3rd: THE WOLVES
A year after Ballata per 4 stagioni, a musically excellent album but with pieces not yet fully embodying Ivan's style, comes a legendary album that is nothing less than a bomb containing all the qualities of Ivan Graziani. Assisted by his colleague and friend Antonello Venditti, Ivan pulls out of the hat a gritty record focused more on virtuosic guitar arpeggios. The task of welcoming the listener falls to the title track, which already reveals the intentions of the work: a penetrating and airy guitar riff sets the backdrop for a story of war, where the wolves mentioned are simply soldiers headed to the battlefield, and in the chorus it opens up, making the singing violent and the guitars more rock and tough. After such an opening, another hard and raw track titled Motocross immediately follows: the classic dark and magical story of a boy (perhaps Ivan himself) envied for his bike, who falls in love with a girl who, in the end, will steal his vehicle with two other shady figures, all seasoned with a rock and driving arrangement that catapults the listener alongside our protagonist... he doesn't sound at all like the author of the previous year. The substance remains intact but the writing style has completely changed. The rest of the album stays on the tracks of the first two songs but simultaneously takes continuous deviations: Ninna nanna dell'uomo is indeed a unique track in Ivan's discography, both because it is sung in Abruzzese dialect and for the arrangement that skillfully combines piano and guitar in a way that won't happen frequently. But also Lugano addio, the only ballad in the entire album on which I don't intend to dwell excessively since more or less everything has been said about this track. I prefer instead to mention Eva, a story of a prostitute narrated with lyrics whose style bears similarities to that of Venditti, or Il topo nel formaggio, a simple invitation not to settle but to gnaw at all that is good, or even Il soldo, which, while being less focused than the previous two, tells the tale of life with Ivan's usual flair. In short, we could go on until nightfall, I Lupi is Ivan Graziani's first masterpiece, an album that, with its stories of everyday life and its raw and intense arrangements, makes it a timeless work, completely detached from the singer-songwriter model that was popular at that time.
The gem: Motocross
A year after Ballata per 4 stagioni, a musically excellent album but with pieces not yet fully embodying Ivan's style, comes a legendary album that is nothing less than a bomb containing all the qualities of Ivan Graziani. Assisted by his colleague and friend Antonello Venditti, Ivan pulls out of the hat a gritty record focused more on virtuosic guitar arpeggios. The task of welcoming the listener falls to the title track, which already reveals the intentions of the work: a penetrating and airy guitar riff sets the backdrop for a story of war, where the wolves mentioned are simply soldiers headed to the battlefield, and in the chorus it opens up, making the singing violent and the guitars more rock and tough. After such an opening, another hard and raw track titled Motocross immediately follows: the classic dark and magical story of a boy (perhaps Ivan himself) envied for his bike, who falls in love with a girl who, in the end, will steal his vehicle with two other shady figures, all seasoned with a rock and driving arrangement that catapults the listener alongside our protagonist... he doesn't sound at all like the author of the previous year. The substance remains intact but the writing style has completely changed. The rest of the album stays on the tracks of the first two songs but simultaneously takes continuous deviations: Ninna nanna dell'uomo is indeed a unique track in Ivan's discography, both because it is sung in Abruzzese dialect and for the arrangement that skillfully combines piano and guitar in a way that won't happen frequently. But also Lugano addio, the only ballad in the entire album on which I don't intend to dwell excessively since more or less everything has been said about this track. I prefer instead to mention Eva, a story of a prostitute narrated with lyrics whose style bears similarities to that of Venditti, or Il topo nel formaggio, a simple invitation not to settle but to gnaw at all that is good, or even Il soldo, which, while being less focused than the previous two, tells the tale of life with Ivan's usual flair. In short, we could go on until nightfall, I Lupi is Ivan Graziani's first masterpiece, an album that, with its stories of everyday life and its raw and intense arrangements, makes it a timeless work, completely detached from the singer-songwriter model that was popular at that time.
The gem: Motocross
Martello
4 oct 20
DeRank ™: 11,73
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