MONDI LONTANISSIMI

I knew sampling mid 1980s Battiato would be as fraught with peril as almost everything else from this period, when many artists seemed to lose their minds and their sense of purpose. It's been debated whether this was a case of the artists leaving the fans, or the fans leaving the artists. From where I stood, and many of my friends, we still wanted good music. When our favorite artists started releasing crap, it certainly wasn't because we were demanding it. We simply tossed the 90125s of the world into the bin while waiting for them to come to their senses. Prog rock would return and these days the new crop of artists prove the fans were right, releasing adventurous material almost as satisfying as the old days ('almost' being the key word.)

'Mondi Lontanissimi' is a very short album (31 minutes) of short, mostly trite little pop songs. There really is nothing of interest here to fans of Battiato's progressive work other than curiosity factor. It's not that the album is dreadful or poorly done, it just simply can't break free from one 3 minute nicety after another. Predictable and stock verse/chorus/verse structures with typical rhythms and period hardware, not helped by Battiato's average vocal prowess. One nice element is the occasional strings that grace the melodies but everything fades before becoming truly emotional or grand. There is one song that saves the album from the bin for me. 'Personal Computer' has an off-kilter vibe, a bit Talking Heads rhythm-wise, accented by a few weird moments and some nice operatic choir backing. But as our Andrea correctly notes, it is still 'not completely convincing,' three words that sum up the whole album for me.

For Battiato fans only, or fans of 80s pop with an Italian flavor.

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