LUCIO BATTISTI

I've never been a fan of Lucio Battisti and I was actually very surprised to see him on PA. Anyway, everybody knows him and his music in Italy and while I'm writing is the 21st annniversary of his death. Battisti was mainly a popstar during his career, but I must admit that he was able to be innovative without losing his popular appeal, helped by the lyrics of Mogol, who is also the author of the lyrics of PFM's "Impressioni di Settembre".

He decided to quit from tours and TV quite early, but continued to release albums and almost all of them had a huge commercial success, excluded, maybe, this one.

When Hegel was released, the partnership with Mogol was already over and the lyricist is the poet Pasquale Panella. So there's nothing "pop" in the lyrics, while in the electronics the work of Duncan, who despite being a drummer has also produced the album in studio, is a predominant element tendentially leading to the late 80s synth-pop. I remember somebody defining it an "avant-pop" album.

The songs lyrics are very challenging. Panella wasn't an easy poet, and also the title referencing the German phylosopher makes it clear. ùIt's a challenging album in which the electronics, close to the dance music of that age, is counterbalanced by the absence of metrics in the lyrics.

The album left the Battisti's fans very cold, but at that time he wasn't much worried about sales. Probably he was already ill, the same illness which killed David Bowie, and I suspect he wanted to do something really "free" from the commercial constraints. Regardless the RPI standards, in my opinion this is the most revolutionary and avantgardist effort of his long career. Sadly also the last.

Love

I love this album. I really do. It's the kind of album that sounds exactly how it looks. That grassy meadow with children playing around to the back-draft of a fading orangy sun. It stays with you throughout the album's playing time, that naive hippie feel. A shading to Anima Latina that oozes warmth and feel good vibes. Every time I put this album on, it's instantly summer, the trees have magically grown leafy fingers and a real sense of fragrant humidity fills the air.

There is indeed a 'warmth' to this album - a friendly hug - a thousand wet kisses - conveyed in sound. I've often mentioned Anima Latina as the single most well produced album ever made, and while that may be a little over the top(because let's face it: different musics call for different production values), I still am head over heels in love with this thing. Every instrument is audible, and that is a feat in itself considering just how many layers there are within the individual tunes. They come off unbelievably earthy - like had they been flown through time straight from the Woodstock festival just to get that little bit of extra umphh and feel to the proceedings.

Lucio Battisti is an iconic figure in Italy, today mostly known for his successful pop career though. Starting out as an outspoken singer-songwriter deeply enamoured with the psychedelic flourishes of the 60s, he quickly picked up on the equally progressive measures emerging with the prog rock age, more specifically the Italian side of things. His third outing fx entitled Amore E Non Amore featured most of the legendary PFM line up, and while it gave way to an altogether more exuberant instrumentation, the album itself still remained heavily rooted in the late 60s. Anima Latina has a whisp of the ol hippie sound as well, but like I mentioned earlier, this is much more felt in the manner in which it was recorded. It really does feel as if the entire cover art scene somehow was scooped out of nature and aptly placed inside the studio.

The songs themselves are carried on by Lucio's beautiful enigmatic voice, which I have come to love like a small child. I feel a strong connection with the man, whatever he sings, whatever frail and earth-shatteringly beautiful whisper he utters - I'm there, I get it - even if I don't understand a single word of what he's saying....... I feel him. Sometimes he reminds me of an Italian Neil Young. Although Lucio is far more velvety in his delivery, there's still a similar frail sensibility about him. Something that makes him feel more 'there'¨when he sings. It's as if he's right there beside your ear.

What's even better is that Battisti's vocals are backed up by the most wonderful funky, almost Motowny bass playing, acoustic folky guitars, crystal clear piano, brass section, flute, synthesisers, various congas and percussions, electric guitar and backing vocals to die for. Within the same song you'll find the moods go from huge big band funk rock, to intimate acoustic guitar encounters by candlelight in a matter of seconds, that is without sounding choppy or stitched together. Personally I think it's down to the songs actually being songs. This is not a wide variety of interesting fuga sections and inspired avantguardish piano stints awkwardly thrown together at the drop of the hat, but real, and at times, simple tunes made by a talented singersong writer.

