Saro Liotta
La Seduzione

I want to pay tribute to one of the greatest guitarists from our homeland, the Palermo native Saro Liotta. Many might say that's an exaggeration, but if no one knows him (or almost) and we don't even know him, how can he be such? Yet the history of Music is full of misunderstood geniuses and overrated blowhards! Not to mention the local bands from the '70s, which you discover a new one every month and maybe end up falling in love with them.

In reality, our hero, who currently lives in New York, didn't debut in the musical world but rather in cinema as the lead actor in the film "Under the Sign of Scorpio" from 1969, followed by: "Orgonauts, hooray!" the following year. Don't ask me what they are about or even for an opinion, because it's not my field. It so happens that Saro didn't break into Cinema and thus decided to turn his attentions to his greater passion: the Classical Guitar, but instead of trying to join one of the countless groups born or emerging in that fortunate period of the first half of the '70s, given his undeniable compositional qualities he goes on his own and joins with drummer Nanà and bassist Mario Scotti, creating in 1976 "L'Attesa" a small gem to which I might dedicate space elsewhere.

Despite being an excellent debut, Saro evidently feels a bit "limited" by his companions in his expressiveness and thus continues alone. He changes record labels from RCA to Philips and creates "La Seduzione" a work for classical guitar and folk guitar. An album to enjoy in its entirety!

On side A, 6 short compositions introduced by a vibrant "Prologue", with broad meditative moments and others of vibrant intensity; the second side continues with another 3 tracks and the "Sonata" lasting about twelve minutes divided into three parts: "Overture", "La Seduzione" and the final "Song", a true epic of the artist who, in my opinion, will never again reach this level in his also very valid subsequent works.

Wow, a whole 11 guitar tracks, which OO some might think and instead they are so "dynamic" and varied that you wish there were more! Now, without boringly dragging out a tedious track by track, which is pointless if you don't have the album available, I just compare Liotta's qualities with those of Hackett in the "classical" version, well: it would be a tough contest to determine the winner! In short, have I conveyed the quality of the subject?

Unfortunately, the limit of this album lies in the fact that it has never been released digitally or rather commercially in the form of a CD; there is a mastered version only downloadable even from the Amazon site, the LP is very rare these days, but through a patient search it can still be found. The judgment also takes into account the enviable technical quality of the vinyl reproduction, enough to comfortably make it a reference album for a specific test.

Maximum score, obviously.