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Fetus
Return to the New World
Entirely dedicated to the person and work of Aldous Huxley
First long-play debut for Franco Battiato. After a series of singles in a beat mood, here comes the first "experiment" of a long series of experimental records cut between '72 and '78 (the other albums will be Pollution, Sulle corde di Aries, Clic, M. elle le "Gladiator", Battiato, Juke Box and L'Egitto prima delle sabbie).
The 8 episodes of the LP (let us remember the cover, censored at the time, with a fetus conceived by Gianni Sassi, designer and creator of the Cramps label) are all characterized by a rather naive musical structure, we would say now, but at the time it sounded like something strange and absolutely new. In the arrangements, the most important role is given to the VCS3 synthesizer, which together with a sparse instrumentation composed of acoustic guitars, drum, and violin, manages to weave original and at the same time suggestive and hallucinating sound textures, in perfect harmony with the themes of the album.
A heartbeat, a delicate guitar arpeggio, Battiato's voice introducing the world of Fetus ("I wasn’t born yet, but I already felt the heart that my life was being born without love, I was dragging myself slowly inside the human body already through the veins towards my destiny"). The journey begins.
"...I will be a cell among engines, living as a cell...", the life under a microscope of this embryonic life seems already doomed to unhappiness, melancholy marks its mutation "against the time that doesn't want". Cariocinesi features an original arrangement, a minimal piano note sequence that then slips into an unusual country tune, the journey of our cell is examined under the microscope, where the first phase of metamorphosis begins to be seen. Energia talks about all those children never born due to contraception while Fenamologia is the ideological manifesto of the album, the emblematic phrase "x1=Asen(omega t), x2=A sen(omega t + phi)" can be considered as the enunciation of the entire record. A persistent piano riff introduces Meccanica, the track is divided into two parts, the first based on the question and answer of the keyboards while the second is characterized by a chilling and persistent synthesizer section. One of the peaks of the album. Life is about to see the light. The final phase of the journey is given by two discordant tracks, the first, Anafase, is infused with hope, joy in coming out and opening to the world, the second and final Mutazione, represents the hypothetical thought once we are in the world: was I really wanted by the one who conceived me or was I born by mistake?
Fashions pass, various musical genres are destined for variation, but records like this are destined to remain fixed in the minds of all of us. Essential. Nothing else to say.
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Other reviews
By Dj Lavoire
This album, almost on the edge of listenability, purely psychedelic and very electronic, is an album that makes you dream.
Guys, listen to it; it’s worth it. It’s true, the early albums are overlooked, so what are you waiting for?
By Listening Room
Some think he is a Martian or who knows what else. It’s Franco Battiato.
You will not find songs within it that follow the classic composition scheme or long tracks, because Battiato wanted to experiment in every way possible.
By Superbia
"Fetus may not be Battiato's best album, but this does not make it any less important than the others."
"The right amalgamation of instruments and complex lyrics are a distinguishing feature of this song and the entire album."
By Gianfranco
Battiato was ahead of his time, an artist like him in the Italian field is essential.
This is the beginning of his universe, both physical and mental, it is the prelude to birth, to composition, to the spring of the beast.