I guess you could call this album progressive pop. The melodic nature of it almost feels too upfront to be considered as genuine rock music, yet there's still a fair few moments on here that'll have you stomping the ground. They're often relegated through the combination of the rhythm section doing it's funky jungle thang, whilst the trumpets and trombone toot wondrous lines that instantly feel memorable. This is the stuff I whistle and sing when I'm in a good mood - when I'm feeling like a million bucks about to go surfing on rooftops and climb trees in exotic suburbs. Again, it's that infinitely lovable melodic core of this record. Whether the music is going through folk, jazzy bits, funk or great big symphonic laden piano gulps, it's always there. So yeah call it pop for all I care - I call it music, and damn fine music at that!

I've had this album for about 4 years now, and it has quickly become one of my most beloved musical treasures. Any time I need a friend, I pop this baby on and feel like I just stepped out on that grassy meadow - leaving all my troubles behind and start to enjoy life the way I did back when I was a small boy, who could spend countless of hours jumping up and down for no reason at all. It's that same naive joy this album has. In spades! It reminds me of a simpler world - a world of playfulness and a deep affectionate immersion in whatever you decide to do with yourself.

Anima Latina looks like a warm album - glancing at the summer-scene on the cover, with all that gold and the dancing children, you might be surprised at the almost cold feel the keyboards and the generous reverb bring to this record.

Opener, 'Embrace...' (hope that's translated right) acts as an almost chilly introduction to the album, with the keys and the spacious beat leaving lots of space for reverb to build atmosphere. Even with the Latin-influence to the horns and the jump in tempo later on, this one has the sombre feel of a lost love, and serves as an impressive shift toward even more restless, exploratory material for Battisti. Not that he was a 'by the numbers' artist before. Even as a singer-songwriter firmly entrenched in the pop world, he was always inventive and his exposure to progressive music, as either participant or producer, had been creeping into previous albums, especially on Il Nostro Caro Angelo.

What this release (easily one of my favourites from Battisti) does so well is dispense with conventional song structure. It introduces almost haunting, restless pieces with a more linear feel, supported by reprises rather than choruses, in order to develop its musical themes. The use of horns and flute, while cheerful on one level, are soaked in reverb or treated in such a way to sound almost chilly, where they match the keyboards, which are in turn used to evoke an almost space-like feel, as if a samba band had been shot into the atmosphere, leaving Battisti and lyricist Mogol to pull them back down to earth.

Often compared in Italy to the partnership of Lennon and McCartney, Battisti and Mogol are a powerful song writing duo. Of course, I can't speak for the quality of Mogol's lyrics, but they're said to have an abstract feel, and the songs of food, love, sex and loneliness on Anima Latina have a tortured vibe that still comes through thanks to Lucio's mournful voice. Here, his at times strained but distinctive upper register is less in effect than on earlier albums and singles, but he's always wonderful. In fact, one of my favourite moments from Battisti is in the gentle and direct 'Due Mondi' reprise, where it's just Lucio and the piano.

Without a doubt the album is denser than his earlier works, especially in terms of layering - this is a complex collection of 'pop' music. While the acoustic guitar is important in providing rhythm and also more delicate touches when in a lead role, the ensemble feel to the music is just as vital. In addition to Lucio's voice, drums, bass and guitar, there are two piano/keyboard players, a horn section of trumpets and trombone and flute on top of several percussionists and backing vocalists. This larger cast is really welcome stuff, greatly enhancing the last half of the festive title track for instance, or feeding the faintly ominous tones of 'Anonimo.'

This album is the last of Lucio Battisti's before a disco influence crept into his work for a few records, and so anyone looking for progressive pop might like to start here then go backwards a few albums (including the amazing Amore e Non Amore) rather than move forward from here. RPI fans of the less aggressive end of the country's output might well enjoy this album too, or basically anyone who believes themselves to be a fan of Italian music and are up for an album that reveals its wonders after repeated listens.

This album was a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. The last several Battisti albums I had reviewed had been, while pleasant, a bit homogeneous, with a whole lot of string backed "smooth pop" and not a whole lot else. Fortunately "Il nostro caro angelo" bucks this trend. The songs on this release are more varied than on any other Battisti album I've heard except perhaps "Amore e non Amore," with clearly audible influences from RPI, jazz, world-music, avant-garde and even funk.

