Eugenio Bennato
Eughenes

It's 1986, and the less famous of the two Bennatos (although there is actually a third one, also a musician, who indeed is almost unknown…) has recently embarked on a solo music career, after excellent works with NCCP and Musicanova, popular music groups he founded and directed himself.

After the good debut "Eugenio Bennato" in 1983, three years later comes this "Eughenes," a work in which B. continues the discourse started with the previous album: however, there is one unpleasant thing to say right away about this CD (or LP), and it's the poor recording quality that significantly undermines the listening and enjoyment of the album. This serious flaw was also present in the previous work, "Eugenio Bennato," and I really can’t understand how a fairly prominent record label like Lucky Planets could have done such a job and, most importantly, why they didn't do anything to resolve the issue during remastering and/or transferring to CD. Anyway, the damage is done, and we have to keep the defective product as it is…

It starts with "Sole sole," an exhilarating and very cheerful track introduced and sung in the chorus by joyful voices of women and children, interspersed with B.'s voice extolling the various and numerous beauties of the city of Naples ("in un paese che non vi dico\addormentata in riva al mare\\col vulcano la sta a guardare\c'è da sempre una sirena\"): the track is overwhelming and very successful, both in composition and arrangements (the keyboards and synthesizers that provide a "counterpoint" to the choirs are excellent). It's a track that will be stuck in your head from the first listen, I can assure you. Then it moves to a slower and softer piece "Duorme terra," a very nocturnal piece that greatly resembles some works of Branduardi from the same period (as well as many other pieces of the CD, and of our artist's career in general).

Mama (country song) is another cheerful yet somewhat nostalgic song that talks about a song the author’s mother used to sing when he was a child: however, from this cue, B. goes on to make us reflect on the relationship between Italy and "that formidable cultural colonization that comes from America" which involves our Country as well as the rest of the world, as the author himself mentions in the notes of the booklet. This track also features the trusted Carlo D'angiò, a skilled and passionate singer already at his side in Nccp and Musicanova.

"Cussì va o munno" is a slow ballad entrusted to the voice of B.'s wife, that Pietra Montecorvino endowed with such a deep voice making her resemble a Neapolitan Janis Joplin; unfortunately, however, the piece does not take off, and there is a temptation to skip the track...

We pick up a bit with "Sta musica," a carefree and cheerful piece reflecting on the beauty of creating and making music and songs, although even this is not one of B.'s "high points." It's with "Basilicata" that B. reaches one of his peaks: after a somewhat quiet start, indeed, the piece opens up again in a burst with choirs of cheerful and passionate women, once again interspersed with B.'s singing, describing the impressions of this land so little appreciated and considered.

"C'ha purtato l'America" instead is an invective on the same theme as "mama (country song)," but much more violent than the latter, both in tone and expressive manners: in fact, a gloomy and distressing music serves as the backdrop to a lyrical self that vents against foreign and especially American trends that penalize ancient yet valuable local and national cultural expressions.

It closes with "Nun fermarte," an ideal ending piece, as it's a sweet and melancholic lullaby that lulls us to the end of the CD with the notes of B.'s "chitarra battente," which warns that his (and our) journey must not stop but rather seek and preserve what good we find on our path.

A good work, all in all, recommended to enthusiasts of the musician in question, but also to those who do not know him and want to begin to "enter his world".