Herbert Pagani
Mégalopolis

Herbert Pagani, a versatile and cosmopolitan artist, who grew up in Italy, received the greatest recognition as a singer-songwriter in France in the early '70s, thanks to a very original form of theater-song that combined music with painting and cinema; on record, the songs are presented seamlessly, linked by spoken parts, fragments of conversations, radio and television broadcasts, fake advertising jingles, with extensive use of sound effects. The most ambitious and accomplished example of this artistic expression is the concept album Mégalopolis, created in 1972, inspired by an essay by Roberto Vacca (Medioevo prossimo venturo), warning about the excessive trust in technology.

Mégalopolis is set in a hypothetical Paris at the end of the millennium, capital of an entirely cemented United Europe and populated by a mass of uncritical consumers, confined to skyscrapers and forced to breathe through gas masks. A minority fights a "peaceful resistance," cultivating plants, breeding animals, and teaching children to live "on love and oxygen."

When Mégalopolis collapses, paralyzed by a chain of failures, it will be this minority that survives and rebuilds the planet on more nature-respecting bases.

From a musical and interpretative point of view, Pagani owes much to Jacques Brel and Gilbert Bécaud, while for the ironic tone, eclecticism, and daring linguistic richness of the texts, he can be compared to Serge Gainsbourg. In Mégalopolis the traditional chanson française is contaminated with rock and progressive due to Ivan Graziani, in his first major collaboration, co-authoring six tracks.

Several notable tracks: Discours PDG des USA d'Europe is a presidential speech interrupted by advertising jingles; L'Arche de Noë (one of the main themes of the album), Serenade, Deux sous la douche, and Chez nous express the need for a human-sized world and not stifling one's humanity; Radio Taxi stands out for Graziani's excellent guitar work, who also signs the crazy marches Soldats! (an anti-militarist piece) and Les tapis roulants (a satire of consumerism and dependence on technology); Ni Marx-Ni Jésus expresses confidence in future generations, while the suite Mégapocalypse, with its sudden rhythm changes, excellently depicts the disintegration of Mégalopolis and the ensuing panic, until regeneration, celebrated in the solemn Le printemps d'après la fin du monde (repeated twice).

Despite some longeurs (the repetition of the final track and Le P.A.P.E., a piece that seems disconnected from the general context of the album) and some weak tracks (the cloying Vole la colombe), Mégalopolis is Herbert Pagani's most significant work; 40 years later, some themes remain current and many songs (thanks to a levity that never descends into superficiality and allows Pagani to avoid apocalyptic and moralistic tones) offer, with elegance, many points for reflection.