"La collina dei cigliegi" begins with Battisti's voice only minimally accompanied by some guitar chords. Bass enters quickly, and Battisti sings for a little while before launching into one of the best choruses I've heard on any Battisti album so far. "La collina?" has a more open structure, however, than a simple verse-chorus song, and it's better for it, with the ending string and choral section giving the song an extra bit of punch.

"Ma è un canto brasileiro" begins with a half-sung, half-spoken word a capella intro, under which electric guitar enters. Piano also enters quickly, and the song becomes a driving, vintage-sounding rock and roll-number, with Battisti's vocal delivery powerful and raw. However, all this suddenly drops away and female vocals enter, accompanied by some sedate guitar. Battisti re-enters, singing much more smoothly, but building intensity until the guitar and piano returns and the song again reaches its beginning energy before once again dropping down. The song concludes with a brief instrumental, with the guitar soloing out to close the track.

"La canzone della terra" starts off with some minimalist percussion before some faint and echoey vocals begin to appear. These grow louder as additional percussion is added until finally the percussion drops out and Battisti begins to sing over some dreamy, swirling synths. Some guitar makes an appearance here as well, though only briefly, and before long the synths fall away again and the percussion begins again, this time aided by some sound effects, whistling, and guitar. Some interesting vocal editing at the end gives Battisti some nice harmonies with himself before the spacey synths return once more to end the track. Aside from the material on "Amore e non Amore," this is easily the most experimental track I've heard from Battisti in my ongoing voyage through his music.

"Il nostro caro angelo" begins with some guitar and bass that's far more "traditional" Battisti than was the last track. I've mentioned before how impressed I am with the bass work on Battisti's albums, and that's true here as well, with piano and guitar turning in excellent parts as well. With some of the most interesting instrumentation I've heard from Battisti, this title track features a variety of synth sounds and some low, fuzzed out guitar constantly buzzing behind the verses that keeps this from sounding too much like his early work.

"Le allettanti promesse" follows, beginning with some guitar and synth over which female vocals are added. Battisti's voice soon joins them, and the voices carry on a pleasant enough sort of duet backed by the rather typical guitar and bass instrumentation that seems almost omnipresent on Battisti albums. Just when you begin to think this is just another call- back to his early work, however, the tempo picks up, distorted guitar is added into the mix and the track ends with a great synth solo and a reprise of the initial vocal line.

"Io gli ho detto no" is next, starting off with some sedate, almost jazzy bass and keyboards that go on for almost a full minute before Battisti begins to sing. The vocals are languid and emotional, but, somewhat unique to Battisti, they're also somewhat scarce, with most of the track's duration consisting of instrumental work. It's an unusual track for Battisti, with a sound that I really haven't heard on any of his other releases, and it only adds to the variety of the album.

"Prendi fra le mani la terra" follows this up with a groovy bassline and some synth that makes the song the closest Lucio Battisti has ever come to funk. Many of the vocals on the track are sung falsetto as well, further distinguishing this track's sound from most of his other work. At the same time, however, I can hear a lot of RPI sound as well, mainly due to the variety of synth textures used in the track and its somewhat non-conventional structure. Really a very nice combination of styles that works quite well.

"Questo inferno rosa" is a fairly long song by Battisti's standards, clocking in at almost seven minutes. It begins with some synth and guitar that's almost reminiscent of Genesis. When the vocals come in they're rather subdued, but no less emotive or well-delivered than usual. After a little while an electric guitar is added into the mix, and Battisti's vocals increase in intensity with the guitar until the spectacular end of the track, which features an epic instrumental conclusion of swelling synths and great guitar soloing. Without a doubt one of the best songs I've heard on any Battisti album, this is a stellar closer.

So I would definitely say that this album is on par with "Amore?" with those two albums being more or less tied in my eyes for the title of Battisti's best work. The sheer variety of this album after multiple albums of the same sound makes it a great listen, and Battisti doesn't lose any of his listenability with these sonic experiments. This is definitely an album for proggers who want to discover what Battisti is all about, and it would certainly come highly recommended from me.

