Enzo Avitabile
Avitabile

I'm going to review an album by a Neapolitan artist who truly left a mark on the 80s soul scene, Enzo Avitabile. The album is called "Avitabile" and was released in 1982 (the year of many great albums like "Night & Day", "Bella M'briana", "Purple Rain" but especially the year of Italy's great World Cup victory!!!!). It mixes genres such as Soul, Free Jazz, Blues, and Funky.

The first track is "L'ultimo Della Classe", where Enzo talks about how it feels to hold this sad record, something that unfortunately happens often to Neapolitans. It continues with the gem of the entire album, "Fratello Soul". Avitabile, throughout his career, often refers to family, just look at "SOS Brothers" and "Mamma Che Caos". However, this track will remain as one of his best achievements in his discography, both for the beauty of the guitar in this song that makes you travel with your mind and for the lyrics. Then we move on to the true jazz, which can be heard in "Allora Potrai Dire" and "Strega". Here the saxophone stands out particularly and succeeds very well.

Now let's move on to the real soul-funky that characterizes the album quite a bit. I am talking specifically about the track "Dimmi Com'è". This sound will be greatly revisited in the albums following this one. There are also typically soul and blues tracks, namely "Zig Zag", "Belzebù" (I still haven't figured out who that is). In his lyrics, Enzo often tackles themes such as family, friendship, and musical genres. This is evident in "Un Amico", where Avitabile enjoys breaking the rules of "Grasso" in good company, and in "Dolce Sweet M", a soul song dedicated to the late friend Mario Musella.

For me, having listened to it all hundreds of times, and not having listened to all his albums (although the more famous tracks like "Soul Express", "Meglio Soul", etc... I know them perfectly), it is his best album, because it was recorded with purity, without having to comply with record labels and without having to reconfirm himself and then because...... I always say, "the first is always the most beautiful".