Francesco De Gregori
Francesco De Gregori

THE REVIEW

FRANCESCO DE GREGORI (1974) 9/10

After all, everyone experiences these things in their own way. For example, if someone asked me what Vasco's best album is, I would answer, without hesitation, "Non siamo mica gli americani", but "Cosa succede in città", with all its imperfections, is the one I hold closest to my heart; if I were asked which is De Gregori's best album, I’d have a bit more doubt, but in the end I’d say "Titanic", yet I feel a deep connection to this "Francesco De Gregori" (it was the first of his I ever heard), and for me, even though it contains a couple of songs I’m not crazy about, it’s the best, in terms of being my "heart's album".

Now, concerning the recent statements made by the singer-songwriter during the launch of his new tour (you all know them, so I won't repeat them here), everyone is free to think whatever they want. I won’t say anything—or actually, yes, I will say one thing. This is a strange country: among the artists, or would-be artists, who signed an appeal to stop the genocide in Gaza, there’s even Gigi D’Alessio. Not De Gregori. And so it’s come out that D’Alessio is supposed to be better, morally (which might be true) and musically (which can never be true), than De Gregori. Strange country, where artists are judged based on their political statements and not on what they do: it really stinks of the '70s, and frankly De Gregori, after what happened at Palalido in 1977, has already more than paid his dues.

The album, as I was saying. Beautiful. In 1976, two years after its release, De Gregori claimed this was his least successful work. It happens: Fellini thought that "8 1/2" could have turned out better, just saying. Over the years the Prince seems to have changed his mind and has somewhat reconsidered: in fact, some of the songs here have been performed many times in his live shows, including the famous "Niente da capire" (but, to be fair, "Cercando un altro Egitto" also gained its fair share of glory in the early 2000s, and in 1997 he even put "Giorno di pioggia" back on the set list). So, "Niente da capire". The story behind its censorship is well-known ("Giovanna faceva dei giochetti da impazzire" became, for a long time, "Però Giovanna è stata la migliore") and it was a song De Gregori wrote to counter criticism about excessive obscurity in his previous album, "Alice non lo sa", 1973. With a little curious detail: at one point the song goes "Mia moglie ha molti uomini e ognuno è una scommessa", and because of this, the song wasn’t aired on radio or TV until May 14, 1974, that is, the day after the referendum victory for divorce. In an Italy I’d dare say even more prudish than usual, a song that talked about women (here, a woman) who didn’t exactly see fidelity as a goal to pursue—the idea of airing something like this before such a crucial vote seemed (and in fact was) intolerable.

But unquestionably the whole album is "shrouded" in hermeticism. Because now we have the internet, tons of interviews, YouTube, and we can decipher through the author’s words what many tracks, so difficult to grasp on a first, perhaps distracted, listen, might have meant. With an atmosphere more reminiscent of the best Leonard Cohen than the “degregorian” myth of Bob Dylan, our man delivers tracks as fascinating as they are complex on a literary level. But for sure, songs like "Informazioni di Vincent" or "Finestre di dolore" leave you speechless. And this was true even back then, much to the surprise of the RCA record executives, who did not expect such a following and could never have predicted the huge success of the next album, "Rimmel", which would become the best-selling LP of 1975. Then, honestly, I would have never guessed that in "Cercando un altro Egitto" the "grandi ciminiere di lampone che fumano lente" were referring to the chimneys of concentration camps. Just like the fact that "A lupo" was dedicated to a friend of De Gregori's; but the final track, "Souvenir", contains that wonderful passage that melts me every single time: "...E intanto conto i denti, però il conto non mi torna/ce ne è uno che mi manca e forse tu mi puoi aiutare/per caso non l'hai mica ritrovato a casa tua?, amore mio/quando ti ho morso il cuore". In an album featuring big names (Tony Esposito, Venditti, Renzo Zenobi), there’s also "Bene" (for me, the most beautiful), but since it makes me cry every time, not today.