4/5

Okay i'll be honest, it was the Italian girl with the nice bum on the cover that drew me to check out this album. Hey after being forced to endure RUSH's "Hemispheres" cover and YES' "Going For The One" cover for so many years this is extrememly gratifying. Thankyou Lucio ! Now after spending some time with this record over the holidays I can say the music is as good as the cover. It doesn't hurt to have the three pre-PFM members helping out on guitar, drums and keyboards or the guitar work of Alberto Radius (IL VOLO, FOMULA 3) or EQUIPE 84's keyboardist Dario Baldan Bembo or CRYSTAL's bass player Giorgio Piazza but this really is the Lucio Battisti show. Man he has such passion and while I don't understand Italian he apparently is quite the word-smith and is put on the same level as John Lennon in Italy when it comes to lyrics.The music here is even better than I hoped it would be.

"Dio Mio No" is uptempo with strummed guitar as the vocals arrive just before a minute. Organ and drums follow. I love when he sings with passion especially just before 5 minutes.Great track ! "Beduto Sotto..." is an excellent instrumental with the intricate guitar work, drums and organ standing out. Strings come in and I really like the drums late. "Una" opens with floating organ as the sound builds. It all settles down when the reserved vocals arrive. We get backing vocals and guitar on the chorus as it becomes fuller.

"7 Agosto Di..." features some incredible sounding guitar and piano throughout this instrumental. I'm moved (gulp) after 3 minutes. So good. "Se Mia Pelle Vuoi" is a straight-up rocker really with the vocals to match. It's my least favourite. "Davanti Ad..." is a short but proggy instrumental with organ and strings standing out. "Supermarket" opens with strummed guitar as the vocals join in. Catchy stuff and a killer song. "Una Poltrona..." ends the album in style.I'm moved by this tune as Lucio sings in a higher pitch than normal.

Easily 4 stars.

After a bit of a Battisti hiatus, I return to review his fifth album, "Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno." Like his previous album, "Il Mio Canto Libero," this one lacks some of the crossover appeal of his first three albums; however, I would guess that the average prog fan will find more to like here than on "Il Mio." However, like all Battisti albums, there's really no bad songs, and fans of his music in general who aren't necessarily looking for prog should consider this a worthy addition to their collection.

"I Giardini Di Marzo" starts the album off with some folky guitar. Battisti's vocals come in after only a moment, sounding much less bombastic than usual. These two elements are quickly joined by some equally understated strings before the sweeping chorus begins. To my ears Battisti's voice sounds a bit more strained than it has in the past, though that could be my imagination and in any event the song certainly doesn't suffer as a result. Some electric guitar and keyboards enter after this largely string led chorus, creating quite a nice texture under Battisti's voice. A great opener and to my ears sounds this one sounds quite reminiscent of the later RPI bands, though it's structure isn't as proggy.

"Innocenti Evasioni" begins with what sounds like electronic keyboards before some bass and guitar enter. As Battisti begins to sing some more interesting keyboard effects are added, which creates a very interesting sound once strings are added for the chorus. The song doesn't deviate too far from this verse-chorus pattern, though there is a very nice string- backed guitar solo that closes out the song.

"E Penso A Te" is a much more classic sounding song, with only some soft piano present in the beginning of the track as Battisti sings. The piano remains as the sole instrument for the first part of the song, which actually works astoundingly well since it allows Battisti's voice to speak for itself (no pun intended) with no distraction. I never cease to be impressed by the power and emotion Battisti can put into his voice, something I've said before and will probably say again. The song moves away from this piano accompaniment in the second half, however, adding percussion, strings and a host of other voices for a wordless chant. All this fades away in the final moments of the song to leave Battisti chanting alone, which fosters a rather haunting atmosphere in the final seconds.

"Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno" is next, and it begins with some guitar accompanied only by whistling. The ever-present strings soon entered, along with some wordless Battisti vocals, before these strings take a shot at the melodic lead. This lush melody continues for a bit before the guitar-whistling combination comes back, and finally the strings close out the track. Because of its primarily instrumental nature, "Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno" is a great middle point for the album, giving the listener a moment of wordless beauty before the second half of the record begins.

