Eugenio Finardi
Occhi

After five years since Millennio, only interrupted by the collection Acustica, with just one true unreleased track, Eugenio Finardi returns to the music market with Occhi, 11 brand new songs and a cover adapted into Italian. We are in the mid-'90s, and while most singer-songwriters, both from the previous generation and the new ones, are producing blatantly pop albums that wink at the charts, Eugenio, the "rebel with the ponytail," produces a work that in quality is certainly closer to Macramè rather than Prendilo tu questo frutto amaro, if you know what I mean. I won't do a track-by-track, but I'll just say that the album is well-played and sung with a variety of solutions, from brass to choirs, and it ranges from purely rock tracks to sweet, high-profile ballads. If we were to divide the album into three tiers, in the first tier we find "Sveglia ragazzi," an energetic social invective, with an introduction reminiscent of "Giai Phong"; "Con questi occhi," the almost title-track that is delicate, arpeggiated, and sung divinely; "Un uomo," a masterpiece deserving the highest marks where the nonexistence of the ideal man for a woman is revealed (I won't say more, you have to listen and listen again!); and finally "Uno di noi," a cover of the more famous song by singer-songwriter Joan Osborne, with an intro that makes you think of "Lapprendista stregone" from the same year, and thematically comparable to "La stazione di Zima" from the following year.

On a second level are "Rock and roll city," meaning New York, a compelling rock track; "Dopo l'amore," a beautiful piece where, after all, love is still present; "Potevi essere tu," a mini-track that doesn't reach two minutes, with a motion reminiscent of "Favola"; and also "Sono quello che sono," vaguely reggae and performed in a heartfelt and sincere way.

In the third tier remain "Shamandura," which could have been more convincing; "Nell'aria," which drags on too long and does not quite take off; "Alba," characterized nonetheless by a burst of brass; and to conclude "Lucciola," which seems to aspire to something else but then remains flat.

Occhi is a 4-star work, suspended between great songs, at least three masterpieces, and others less incisive but still honest and never trashy or out of place. Two years later, Eugenio will release an album titled with the chemical formula for water, he will return to Sanremo 14 years after the lackluster performance in the mid-'80s, with a song inspired by Tomb Raider that is not particularly brilliant, before distancing himself from commercial production for three lustrums.