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Rating: Here I have in my hands a booklet of "only" 1329 pages. It's an encyclopedia of music. But beware.
There have been countless musical encyclopedias released over the years, some actually useful and others quite silly. Last year I talked about the "Dizionario del Pop-Rock" by Tonti and Gentile, which was a mess. This "24,000 Dischi" (but the records reviewed are many more) is, in my opinion, the best musical encyclopedia released since 2000, despite many flaws, omissions, and debatable ratings. But it is a work of certain value, thoughtfully conceived and strongly desired by His Majesty Riccardo Bertoncelli. This particular work is now quite old, it was released in 2005 and had a follow-up, an update to be more precise, in 2007, then it stopped; it was never updated again. Why? Zelig Editore expected higher sales numbers, especially at the first release, and the update that came out two years later was a total flop that caused the entire project to be shut down. A pity, because it is indeed an interesting work, especially because, unlike Tonti and Gentile who did everything by themselves, in our case there was a team of journalists and critics of which Bertoncelli (and Thellung) were, so to speak, the coaches, and it took more than a year and a half to put the first edition together. Despite the fact that it is a post-1960 work (albums prior to this are not mentioned) and it focuses only on pop, rock, jazz (a little), blues, the team of critics is of a very high level. For example, rock (and hard rock) are dissected by the Master of Rock Music Gianni Della Cioppa; the section on Italian music is entrusted to Paolo Madeddu; but there are also famous writers like Tommaso Iannini, Ermanno Labianca, and Maurizio Zoja.
Foreign music:
Some examples. The Pink Floyd entry is curated with attention to the smallest details (the ratings can be disputed, of course, and giving the lowest rating to "The Final Cut" can be debatable), but the care is impeccable, just like the section on Springsteen (where each album is thoroughly dissected, and top ratings are given to "Born to Run"; "Darkness on the Edge of Town"; "The River"; "The Rising") but the best is what was assigned to the late Cesare Spotti who pays exemplary tribute to Bob Dylan. At random, the top ratings go to Dylan (6 albums with full stars) and the Rolling Stones (5 albums with 5 stars), but also commendable is the attention given to somewhat forgotten groups like the Quicksilver Messenger Service or artists who fell into the attic of memories like John Sebastian and his "Tarzana Kid". Excellent ratings go to Jefferson Airplane; Led Zeppelin; Brian Eno; Beatles. Astonishing is also the care taken in remembering Richard Thompson and the Third Ear Band.
Low points (because not all that glitters is gold): Jimi Hendrix is treated with incredible indifference (okay, "Are you Experienced?" deserves the highest rating, but why not the rest of his discography?); the Smiths are remembered and celebrated (almost) exclusively for their compilations, and David Bowie seems to have done nothing right after 1977 ("Let's Dance" is so bad?); too much attention is given to the many live albums of Pearl Jam, and a bit of snobbery towards Prince. Very good, on the other hand, is the section on Frank Zappa (who receives very high ratings) and applause for Neil Young, who, poor thing, seems to have forgotten his talent after 1980. Simon & Garfunkel are fine; the Iron Maiden after the first album are done (eh...).
Italian music:
It's a bit of a weak point. I mean, the names and groups are more or less all there, sometimes commendably, as we shall see, but, for example, the great era of Italian prog is massively forgotten except for Banco (which, moreover, does not receive particular praise).
Very well, let's say, the alternative rock section, the Afterhours, the CCCP, the Litfiba (rightly massacred from "Mondi sommersi" onwards) are impeccably narrated; De André receives great ratings, Guccini too, Battisti as well (and excellent the maximum ratings given to the Panella period), Vasco is great in the '80s, less so afterwards, and I agree, and it's also right that the first two albums of Ligabue receive maximum ratings, but let's forget about the others. With some surprises: La Crus, the Gang, the memory of greats from the past, from Gino Paoli to Carosone, from Lolli to Carosone. And some names you wouldn't expect: Statuto, Cristina Donà, the Meganoidi, Daniele Sepe.
Good, but not great. Bennato, poor thing, is almost completely slammed except for two albums ("I buoni e i cattivi"; "Sono solo canzonette"); Jovanotti gets top ratings at the time of "La mia moto" (oh, I like it too, but not exactly top ratings); De Gregori after "Titanic" (1982) has ratings that oscillate between 1 and 2 stars, too little I think; Battiato is great only in the '80s and not very interesting after, no, I would say we don't agree; Le Orme are treated very poorly, on the other hand "Hanno ucciso l'Uomo Ragno" is a (semi) masterpiece, as are the overly high ratings given to some, albeit good, works by Raf and (argh!) Ramazzotti (5 stars to "In ogni senso"). However, what luck, the Pooh are butchered and Fossati is praised. Jannacci is a mix of beautiful albums and various rubbish (exaggerated, 1 star to "Parlare con i limoni" and "Discogreve" seems too much to me), but it's a matter of taste, while the section on Gaber is a delight.
In short, so to speak, a book that, for the writer, despite (in)evitable flaws, is one of the best and most interesting things to have come out of the musical encyclopedic field. The passion is evident, and many songs, artists, and groups I discovered thanks to this work that came out when I was 21 years old, in the midst of an age where lots of things are ignored and many are learned. For example, at the time I didn't even know King Crimson (!), here recounted in an exceptional way (oh yes, "Discipline" is a masterpiece, no kidding).
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