Eugenio Finardi
Diesel

I am pleased to return to talk about an Italian singer-songwriter, on the advice of dear Dislocation: Eugenio Finardi, the "rebel with the ponytail" (which he didn't even have back then) from Milan, embarks on an adventure so complicated and "difficult" to fully analyze as the album "Diesel" in 1977, backed by two published albums, one of which, the second, "Sugo," was a critical and public success. All this had concealed in Finardi the figure suitable to set to music the revolution, the desires of a society that was frenetically changing, and the protests of the student protest movements. Certainly, he starts with considerable musical knowledge and political tendencies certainly never hidden, but above all, he has an important record contract with Cramps by Gianni Sassi, famous at the time for being the springboard for the most avant-garde songwriters from the Milanese ground. In favor of Eugenio, the Cramps provide the most valid and refined musicians from that environment: from two innovators of Italian prog and fusion guitar like Paolo Tofani and Alberto Camerini, to a superb bassist like Ares Tavolazzi (to stay in the Area family) or a saxophonist already then among the virtuosos of the instrument like Claudio Pascoli. On keyboards, alternating are Lucio Fabbri (later called to replace the resigning Mauro Pagani on the violin of Premiata Forneria Marconi) and the great Patrizio Fariselli, also from Area. All placed at the disposal of Finardi, a composer of great abilities, a bit less strong in mere instrumental technique and the vocal part, which I personally have never appreciated but who, in such an album, plays a fairly contained part.

The 45 that anticipates the entire album includes two songs: "Non è nel cuore," which moves between pop and rock from ideal genres as an accompaniment for a fairly philosophical love song, and "Giai Phong," a message strongly critical of American imperialism that narrates the epic liberation of Saigon, in Vietnam. Despite bringing social messages and high-level content in the lyrics, the two tracks remain, at least in my view, the "easier" ones on the album. This doesn't mean they are just little singles; on the contrary: Giai Phong with an acoustic guitar and drums creates a truly compelling and absolutely inviting rhythm perfect for an equally high-level text. And the interlude of keyboard and guitar of Non è nel cuore also deserves a nice mention.

The motif or leitmotif guiding side A and perfectly connecting it to side B is the literary theme of frenzy and of a society that might be changing too quickly: progress tracks emerge against consumerism and materialism dictated by the need for a rapid transformation like "Tutto subito" and messages of not demanding a hasty growth from the very young who reflected so much in Finardi's music at the time, like "Non diventare grande mai," while "Si può vivere anche a Milano" reinterprets the theme of frenzy and the speed of our actions incorporating the then very frequent and rapidly developing urbanization as the primary cause. Of course, the criticism of the excessive importance given to school as the only institution capable of teaching only "knowing" and not "knowing how to" ("Scuola") is very strong. A special mention is deserved by "Zucchero," the second and last love song of the album, which tries to answer the question "why don't we let ourselves go even in bed and waste time with the usual, boring, political and official ramblings?"

The final paragraph is dedicated to two tracks that are, in my opinion, the most important points to highlight and analyze on the album. The title track "Diesel" creates an indestructible link between pleasant, frantic, and elegant jazz (after all, the musicians playing in the work, perhaps excluding Camerini and Fabbri, all have influences of this genre and find themselves in this type of music) and a text that states that "diesel is the propulsion" almost wanting to attribute to it an initiator of this transformation that serves as a model for almost all the lyrics of the album. And finally, her, "Scimmia": electrifying, exciting, full of frenzy in the rhythm, which always refers to the jazz elements of Diesel, interpreting violently and in the most difficult explicit way the theme of heroin injections and the "State drug." Truly perhaps the most charged and exciting track of the work, impeccable, worthy of a bow.

So, what is "Diesel"? A record or a representation? An album or a painting? A difficult work, entirely and absolutely not monotonous and certainly never seen before. It represents movements, changes, transformations in the style of the early Finardi, that angry blues-rocker before whom one should bow for what he has been able to gift us. Certainly, I don't like his voice, but the voice can say little in front of such advanced musical and literary compositions. And who cares about the political involvement or tendencies, which are well felt in the record, but I repeat: who cares. Still, thankfully, we are not at the Finardi of "Vorrei svegliarti" or "Amami Lara." 4 for the type of artist and naturally for the vocal part, but for someone with personal tastes who appreciates this characteristic of this very particular character, it could be a 5.