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2nd: AGNESE SWEET AGNESE
In 1979, Ivan is at the peak of his artistic inspiration, and just the year before he had released an album that would turn out to be one of the most inspired moments of his work, achieving significant commercial success. After such an event, Ivan attempted to take another step forward, producing ten tracks for one of the masterpieces of Italian music: Agnese dolce Agnese. The beginning sets the tone right away: a legendary acoustic guitar riff and penetrating percussion, these are the predominant elements in Taglia la testa al gallo, an invitation to challenge something or someone that annoys you. As we flip the record, we encounter Agnese, a slow and dreamy piece that recounts moments spent with a girl who now only lives in the protagonist's memory; a true amarcord that grips the protagonist’s mind as he regrets never having confessed his feelings to her. These two tracks represent the two sides of the album, which skillfully blends rock and ballads with Ivan Graziani's lyrics that are sometimes furious, sometimes realistic, and sometimes fairy-tale-like. There are moments of pure autobiography like Fame, a tale of how hunger (a classy lady) can drive one to do things they absolutely loathe, and there are absurd and dark provincial stories like Veleno all'autogrill and Canzone per Susy, where in the first we find a boy stealing salmon from an autogrill to a blues/rock base, while in the second we have the story of Susy, the girl of a bassist who is already in a relationship; it all ends with the bassist's other girl cutting Susy's hair. Among the tracks, there are also moments dedicated to religion and everything that revolves around it: Il piede di San Raffaele, ironic in addressing the superstitions of those who go to kiss the relics of saints for good luck, and Il prete di Anghiari where more than a priest, one feels they are facing a mythological figure. Inside the album, there is also a song that is one of the most beloved by Ivan's audience and the author himself: Fuoco sulla collina is a manifesto of youthful illusion, that which drives young people to undertake long, stormy journeys for something that ultimately turns out to be just a handful of flies; this is the meaning of the piece from today's perspective, but considering it is a piece from 1979 intended to depict the youth uprisings caused by '68, one realizes that the piece has not aged a bit and over time has taken on multiple meanings. In conclusion to this small analysis, Agnese dolce Agnese is an album that perfectly summarizes the many facets of Ivan, managing to unite his more extreme and rock-oriented side with his more delicate and dreamlike one.

The gem: Fuoco sulla collina
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It's just worth spending a few words on one of the most beautiful records in Italian music: "Agnese dolce Agnese" by Ivan Graziani, released in 1979. From Abruzzo, a wolf of the Gran Sasso, a talented guitarist, an irregular artist impossible to label and capable like few of telling man… more