"Comunque Bella" follows this Entr'acte of sorts, and the song sees the organ appearing at the forefront. A wonderful chorus is the centerpiece of the song, featuring bombastic percussion and a great, sweeping melody in contrast to the minimally arranged verses. Overall it's a very laid-back song, with Battisti's vocals coming off as very relaxed, even during the chorus.

"Il Leone E La Gallina" has a much more whimsical feel to it, pairing Battisti's voice with an acoustic guitar that almost recalls tin-pan alley music at times. There are also some vocal overdubs on the track, which is rather unique given how scarcely the technique is used by Battisti (at least on the albums I've heard thus far).

"Sognando E Risognando" is the second song on the album over five minutes, and it begins with some solo percussion before Battisti's voice enters, matched by a solo acoustic guitar. After this brief introductory section, however, an electric guitar riff takes over along with some bass and Battisti turns out his rockiest performance of the album. Interestingly, a female voice is featured in a kind of "call-and-return" section with Battisti, marking the first time I can recall of another voice from Battisti's being featured instead of being merely backing. A variety of different motifs throughout the song make it by far the proggiest track on the album, one that no doubt could have fit right in on the classic RPI albums of the 70s. The song finishes off with another great guitar solo.

"Il fuoco" closes off the album on a decidedly different note. Far and away the most experimental track on any of Battisti's first five albums, "Il fuoco" makes use of distorted guitar noises layered on top of each other in a way that's almost reminiscent of (dare I say it?) Fred Frith. Hopefully that conveys just how drastically different this track is from pretty much everything else I've heard from Battisti, and while it's a great and interesting track, it does feel a bit out of place.

Overall, "Umamente Uomo: Il Sogno" is a bit of a mixed bag. While there certainly aren't any outright bad songs (there never are on Battisti albums) the album lacks the dynamism and charm that made Battisti's first two albums so appealing, and while it's a step up from the too- homogenous, utterly un-prog "Il Mio Canto Libero," it also lacks the true spirit of experimentation that made "Amore e non Amore" so good. If you're a Battisti fan then you'll no doubt enjoy this, but I'd recommend that the average prog-fan not start with this one from Battisti.

3/5

Lucio Battisti is virtually a household name in Italy, but for some reason or another I had never heard any of his music until I stumbled upon a cheap secondhand vinyl copy of Il Mio Canto Libero. It seems like the man's massive popularity in Italy has never been extended to America, but nevertheless, Il Mio Canto Libero was a massive hit in Italy - it was actually the best selling album in the country in 1973. While I do think this is an inconsistent and often times tepid effort, it has sparked my interest in further investigating Lucio Battisti's body of work.

The music you'll find here is gentle, romantic, and emotional Italian pop with a few ventures into rock territory. While this is admittedly not a style of music that typically excites me, songs like "La luce dell'Est" and "Io vorrei. non vorrei. ma se vuoi" are simply beautiful. As a matter of fact, the pastoral and subtle portion of Il Mio Canto Libero is what I enjoy most - I wish the album didn't contain a few rather boring rock tunes like "Confusione" or the first half or so of "Gente per bene e gente per male". None of the album is poor, but I find that when Battisti delivers the more emotional tracks, his true talent shines through. The upbeat tunes just strike me as uninspired by comparison. Of course, Lucio Battisti is a gifted vocalist, and his delivery throughout the album is quite impressive. His singing is probably what most people will walk away from this album remembering.

Il Mio Canto Libero is a good album, but it strikes me as pretty average throughout the majority of its duration. There simply aren't a whole lot of great tunes here, and the inconsistent changes in mood between songs leads to a rather disjointed album flow. Still, the production is great, the vocals are impressive, and the musicianship is professional, so 3 stars are fair here. While I wasn't blown away by Il Mio Canto Libero, I'm curious to hear other albums from Lucio Battisti.

It pains me to give this album such a low rating, because it really is quite good. Like every Battisti album I've reviewed thus far there's not a bad song here, and as usual the vocals and instrumentation complement each other brilliantly.

Why, then, do I give this one two stars when I've given all three of his previous albums higher ratings? The problem is that this is a progressive rock website, and the average prog fan will not find much here that is even remotely related to that genre. Though Battisti's first two albums were firmly pop, they had a kind of "proto-RPI" feel to them and blended many styles together in a way that I feel most prog fans would enjoy. Battisti's third album "Amore e non Amore" was a major step forward, introducing some experimental elements that placed it firmly in the crossover-prog category.

