Francesco de Gregori
Viva l'Italia

THE REVIEW

"Viva l'Italia" is an album from 1979; I am eager to review this work because I believe it is one of De Gregori's most significant (which implies that he can be considered among the greatest Italian songwriters and, therefore, in the world), both from a musical and textual perspective.

The sequence of songs is as follows:

1- Capo d'Africa 2- Buenos Aires 3- L'ultima nave 4- Eugenio 5- Stella stellina 6- Viva l'Italia 7- Gesù bambino 8- Terra e acqua

The first thing I want to highlight is the ingenuity of all the sung melodies (perhaps the only exception is "Terra e acqua") reaching the highest levels in "Eugenio" (very subtle, refined melody, perhaps not appreciable on first listen), "Stella stellina" and "Gesù bambino". The sounds are acoustic, with notable Latin-American influences, warm and rich (the arrangements are excellent). The lyrics are typical of De Gregori, all of high level, with the outstanding feature of being unsettling but not saddening, with melancholic and ironic veins simultaneously. The instrumental introduction of "Capo d'Africa" is very beautiful and interesting.

For completeness, I list the instrumentalists:
Phil Spencer (Guitars) Mike Neville (Bass) Tommy Eyre (Keyboards) Freddie Kagen (Keyboards) Jerry Shirley (Drums and Percussions)