especially with fewer artifices, but it remains a nice album in its own right. Underrated.

Beautiful construction. But indeed, a construction. I would like to have explained to me Barrett's "path," and especially his "Conclusion"... with a capital C, no less... what is the Da Vinci Code? Let’s say Berrett was a genius, sure, but that he had a plan (a Plan, even) let's just leave that aside... Barrett, the quintessential erratic genius. And that he wrote the scores of others? And what about Barrett's secret son? And the holy grail? Oh no, that's the Da Vinci Code... that too. Fiction.

I've never understood exactly what an "useless" album is... even less what a "useful" album is, for that matter. Useful for what, excuse me? You either like it or you don't, period. That said, ABB is a nice surprise, full of beautiful songs, you can hear the fun of those playing behind it... lovely.