Unfortunately, where "Amore..." was a step forward, this one feels like a bit of a step back. Most of the songs here are pretty standard, melancholic ballads. There's no trace of the extremely interesting instrumental tracks from the previous album and not a sign of any kind of desire to keep moving forward. This is a much "safer" album than "Amore..." was, and while it's still a very nice album, its prog value drops sharply as a result.

"La luce dell'est" begins the album, and it's a very nice track that makes great use of a somewhat stripped down instrumentation (primarily guitar and strings) to highlight the melancholic vocal melody, which is exceptional even by Battisti's high standards in that area. It's rather homogenous compared to some of the offerings on Battisti's previous album "Amore e non Amore."

"Luci-ah" follows, and it's more uptempo then the somewhat restrained opener. Nonetheless, I feel like it lacks a lot of the energy that made Battisti's early pop songs so charming. The chorus especially feels like it needs more behind Battisti's voice then just some minimal piano, bass, and drums. Personally I think some horn sounds could have done this song wonders. The track also features a brief choir interlude, which, while I can see what the intent probably was, just doesn't feel necessary.

"L'aquila" is another sorrow-tinged song, and one that works with the stripped down instrumentation much better then the previous two tracks did. Battisti's voice is accompanied by little more than guitar and some minimal percussion for most of the songs, though there are some understated strings toward the end as well.

"Vento nel vento" I think is easily one of the best songs on the album. Beginning with a soft piano part accompanied by vocals, a beautiful orchestra part appears about halfway through and continues to accompany through the end of the song. A wonderful emotional performance from a singer who can do emotional performances better than almost anyone else.

"Confusione" makes use of a bass and percussion part that to me almost sounds tribal. I think this is one of the more generic songs on the album, but it's certainly not bad, and the distorted guitars provide a nice sonic contrast from the strings of "Vento nel vento." The horns appear again here, but only very, very briefly towards the end.

"Io vorrei ... non vorrei ... ma se vuoi" is another very understated song, but like "L'aquila" it works very well. The use of strings as a background instrument rather than as the foremost element gives the song a very nice ambience, and the lack of heavy orchestration gives Battisti's voice room to shine, which of course it does. The man could sing a grocery list and it would still sound great. The song also goes into a nice crescendo towards the end and closes with some great soaring vocals from Battisti.

"Gente per bene e gente per male" is next, and it's a very interesting one. Battisti is joined on the track by some female vocals and that gives the song a unique feel, since Battisti rarely has any accompanying vocals. Like quite a few songs on the album, "Gente..." begins with very minimal instrumentation but gradually builds to include strings and a very nice piano part. The second part of the track serves as a great finale for the song.

I think that one of Battisti's greatest strengths is coming up with songs to close his albums that have a very "final" sort of feel to them, and the title track here is no exception. "Il mio canto libero" is infused with a sense of finality rarely found anymore at the end of albums. Like pretty much everything else on the album it's fairly melancholic sounding, though the ending of the song does have a fairly triumphant sound to it, featuring a great string and horn part accompanying the vocals.

Again, this is great music, but unless you're a fan of vintage pop on its own merits instead of on its prog-value you won't find much to like here. A very pretty, well put together album, but prog-related it is not.

2/5

I continue my string of Lucio Battisti reviews with "Amore e Non Amore." Of the three I've heard so far, this one is the first one that I think could actually be called (at least crossover) prog with a straight face instead of merely being an influence on later prog bands. Apparently it's a concept album (unfortunately most of that is lost on me due to the language barrier), and as you might expect we get a bit of deviation here from the poppiness of Battisti's first two albums. We have here instrumental interludes, longer songs, and overall more depth to the sound compared to what he had released before this.

"Dio Mio No" begins the album, and it's the longest Battisti song I've heard yet, clocking in at a good two minutes over anything on his previous releases. Despite that, it's actually one of the less proggish songs on the album, with the same rhythm guitar part pretty much repeating throughout. However, we get some great vintage organ and a few great guitar solos on top of that, and as always Battisti's vocals sound great. Another thing that I've been noticing about Battisti's work that is also apparent here is that the bass work is always excellent and interesting to listen to.

