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Rating: In the Summer of 1980, in a basement on Via dei Bardi in Florence, someone was trying to pick up guitars while outside an entire new wave of sounds and styles was moving. Musicians, designers, painters, new stylists, and hairdressers were making their way with everything that seemed new and above all, unprecedented.
Indeed, both Florence and Italy were somewhat behind compared to the London upheavals, but in Bologna, Pordenone, Milan, and Tuscany, something was stirring. Gaznevada, Great Complotto, Underground Life, and Neon were among the first in Italy to be overwhelmed by the new wave, which stemmed from the echoes and interest surrounding the suggestions invented by Tuxedomoon with "Half-Mute," the first album by U2, or The Stranglers, who rose to new hero status after being arrested in Nice on charges of inciting the audience to riot at their concert at the university. Martha & The Muffins enchanted with their technological pop and the Human League were very attentive to the "new look" of the neo-romantics.The "no future" of the punk movement had been fulfilled; it was meant to be a burning fire over all the past, and so it was. John Bonham had tragically disappeared, and shortly after, John Lennon would also fall, at the hands of a maddened fan. Lennon's death was the tombstone epitaph of an entire previous generation, and the punk movement did not survive itself because it was a breaking element.
The Tenax, Manila, Plastic, or Aleph were the new cathedrals where the new rite of the Italian New Wave was celebrated, and at the Rockoteca Brighton in Florence on December 8th of that year, Litfiba debuted. They weren't the first to do new wave; in Florence, there were already Neon and Diaframma, but deservedly, Litfiba are considered, alongside CCCP and GANG, as the most important bands of all the new Italian rock that would develop in those years.
Desaparecido, an album from 1985, isn't even their recording debut, which instead happens with the self-titled EP containing the beautiful "Guerra" and "Luna," but it can rightfully be considered the essential starting point for what would become the new Italian rock. Pietro Pelù, Ghigo Renzulli, Ringo De Palma, Antonio Aiazzi, and Gianni Maroccolo, the main lineup of the group, make with "Desaparecido" an album with cold, sharp, decisive sounds carved with Ghigo's guitar and Ringo's syncopated drums. Simple sounds, essential arrangements; listening to it today might seem like a good demo on which to develop good ideas, but this is precisely where the album's strength lies, in the new piercing essentiality of the sounds that blend the German rhythmic beat of the drums with Ghigo R.'s English guitar and the Mediterranean sounds provided by the keyboards and especially by Pietro Pelù's warm voice.
"Eroi nel vento," "Istambul," and "Guerra" will soon become classics at all Litfiba concerts, still performed today. Songs have become real anthems for their many fans, who, truth be told, have seen a significant generational turnover over the years, also considering the change of horizon and style that the Florentine band has undergone over the years.
Among the avid first-hour admirers, I recognize myself as well, in fact, even though possessing their entire discography up to the Pelù-Renzulli split, for me, the experience worth noting for our guys stops at "Litfiba 3" of 1988, when the now more mature and confident sound mixes with blues undertones. From that moment on, Renzulli's initially Led Zeppelin-like guitar derivations would take over and lead the group to a course devoid of any originality, despite the recognition of the general public and the sales, which reached up to 600,000 copies of "Spirito." From "Mondi sommersi" onward, the misunderstandings and frictions between the two, which had been going on for more than ten years, would cause the group to explode, and what remains today of Litfiba is nothing more than the ghost of a beautiful story that was.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 La preda (02:50)
Vai
La nebbia ha un corpo leggero
E tu vai
Non senti quella voce dice "Dove vai!"
Vai Affilatissimo stiletto tu hai
Con lama a doppio taglio "Credi che ce la farai?"
Sei
In ombra solo nasconderti non puoi
Salvarti oramai e` tardi
Sei
In agguato la preda tua e` li`
Ma tu gli dai le spalle
Credi che ce la farai
Vai!
Ce la farai
Affilatissimo stiletto tu hai
Con lama a doppio taglio "Credi che ce la farai?"
Vai!
