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THE REVIEW
Why do you suffocate me? Let me breathe, let me close my eyes and dream, give me only the best things and keep the worst, the negative sides, the bad thoughts must disappear from my mind. I sit down, calmly, what I have to do can wait, all the people run with their minds focused on the schemes that life imposes on us, but not me, I sit down and insert Anima latina by Lucio into the stereo. A tool, the stereo, that has reached such a level of sound perfection that sometimes it is too perfect for a record like this and at times it almost seems like you can hear Lucio's voice saying: aaa CDs aren’t for me, for me it needs to be vinyl. I want to make you enjoy with vinyl almost as if it were an aid for erotic games. I want to warm you with the wood of my instruments, not with thermo-convectors and laser beams. The fact is that Lucio just doesn't conform to rules and schemes, neither professional and therefore musical nor sentimental as this absolute masterpiece of Italian music testifies. And his "Anima latina" is not only an explicit request for freedom directed towards the woman who encircles and wants to possess him but, more subtly, also towards the audience who tends to standardize and idealize the characters they follow.
Unlike Battisti’s other works here we find no "single" but can you explain to me what does single mean? What the heck is this single? Maybe I, well now I am a single in the sense that I am neither engaged nor married, not by my choice but by circumstance. But the so-called "single" referred to in the record industry is a term I would immediately abolish. Dear friends, for me in a record the single could be a particular track but for another of you the single could be a completely different track, who can decide that? Well, then I tell you one thing: even if these blessed commercial rules had identified "Due mondi" as a single in Anima latina, in my opinion the songs of this album are all singles. And even if in recent times (which I think are the darkest that Italian light music has ever known and the reason doesn't seem the right place to discuss it), as I was saying, even if in recent times we've lost a bit of the habit, we are faced with the type of album par excellence that must be listened to from beginning to end, if you truly want to enter this vortex of emotions that Battisti transmits to us. Anima latina seems one of those three-dimensional paintings, each time you listen to it you grasp new details, all those details that we are unfortunately losing sight of but that re-emerge both from the instruments and from the lyrics slightly hidden by vocal effects that even today someone tries to use but never in such a meaningful way as Lucio did in this album. Psychedelic, evocative, helpless, visionary, and self-ironic, celestial Battisti with this album turns off the light and says: do you like me? do you fancy me? take me now because tomorrow I'll be different and above all never the same as yesterday.
Friends, take it! And for about forty minutes turn off the light too and enter a dimension that now, unfortunately, is only a distant memory.
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Summary by Bot
Lucio Battisti’s Anima Latina is celebrated as an Italian musical masterpiece that defies commercial norms. The album invites listeners to immerse fully in its psychedelic and emotional depth, with no real 'singles' but a complete listening experience. Praised for its sound quality and innovative vocal effects, it stands as a visionary work that challenges both the audience and the industry standards. The review urges embracing the album in its entirety, highlighting its timeless and evocative nature.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti (1943–1998) was an Italian singer-songwriter and composer, celebrated for his collaborations first with lyricist Mogol and later with Pasquale Panella. His career spans 1960s pop classics to later experimental, electronic 'white' albums.100 Reviews
Other reviews
By valeriozappa
Because with this album Lucio Battisti decides to make a decisive change in his way of composing music.
Anima Latina is anything but a cold work. It is sun, it is freshness, it is the joy of novelty, it is a smile.
By the clash
We are facing a work imbued with electronics, Latin rhythms, and lyrics sometimes difficult to understand.
An album born after the experience in Latin America, characterized by a profound freedom both in the lyrics and in the music that have nothing to envy in the more experimental sounds of Radiohead.
By cece65
Every line of this album is a flash, a memory, a snapshot that surfaces in the mind.
What else can you do when every move, every record of yours regularly goes to number 1? Make another number 1 or seek new stimuli, new sensations, new musical emotions, and here you are served, I did so.
By Viva Lì
"Anima latina" is the most unusual album among all those recorded by Lucio.
It is not the best Battisti ever, but it is the most experimental, the most courageous, and the most independent one.