"Seduto sotto un platano con una margherita in bocca guardando il flume nero macchiato dalla schiuma bianca dei detersivi" (whew, that's a long title) is next, and this one combines a sort of "Eastern European Folk" sound with some psychedelic textures for a really great instrumental. It's around this point that one can really see the step forward Battisti has taken musically, as this 3 minute instrumental is light-years ahead of anything on his first two albums. Great song.

"Una" comes next, and with it return the vocals. "Una" is a fairly depressing sounding track, a fact which comes even across the language barrier due in no small part to the incredible emotion Battisti can vocalize with. I hope I don't sound like a broken record when I say that, but it really is astounding. The instrumentation is great as well, recalling hints of some slower Beatles' songs. There's no virtuosic breaks or anything like that, but the arrangement is stellar and there's not a note out of place the whole song.

"7 agosto di pomeriggio. Fra le lamiere roventi di un cimitero di automobili solo io, silenzioso eppure straordinariamente vivo" is another instrumental. It begins with a guitar part that, to my ears, sounds incredibly similar to the Beatles' "Dear Prudence." It quickly develops away from that, however, into another beautifully arranged, at times slightly avant-sounding classical style interlude. Maybe the most drastic departure yet from his self titled release and "Emozioni," especially due to the hints of dissonance that are briefly but powerfully used to great effect.

"Se la Mia Pelle Vuoi" again brings back vocals and has a very "vintage rock-and-roll" sound. I know that's not very specific but hopefully you understand what I'm saying. It's a pretty standard number, and there's a brief but great guitar solo in the middle, but there's not too much else to say about this one. It's a nice change of pace from "7 agosto..." though.

Following the pattern of the album, "Davanti ad un distributore automatico di fiori dell'aeroporto di Bruxelles, anch'io chiuso in una bolla di vetro" is another instrumental track. This track features some very nice interplay between the orchestral sounds we've come to expect from Battisti and that seemingly omnipresent vintage organ. Overall the track has a great ambience and the aforementioned juxtaposition works quite well.

"Supermarket" follows, and it's one of the more simply arranged songs, featuring only an acoustic guitar, some minimalistic percussion and Battisti's vocals. However, it also features a fantastic vocal melody so it certainly doesn't feel like anything is lacking. To me it sounds like one of the happier songs on the album, but I have no way of knowing if the lyrics reflect that.

"Una poltrona, un bicchiere di cognac, un televisore, 35 morti ai confini di Israele e Giordania" closes off the album with another instrumental (though there are some wordless vocals). This one isn't as complex as some of the others on the album, instead opting to follow pretty much the same pattern throughout but continually add things on to build up the intensity. It's a fitting close to the album.

Overall, "Amore e Non Amore" is not nearly as immediately enjoyable as Battisti's first two albums, but after several listens I have to admit that it's certainly better put together. For me, the real treats here are the instrumentals: they're all totally different from one another, and totally different Battisti did previous to this album. "7 agosto..." is probably the standout here, but as will all the Battisti albums I've reviewed thus far I didn't have any problem listening through all the way, especially since the album comes in at only 35 minutes.

4/5

I am quite surprised and pleased to find Battisti on PA! Lucio was the companion of my (and my wife) youth , his songs were inevitable on the beach and at parties. I can not say whether Battisti has to do with progressive or not, I only know that he was, in my opinion, one of the greatest composers of the last century, around the world, a true musical mind. Surely the most progressive albums of Battisti are "Amore e non amore" e "Anima latina", but I prefer the long series of extraordinary songs created from 1968 to 1973, some of which we can find in this collection. Songs like "Fiori rosa, fiori di pesco", "Emozioni", "Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara", "Non è Francesca", "Io vivrò (senza te)", despite their simplicity, contain memorable melodies and a pleasant freshness, with some very innovative arrangements for Italy of those years. This collection contains also "Mi ritorni in mente", which, in my opinion, is the greatest song ever written by Battisti: a unattainable melodic line, an orchestral arrangement that makes you almost cry, and poignant text. Battisti is for me one of the few Italian musicians that deserve to remain in the history of world music.