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Angelo Branduardi - Alla Fiera dell'Est CD (album) cover

ALLA FIERA DELL'EST

Angelo Branduardi

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

3.17 | 23 ratings

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octopus-4
Special Collaborator
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
3 stars This is the album who made Angelo Branduardi famous to the Italian mainstream public. I still remember a TV show in which he was presented as a "singer-songwriter who comes from classic music". Well this is true even if they forgot to mention his strong link with medieval music, in particular British and Celtic. So this album, regardless its quality deserves a place in the musical history, at least the Italian.

The title track is taken from an Hebrew tale. It's about Dog Beating Cat Eating Mice....with God over Death over .....at the end. What's remarkable is the violin solo in the middle of the song. This song was actually the breakthrough with the Italian public thanks to its folk theme not too far from the Italian folk, even if the way he was presented in that TV show contributed a lot to make him appeal.

"La Favola degli Aironi" is a dreamy fairytale, quite a lullaby. Looking carefully to the lyrics, I think it doesn't say anything, but it gives the impression of saying so much. It's just a sequence of images.

"Il Vecchio E La Farfalla" is another tale. Angelo was defined as a modern minstrel, and this kind of songs justifies this attribute. The story is about an old man and a butterfly , both sleeping. The man dreams of being a butterfly and vice versa.

"Canzone Per Sarah" continues the sequence of fairytales. Now about a woman singing a lullaby to a baby, speaking about sea and rain and so on.... whispered lyrics over classical guitar....another dreamy song.

"La Serie Dei Numeri" has a medieval flavour. It's a lead and also the lyrics have this mood. Somebody teahces the numbers to a child. "One is the Death..Two the oxes, Three the parts of the World..."

"Il Dono del Cervo" sounds Latin-American (Peru or Chile), but is another tale. A hunter finds a dying deer. The deer offers his body to the hunter as a gift. It was the B-side of the title track if I remember correctly and the second most famous song of the album.

"Il Funerale" (The Funeral) is the most progressive song, maybe th only one, of the whole album. The long instrumental intro is the best piece of music of the album. The only other Branduardi's song that has a similar mood: "Notturno" on "La Luna. The second half of the song has lyrics and is a very good song. The real album's highlight, at the level of the best Pentangle.

"L'Uomo E La Nuvola" (The Man and the Cloud) is another happy fairytale based on major chords.

"Sotto Il Tiglio" Continues on this way. It's a love song but "she" is a sort of magic being. I remember that the original sleeve contained the explanation and the origin of all the stories, but my "Nice Price" copy doesn't have them.

"Canzone del Rimpianto" closes the album and is IMO the weakest track. Maybe because after all those fairytales, this is one too much. Not so different form the others could have been saved for the following album.

In brief, this album could be considered essential in Branduardi's discography because of its historical importance, but is a step behind the previous "La Luna", and a little bit boring at the end. I think 3 stars is a honest rating.

octopus-4 | 3/5 |

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