Francesco Guccini
Amerigo

THE REVIEW

1978.
Guccini has three fantastic albums behind him: "Radici", "Stanze di vita quotidiana", and "Via Paolo Fabbri 43".
With "Amerigo", he does not disappoint expectations by producing an album of 6 tracks, some of which have become absolute historical pieces, foremost among them "Eskimo".

Guccini's style of writing remains consistent, the one we all know. It moves from "Amerigo", a narrative of the character caught between ancient and modern, to the distinctive "Libera nos domine", with its evocative chorus. Beautiful is the most singer-songwriter piece of all, "100, Pennsylvania Ave". There's no need to dwell on "Eskimo", which has become one of the most acclaimed pieces at his concerts. It's an ironic reminiscence of his youth in the years of "revolution" and the embarrassing situations of everyday life in which he, a naive young man, found himself in the company of his friends, one of whom "almost held a learned conference on LSD". In its own sad way, "Le cinque anatre", with its dominant minor chords, builds almost a castle of melancholy in the listener's soul. The concluding "Mondo nuovo" is perhaps the least musically inspired. Here Guccini imagines what the world will be like in the future with his usual lyrical pessimism.

In short, a work that stands up well to comparison and continues the trajectory of previous albums, which weigh like boulders. Not the absolute best, but certainly one of the most appreciable.