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Rating:
LA RECENSIONE
The appearance presents itself as the ideal continuation of the musical ideas sketched in "E già" and then developed in "Don Giovanni"; the whole is more compact and homogeneous, creating a work that is definitely more muted and impermeable compared to its predecessors.
The presence of electronic instruments alongside orchestral elements seems more mature, thanks to the excellent production work by Robyn Smith who manages to enrich the sound fabric of the tracks with almost subliminal details, and in particular, to give the rhythmic elaborations reverberations and acoustic refinements appreciable especially after numerous listens.
The structure of the tracks, unpredictable and now far removed from the traditional song format, accommodates often elusive melodic cues and seems to reveal a significant inversion of the compositional process, which this time presents the lyrics of Pasquale Panella as the foundation on which the "soundtrack" was subsequently built.
The fiery irony and winks at the listener from "Don Giovanni" have disappeared; the music, rarefied and almost ethereal, seems an impenetrable shield at first listens while the fluid poetic matter of Pasquale Panella illustrates with increasingly elusive texts intricate images that seem conceived in a state of semi-consciousness.
It is useless to search for a hidden meaning "beneath" the word because it is already present on its surface; the appearance of the word, in its ambiguity, is already laden with all possible meanings which will be revealed to the listener differently each time, according to their predisposition to listening, to the association of ideas, to the connection of always renewable and interchangeable correspondences.
A word that becomes ambiguity, that conveys a multiplicity of meanings including those evoked by the pure musicality of the text, rejecting any further explanation, any translation, any reduction; consistent with this obscure poetic, the texts are absent in the packaging, and the covers of the CD and cassette editions contain only part of the design (a belief...).
"Everything is linguistic and therefore everything speaks"; finally, words and music can free themselves from the obscenity of having to be necessarily (and basely) univocal and clear, of having to exercise the bad faith of communication.
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Summary by Bot
L'apparenza is a mature continuation of Lucio Battisti's evolving musical style, blending electronic and orchestral elements with refined production by Robyn Smith. The album departs from traditional song formats, building soundscapes around Pasquale Panella’s elusive and poetic lyrics. The music feels ethereal and complex, encouraging multiple interpretations rather than clear meanings. The review highlights the album's subtlety and layered listening experience.Tracklist 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 Cialtronius
Hypnotic disquietude, vague malaise, subtle alienation.
A genius of music and one of words duet from a distance and interpenetrate languidly in a cold embrace.
By ygmarchi2
"Oh, it is so magical. The harmonies are mainly all Lucio's. He demoed the songs with a very simple keyboard with his voice."
"At that time drum machines were widely used and the use of rhythmic keyboards gave it this feeling of almost unemotion. This is what he wanted... the appearance."
By Martello
"A song that seems to talk about love but doesn’t actually talk about love."
"The lyrics are where the amorous theme is rendered almost explicitly, with an arrangement both gentle and powerful."
