Ivan Graziani
Fragili Fiori Livan

In 1995, after the excellent album "Malelingue" from the previous year, Ivan Graziani releases his second live album, "Fragili fiori ... livan", which is also a double album (at least in the CD version I own), thirteen years after the first, the magnificent "Parla tu" from 1982. This work includes five unreleased tracks, four recorded in the studio (Fragili fiori, La Nutella di tua sorella with vocal participation from his great friend Renato Zero, Buona fortuna - Io scendo qui, Eri bella) and one live (Bum! Bum! Bum!). Let's say that the mentioned unreleased tracks are not exactly masterpieces, although they are quite pleasant to listen to. The most fun and charming of these is definitely the one sung in duet with the national Renatone, while my personal favorite is "Bum! Bum! Bum!", probably because it is recorded live. But the live set is a great live set and returns to us a Graziani as energetic and gritty as in the (good) old days. The music that pervades the whole album is of excellent quality, both in the more "energetic" and "captivating" pieces and in the splendid ballads. From the previous work "Malelingue," three excellent tracks are taken: "Maledette malelingue," "Il topo (Signore delle fogne)," and "Poppe poppe poppe." In the first, also presented at the Sanremo Festival in 1994 and preceded by Ivan with an eloquent "so, girls and boys, let's see what you can do," it talks about gossip and slander that can even destroy a person: the "victim" in this case is a fifteen-year-old named Federica, "accused" (naturally without the slightest shred of evidence) of having a relationship with "a mature man, said to be married, much older than she is"; some verses are truly indicative of how Ivan feels about the subject: "Thus people see evil even where there is none," "Oh, cursed gossip, people will destroy her." The consequence of all this cannot be anything but the following: "He was chased away, removed to another city. And it is said that her father gave her a serious beating; now she stays inside the house and won't go out for quite a while. You see, a bit of courage and certain bitches need to be punished, and for heaven's sake, we surely need a bit of morality here": the triumph of bigotry and hypocrisy! In the second piece, it talks about a rat that accidentally ended up in a noble house while hunting and was thrown by the owners to a large python, closed in a cage, in the cage itself specifically to serve as a succulent meal for the mentioned python. But things go a bit differently: the python, in an attempt to gobble up the unfortunate guest, violently bangs its head against the cage and dies, being leisurely devoured by its "meal," that is, the rat. As Ivan says before performing the piece, "This song has one thing to convey: be very careful about using arrogance, as it can turn against you": I completely agree! The third piece, as may be understood from the title, is an ode to a very noble part of the female body "where the eyes of the greedy fixate"; after all, "I've never looked lower than the belt because it's above where nature expresses itself": clearer than that! The remaining part of the live is a delightful "return to the past," and we thus reencounter: Dada and the great Ivette without breasts, the two close cousins (Dada, where before performing the piece, Ivan reminds the young that one thing they will encounter in life should disgust and repel them, and that thing is drugs); Marta with her heavy breasts, red lips, windbreaker, and hair still like the lake (Lugano addio); Agnese chocolate-colored, in retrospect never kissed (Agnese); Minù with a skirt blowing in the wind at the top of the hill and with her eyes and her gypsy necklaces (Minù Minù); the marble eyes of the Tuscan colossus that gaze too far, dear Barbarossa, a philosophy student, and adventure companion (Firenze canzone triste); the dream of a garden and a man who turned his back only so his face couldn't be seen (Fuoco sulla collina, with a very beautiful almost three-minute piano and guitar instrumental prelude!); the man who can quote classics from memory but can't tell a branch from a leaf (Pigro, in an almost heavy metal version: listen to believe!!!). Last but not least, "Il chitarrista": in this version, besides the beautiful song itself, there's a wonderful central medley made up of extracts from "Would I Lie To You" by Charles & Eddie, "All That She Wants" by Ace Of Base, "The Rhythm of the Night" by Corona, "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple, "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin, interspersed with a sort of village fair mazurka, just to not miss anything: magnificent!!! I don't give it a 5 only because of the not very thrilling unreleased tracks and due to the slight disadvantage compared to the previous live album from 1982, perfect in every respect; but it's still an excellent live album. Unfortunately, this will be the last album released in Graziani's lifetime, who at the beginning of 1997 will be overcome by an incurable disease at just over fifty years old. What a shame it is, first and foremost for the man and for the guitarist-songwriter, who in this last period of his life seemed in great shape and could have perhaps gifted us more gems: I swear it on the Fender (which I don't have)!!!