Eugenio Finardi
Dolce Italia

After the mediocre Colpi di fulmine and a lackluster performance at Sanremo with "Vorrei svegliarti," Eugenio Finardi immediately rebounds with a beautiful dedication to his birthplace. With an American mother, the soprano Eloise Dengenring, so much so that he defines himself as "born in an instrument," Finardi has spent much of his life in the States. But, at the end of a harsh and boring winter spent in Boston, with the cold extending until April '85, precisely on the anniversary of Liberation Day, April 25 (all splendid coincidences!), the Milanese rocker wrote his most accomplished piece of the '80s alongside "Le ragazze di Osaka," namely "Dolce Italia."

"In Boston, there's snow and you die of boredom..."

An impressive opening line, as could not be better.

The song explicitly mentions how in Italy "it is already spring" and how America is "always for sale like a whore." Over the years, during concerts, Eugenio would prefer a more polite "for sale and in paranoia." The song is straightforward and direct, devoid of virtuosity, as it would be instead three years later in the rearrangement for the album La Forza dell'amore.

The second track is "La vita fa male," with high-level lyrics, featuring enlightening lines such as "it's not the means that matter but what it manages to give you," where even Cesare Pavese is mentioned, but where in the end, when all seems lost, comes redemption, because tears for ordinary sunsets and playing with children suddenly make life "not bad."

"Musica desideria" has a compelling rhythm, textual assonances, but the music, in fact, remains intangible. Is the Lucio who started doing a tango mentioned at the beginning of the song Dalla? Who knows, it's likely, considering he had sung a song titled after the dance in 1979.

After "desideria" comes "Carceriera," which perhaps is depression, the one who takes away all dreams (a recurring theme of the album) and doesn't let the protagonist go. Beautiful, though it drags on too long, but perhaps that's what makes it successful.

"Amica" features a duet with Laura Valente, foreshadowing the one with Rosanna Casale in "Le ragazze di Osaka" '90 version. A good track, disillusioned and melancholic like the previous one, where after the water (to which a hymn had been dedicated) there is the desert.

After an introspective journey, Eugenio returns to political anger in the second-best moment of the album, "Soweto," a city symbolizing the end of apartheid that would happen shortly thereafter. Also sung with Luciano Ligabue three years later, I won't say more, I recommend listening to both versions.

A rebel like Finardi couldn't miss dedicating a song to the French May of 1968 in his repertoire. And so here are "I fiori del maggio," alternating Italian and French verses, with an additional reference to dreams, this time more political than literal.

The penultimate song is "Basta," which takes a stand on the side of the weakest. The meter is the same as "Scuola" or "Musica ribelle."

"Pessimistic" is the last long act of this sonic journey, concluding the night, but without sleeping (and dreaming!) instead tossing and turning in bed invoking a woman. The track is entirely in English.

Dolce Italia is truly a beautiful work deserving of four stars. The lineup of musicians is the historic one of Finardi with the addition of some new entries like Demo Morselli, not yet in the court of Maurizio Costanzo. It is a dark but intense album of great value. The wind of Elora, two years later, will know how to be more ironic, especially in "Vil Coyote."