L'ARCA DI NOÈ

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The main problem with this album is that it seems to have been released with the leftovers of its successful predecessor "La voce del padrone". The ingredients are the same (the use of the choirs to emphasize some melodic passages, the "experimental" lyrics, an exotic flavour on the "new wave receipt") but the result is not so fresh and original.

This album lasts less than 30 minutes and the only tracks I really like are the funny "Voglio vederti danzare", with oriental and classical shades on a pop rhythm and "Scalo a Grado", with lyrics about an Easter Day spent in Grado (a little seaside town on the Adriatic Sea famous for its bathing establishments) and a music interesting for blending pop and a "Catholic mass atmosphere". The rest of the album flows away without prise or blame in a light pop vein filtered by the Franco Battiato's peculiar taste.

Recommended only for the fans of the artist.

After the very huge commercial success of its predecessor Franco Battiato started writing for and producing other artists like Alice, Giuni Russo and Milva. This may be one of the reasons why this short album seems to be a collection of songs discarded from "La Voce del Padrone".

The lineup consists of some of the usual collaborators like the keyboardist Filippo Destrieri, but features a great guitarist as Alberto Radius (Formula 3) and the violinist and director Giusto Pio who will later release some solo albums.

Giusto Pio is another reason of disappointing. His arrangements were very original and have been fundamental in the commercial successes of this period, but his "unique" style has no variations, like he's arranging always the same song.

"Radio Varsavia"(Radio Warszawa) and "Clamori"(Shouts) are nice radio-friendly songs and the lyrics denote a little improvement, specially in the second that's not so hermetic or nonsense as in most of the songs of the previous two albums.

"L'Esodo"(The Exodus) has an operistic intro that could give the impression of a Zeuhl song, but turns quickly into 80s electronic pop like "The Cars". The song is about the nuclear holocaust, a theme very familiar in that period inspired by things like Reagan, Thatcher and Falklands. A good pop song with very few prog.

"Scalo A Grado" (Stop at Grado) is quite trivial, in the sense that's exactly the kind of song that one expects from Battiato in 1982. No surprises at all, while the following song "La Torre"(The Tower) seems to be taken from the soundtrack of Flashdance with the contamination of Kraftwerk. If you survive to the disco intro it's not so bad.

"New Frontiers" starts with the opera choir. It's since "Bandiera Bianca", the song that launched him to the mainstream public that it sometimes appears. This song is nothing more than an attempt to recycle a successful formula. A forgettable song.

The closer is the best song of the album and the only one that Battiato still performs live. There have been also several covers of it by other artists (even a disco version). The song is mainly about the Dervish dance, but about dance in general and has a middle eastern flavor. Dance not intended as "disco" but as shamanic rituals. Unfortunately it's the only very good song of the whole album and one song is not enough to have 3 stars also because it can be found on compilations and lives.

Even though it had a quite good commercial success in the prog world is just a collector's item.