Enrico Ruggeri
Tutto Scorre

1984: Enrico Ruggeri releases his third solo album: "Presente". The album featured various tracks from Ruggeri Live (extracted from his previous albums, including those with the Decibel), along with his original songs, such as "Il Mare d'inverno" or "La Donna vera". The album achieved good sales success (40,000 copies sold), partly due to the fact that the song "Il Mare d'inverno", which he wrote for Loredana Bertè, was a big hit.

In the winter of that year, Ruggeri and his Band found themselves "trapped" in a medieval castle, and there they began working on this album, which did not achieve the same sales success as the previous one (Ruggeri justified this by stating he felt there was no "lead single" within the album) [25,000 copies sold].

The album opens (in the original version) with "Il Futuro è un'ipotesi", a song with a very simple structure and a text with a recurring chorus. Musically, the track is on a good level, with the chorus maintaining the "calm" of the rest of the song, and in terms of originality, not bad at all. The lyrics are decent, and Ruggeri tries to give a "why" to the future, and with irony, broadly speaks about people's hypocrisy. The next song, "In Trincea", maintains the structure of the previous track: text with a recurring chorus. The lyrics are much more "carefree" than the previous song, but more substantial; musically, the track is cheerful, almost as if to mock the song's lyrics, which, as the title suggests, talks about "In (an) Imaginary Trench" (an unexpected musical choice, judging by the title). Original!

"La Vita corre ancora", on the other hand, is a melancholic song, with beautiful lyrics and music that is never too slow, flowing and never leaving dead points; to complete it all, at various points in the song there are skillfully positioned poignant and small solos by Schiavone, which really give the whole song a "touch of the author." Truly worth mentioning are parts of this like "I sing the past so that it may still remain, and the Lady who waits for me, who will pluck the ever-unripe Apple, may she not reach me so quickly...". The album continues with "Beneficio d'inventario" one of the most famous songs of the entire album (also often proposed by Ruggeri in his concerts), it brings the album back to a well-kept rhythm and introduces us to his "Fantastic World," with a keyboard prologue. Musically, the song, as already mentioned, maintains the same rhythm throughout its duration, but the guitar and the synthesizer make great and quick strides during the course of the track; moreover, the song is marked several times by a chorus. The lyrics are peculiar and not easily understandable (like many other songs of the Rouge) on a first listen; it talks about a "He" (Then Ruggeri in one of his next albums will talk about a "She") who, it seems, is just a "Monster" in the true sense of the word.

The following track, "Da questa vecchia casa", opens with a synthesizer vibrato, followed by a harmonious "choral cry" that will continue for the rest of the song, in continuous cycles. Musically, the song is a real evolution, (obviously "an evolution," always without ever varying from the main theme) truly a harmony of sounds. The text is truly beautiful, mysterious and cold; evidently Ruggeri, is referring to the castle where he spent the winter of '84. One of my favorite songs on the album.

"La prima Sigaretta", the following song, (only present on the CD version, but I decided to include it as it's among my favorites) is a pleasant song, where in some parts it features folk sounds. The lyrics are sublime, partly about adolescence and also, indeed, about the "first Cigarette". Musically the song flows, pleasant, with a good presence of guitar and synthesizer (which at some points, indeed, confuses with the guitar!). The song will then be reprised by Ruggeri in his following album. Among my favorites.

"Poco più di niente" is the next song, which I often confuse with "Tutto Subito", with which, in fact, it has nothing to do; Boh, it must be my tic! The song is a crescendo, both in lyrics and music, and features one of the most memorable and "cheap" choruses in all of Ruggeri's repertoire. A pleasant track, which establishes a great balance between lyrics and music; the drums hit decisively, the synthesizer plays multiple roles, and Schiavone, even though a bit subdued, performs his part with typically "rockish" sounds.

In the following song, "Non sono incluse batterie", the guitar predominates in the background, but especially the synthesizer does a good job. Also in this track, there is a chorus present, which, however, is never unpleasant; the song is perhaps a bit subdued compared to the others, having a more compact and less authorial text.

The third to last Track of the Album, "Savoir-Fare", as the title suggests, refers to the French song (a theme very dear to Ruggeri, who since 1980 began to include "French references" in his songs). Contrary to my expectations, the song has a strong keyboard presence and appears as a true author's song. It doesn't drive me crazy: it doesn't stick in my head! (and that doesn't mean a damn thing); but the beauty is that while I listen to it, I notice a certain "Rougerian charm." Even if at times it presents sounds that I believe are a bit out of place.

"Come va, Fantasmi di città?"- So yes, we've reached the penultimate track of the album, "Fantasmi di Città", which is among my favorites of "Ruggeri in the '80s," it's the one I prefer from the entire album. The lyrics are really simple, dominated by the chorus, sung by a choir of supposed "ghosts"; The rest of the song is still interesting, and Ruggeri finds really surprising rhymes. On the music level, nothing to say, the song is dominated by keyboards and synthesizers; Truly fascinating! Memorable!

The last track of the album, "L'ultimo Pensiero" (liar!), is dominated by the piano, pseudo-strings, and Ruggeri's voice. The accompaniment part resembles that of "Contessa" by the Decibel; a pleasant song musically, but surpassed by the lyrics. If it were me, I would have given it a deeper look musically and I wouldn't have placed it at the end of the album, although unfortunately the title suggests this!

Album concluded. In my personal Top 3, of the '80s albums I prefer by Ruggeri.

Ruggeri evolves again. Beautiful album, but it cannot and should not please everyone.

3.9 Stars.