Franco Battiato
Inneres Auge - Il tutto è più della somma delle sue parti

There are two types of Authors: pure lyricists and pure musicians, placed at the two extreme poles of the art of song; the former have always been focused on the poetic dimension of the lyrics, deliberately placing music (with all its stylistic and aesthetic connotations) in the background; the latter can be defined as song artists, more or less experimenters, because musical art cannot but be experimentation, otherwise it would be a timeless and semantic-free syntactic structure, detached from any emotional contact with the listener and the writer; the pioneer of the first poetic current is Francesco Guccini, "the most educated of the Italian Singers" (Umberto Eco); while musicians (and it is emphasized musicians) like Lucio Dalla and Franco Battiato undoubtedly occupy a position of utmost importance in the second school; is Someone missing? How not!

De André neither belongs to one nor the other strand, although in the version more free of the various Mauro Pagani, Gian Piero Reverberi, Nicola Piovani, Piero Carapellucci, Pfm, etc., much more "bareboned" and resembling a supreme singer, much more similar to the aforementioned Guccini, but with a very limited instrumental ensemble, practically only the guitar. After all, it is unclear to what extent the two lexical-syntactic and pure sound spheres interact, which uses what and what is used by what, nor is it finally known to what extent the fascinating debate on the relationship between words and music is useful.

Franco Battiato, "foreign body in Italian music" as he likes to define himself, almost a kind of unforeseen accident, after the not exactly exciting attempts from "X Stratagemmi" and "Il Vuoto", with digital music clad in post-rock by Fsc (a band from Monselice, Padua) as well as the completion of the "Fleurs" trilogy returns with a collection of songs that is not an album, consisting of unpublished tracks, never published tracks, or reinterpretations of others' tracks. Let us say right away regarding the content song guide that Battiato is not new to invectives, and it is also known that the violence of the conceptual message is inversely proportional to the harshness of the sound; in this sense, "Povera Patria" was the most fiery political invective, but not the only one (something similar is found in "Ermeneutica"), but never before in this case does the Maestro point the finger at "a" protagonist of the invective, who thus embodies the most negative and hateful connotation.

"Someone says what's wrong with hosting private parties
with beautiful girls
to entertain leaders and servants of the state?
We didn’t get it
and why on earth should we pay
even for the extras for some idiots?
what can laws do
where only money reigns?
justice is nothing more than a public commodity...
what would charlatans and swindlers live off
if they didn't have tangible currency to throw like hooks among the people".

However, it must be added that the episode cited is nothing but an apparent pretext to introduce the contrast between spirituality and materialism, almost antinomical, as the choice is mandatory and unfortunately, humanity has taken the second path. The music is practically déjà vu of the more electro, less experimental Battiato (the term is to be relativized);
we are far not only from the electrified and industrial rock of "Gommalacca" but even from the "disguised" one of "Il Vuoto". However, the song has the effect of awakening the conscience with an unexpected jolt, this is why the music can take a back seat, it could also be a text set to music, or a poem recited without any other instrument; the effect, for the writer, was similar to the presentation of the famous book in the Satyricon broadcast (by fellow new-wave Daniele Luttazzi); it is no coincidence that Battiato recently defined himself as "I am a slightly more bastard Travaglio".

The measure is full, and you can feel it: after the horror vacui of the last studio work, which led to a maniacal and almost pre-Renaissance filling of every corner and sonic space, here is an album where the initial explosion generates a guiding concept almost gestalt-like; the whole is greater than the sum of the individual components, which alludes to a reparative thought and produces a modus operandi certainly more relaxed; apart from the very clear "Inneres Auge", and well-known tracks like "No Time No Space" and "La quiete dopo un addio" stunning is the reinterpretation of "Inverno" by Fabrizio De André, not a simple cover but a true reworking for piano, keyboard, strings, and acoustic guitar; the epitome in Catanese of "U'Cuntu" very sad, takes up the musical theme of the overture, still written with four hands with Manlio Sgalambro seems like "poor country" of apocalyptic proportions but without more phrases of invocation of any hope ("we are losing our minds: are you realizing where we are going to end up?").

However, the likely peak of the album, the most precious jewel is a piece never published before except in the single "Shock In My Town", namely the spectacular "Stage Doors", with one of the most beautiful lyrics ever written by Battiato effected vocal accelerations and electro shards similar to guitar riffs. Ultimately, layers and layers of philosophical poetry, as an attempt at reparative and consoling action concerning an increasingly unlivable world.

Recommended for collectors, for others: "Stage Doors" is worth the candle.