Lucio Battisti
Una giornata uggiosa

LA RECENSIONE

After the enormous success of "Una donna per amico" (1978) - almost a million copies sold - Battisti decides to apply an old show-business rule: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, this time the rule is not followed: "Una giornata uggiosa", dated 1980, will be remembered as one of the most pompous and least successful albums of the Mogol-Battisti period. The weak point of this album is, strangely enough, Geoff Westley: the architect of a success now proves to be the architect of an embarrassingly failed (musically, not commercially) attempt. Completely lost towards other horizons, Battisti definitively ends his relationship with Mogol, and on a Swiss radio broadcast, Lucio asserts: "I feel like changing. I am ready to embrace new sounds and experimentations".

“Una giornata uggiosa” is therefore the farewell album, but it is also the album of discord. Songs of the highest level ("Con il nastro rosa" above all) alternate with strangely slack ones ("Una vita viva", "Perché non sei una mela"). Mogol writes below par, Battisti composes rather coldly, and Westley fills the tracks with trumpets and excessively pompous and magniloquent horns. Something, naturally, is salvageable. At least half of the album is more than adequate. "Una giornata uggiosa" is the typical almost dance track, slightly less syncopated than "Una donna per amico", containing some interesting musical insights. The chorus is well-constructed, and Lucio’s voice is clear and bright almost as in the days of "I giardini di marzo". The polemic hint reserved by Mogol for the beloved Brianza (home to the studio where Battisti has recorded some of his most famous albums for years) arouses considerable curiosity: "I dream of my country finally dignified, and a river with live fish an hour away from home, not dreaming of New Zealand, to escape from you Brianza velenosa". "Una giornata uggiosa" will stay at the top of the charts for many months, a sign of an unconditional love from numerous fans. Also very beautiful is "Arrivederci a questa sera", a humorous revisitation of the old Italian problem of female boldness (a man takes his pretty lady around, who, under the watchful eyes of the jealous boyfriend, shows interest to all passersby). The song is rhythmically adequate, this time the horns are not a hindrance, and the long musical finale is entertaining and well-thought-out. Very curious "Gelosa cara,” a dissonant melodic composition filled with many highs and lows: it starts slow, almost muted (without music, like "Pensieri e parole") and bursts into a chorus as loud as it is shocking. Battisti is very fierce, almost angry, against a certain behavior usually adopted by ex-partners ("Gelosa cara amica mia, è proprio un tarlo una malattia, quella di non saper scordare ciò che da me non puoi sapere"). Copied, voluntarily - or involuntarily? -, by Zucchero in "Donne" (1985). A special mention goes to "Con il nastro rosa": melodic and sweet, based on a romantic and gentle melody (many strings) and on languid verses perfectly interlocked with one another (excellent use of rhymes: prato-passato; senso-penso-denso; rosse-mosse; casse-impasse; rosa-sposa), it is an anthology piece, while Battisti's voice becomes sensual as already widely noted in the previous "Una donna per amico”. The sax at the end flavors the track with a unique and rarefied atmosphere. It is somehow a new age piece: the sounds are classical but tend to escape the typical Italian musicality. It is the true masterpiece of the album, the last great tour de force that Mogol and Battisti enjoyed creating. Not to mention that the now-famous line "Lo scopriremo solo vivendo” has become a real saying. The other tracks are much less interesting. "Il monolocale” is fun but lacks irony and sarcasm; "Perché non sei una mela” lacks musical vigor (which is very strange for someone like Battisti); "Orgoglio e dignità" is nice, but nothing particularly exceptional. It’s truly the end.

What more could Mogol and Battisti have given us together? Perhaps a lot, perhaps nothing. "Una giornata uggiosa" fades away slowly: it's a pity that it's not a completely successful record, it could have been the last exciting jewel in an artistic and human journey which has no equal, and will rarely have, in the history of music (Italian and international).