Credevi di cacciare ma adesso la preda sei tu sei tu
Credevi di cacciare ma adesso la preda sei tu, yeah
Credevi di cacciare ma adesso la preda sei tu
Credevi di cacciare ma adesso la preda sei tu
04 Istambul (05:42)
Ringrazio il signore
Padrone dell' Universo
Misericordioso e compassionevole
Onnipotente
Nel giorno del giudizio
A te Rivolgiamo la nostra preghiera
E a te chiediamo l' aiuto
Indicaci la strada giusta
La strada giusta '
Ho viaggiato nel freddo
Faccia a faccia con la mia
Ombra che si gettava
Nel bianco velo del tempo
Istambul Istambul
Ho viaggiato nel freddo
Senza volto senza eta`
Pilotando un
Corpo senza guida a Istambul,
Istambul
Istambul baluardo sacro per
L' incrocio delle razze degli uomini bruciera`
L' ho cercato nel freddo
Se ne stava solo la`
Il mio volto nel fango di Istambul,
Istambul Istambul baluardo sacro per
L' incrocio delle razze degli uomini brucera`
Istambul, Istambul
Forze oscure in Istambul
Istambul, Istambul
Forze oscure in Istambul
Istambul, Istambul
05 Tziganata (02:54)
Eva ballava sul fuoco
Profumo di sesso attorno a se`
Eva ballava sul fuoco
La notte in cui nacque l'odio
Tzigano, Tzigano
Eva ballava sul fuoco
Profumo di sesso attorno a se`
Eva ballava sul fuoco
La notte in cui nacque l'odio
Rubava i loro cuori
Tzigani
Eva ballava sul fuoco
Profumo di sesso attorno a se`
Tzigano, Tzigano
Eva ballava sul fuoco
Profumo di sesso attorno a se'
07 Desaparecido (03:23)
Sotto il ponte scorre l' acqua e
Sempre acqua e`
Davanti agli occhi il sole
Sempre sole e`
Nelle mani terra
E terra e`
Ooohh!
DESAPARECIDO
Senza aria senza sole
Resta oscurita` e
L' uomo vive un sogno
Fatto di silenzi
Sognera` la terra e
Terra e`
OH! OH! OH!
DESAPARECIDO
E terra e`
Sogna il velo di una donna
E quando lo riavra`
"Davanti agli occhi
Ho il sole
Sempre sole e`
Terra nelle mani!"
E terra e`
OH! OH! OH!
DESAPARECIDO
Io sono aria e sole
I silenzi che scavano ...
DESAPARECIDO DESAPARECIDO
08 Guerra (05:29)
------
EIN ZWEI DREI VIER
DER KRIEG!
EIN ZWEI DREI VIER
FEUER!
Guardo
Oltre il muro di vetro
L' esercito che passa
Uomini neri!
Cerco
In una mano chiusa
La causa della morte di
Uomini neri!
GUERRA
Aria vuota nelle strade
Si muovono le ombre di
Uomini neri!
GUERRA
Ma che cosa mi succede
E dove sono gli occhi di
Uomini neri!
Uomini neri uh oh!
Uomini neri
e` GUERRA e` GUERRA e` GUERRA
` E VOLA .... IN ALTO .... FINO ........ A D I O ! ! ! ! `
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Other reviews
By Aerith
From the very first track, you understand you’re dealing with a masterpiece: Eroi nel Vento is a true statement of intent.
You’re left there still, reflecting on the journey around the world in eight tracks that is this album... and wondering what could have happened afterward.
By ms
"Litfiba managed to carve an enormous piece of music as feeling and as importance in the Italian rock scene."
"Desaparecido paved the way for a new course and new mindset approach in our peninsula."
By COX
In the nine tracks of 'desaparecido', the heavy bass of Maroccolo, the wise guitar of Renzulli, the cheeky and essential keyboards of Aiazzi, and the cannon-like voice of Pelù have created something unique and unrepeatable.
'Istanbul' is the track that... leaves me the most stunned... with a delightful keyboard and voices echoing phrases with a Middle Eastern taste.
By Ferito
"A blend of skillful musical savoir-faire offers our grateful ears eight songs of fine quality."
"An album that must (MUST!) be remembered as one of the very first steps for a certain way of seeing music in Italy."
By Treasure
"Desaparecido is an album that speaks in very current terms (of war, hatred, and injustices perpetrated for reasons of state), yet it does so in such a poetic and almost theatrical manner."
"Listening to Desaparecido is like alternating readings of Iliad and Odyssey. The emotion is the same: a sense of archaic, epic, intense, now dramatic, now softened in the sweetness of the atmospheres."
