MANIFESTAZIONI LIVE 2011-2023

This new double album by Claudio MILANO is a collection of live performances recorded between 2011 and 2023 as the title says. This means also that there is a huge number of guests musicians: three former AREA (Tofani, Calloni and Tavolazzi) and a lot of famous and less famous names. Just read the list on the album's page.

"Per causa nostra (Because of Us)" is tendentially a rock/fusion jam with an excellent guitar and Claudio's voice as additional instrument. I don't have the CD yet so I can't say who is playing. Interesting the unexpected remind to "Apache" by the Shadows which helps to guess the age of the players. A good start.

Starting from "Dite", a devils city in Dante's Inferno, we enter Dante's comedy, even though the episodes are not in sequence respect to the poem. Dite is a short track full of electronics and is a sort of intro to "Che il piacere è peccato?" (Is Pleasure a Sin?) which is inspired to the famous episode of Paolo and Francesca and quotes also sentences from Dante's poem. Piano and vocals for another short but intense track.

My favorite view of the Inferno comes with "E se aprissi quella porta?" (What If I opened That Door?). Very dark and full of sufference, it's the anti-inferno door, the entrance to Hell from where nobody can come back. When Claudio stops singing on the famous "Lasciate Ogni Speranza..." (Give up to every hope), a Fender piano remains the only accompainment to Claudio's voice. One note: even if the whole poem is written in endecasillabes, Claudio refuses to adopt a fixed metric. There's also a spoken part that's very theatrical. Well, it's something to listen to, not to describe.

"Conta Chi Tenta" is even darker, but we are in the "Malebolge" with Barbariccia the Devil.

"Amanti In guerra" (Lovers in War) follows. We are now in Dante's Paradise where two spirits who were sinners under the influence of Venus redeemed and were given the Heaven. The electric harp, likely played by Raoul Morelli, is the only accompainment to the vocals. The song moves from minor chords, initially, to major. Maybe it's just my interpretation, but thinking to the story, the minor chords may represent the luxurious past of the two spirits which turns into major chords after the redemption. Or it is just a coincidence, I don't know.

With "Secca in Festa" we are out of Dante's world. The song is from Nichelodeon's "Bath Salts", and sounds very close to the studio version. Just the harp sounds a little more "medieval" on this version.

Claudio has sent me years ago Gallia#4 by INSONAR and Vincenzo ZITELLO. Very different from what we have heard until now, it's probably the lightest track of this live compilation despite mentioning "Moonlight" and "Stars shining in the night". Its oriental flavor reminds a bit to Vangelis' "China", but only a bit, due to the instruments used. Vangelis never sung like Claudio. Probably never sung at all.

"Cerniere" (Hinges) starts with a gentle acoustic guitar and what I think is an alto-clarinet, but I can be wrong. The guitar is replaced by percussion and the clarinet by voice of a child. In few seconds we are in a strange world between Druids and medieval monks, at least this is what the music creates in my mind. Maybe it's only me, but I hear some Canterbury influence: Soft Machine and Gong, mainly.

I should search for mor info about "Aghe Aghe Benedete". This is in "Furlan"; a dialet from the northwest of Italy, close to Slovenja. I'm aware of a version of this song from Alvise Nodale, a local folksinger, but it sounds very different even if the lyrics are the same. It may even be a traditional song. I'm Italian and I think I've spent less than one day in that region in my whole life. I don't know anything about traditionals from there. Anyway, the jazzy part of Claudio's version is very good.

The first CD is closed by a song dedicated to the former STORMY SIX Claudio ROCCHI, recently passed away after a life in search of spiritual illumination, moving to Nepal and joining Krshna's religion.

CD2 is opened by "Madre Pagana" sung acapella by Claudio alone. An opportunity to show his impressive vocal extension. The last note lasts very long and is kept perfectly on its tone. Then we have "Per Causa Nostra II". The song title on both the parts has a "-" between "causa" and "nostra". It surely means something. I don't think ther has ever be any superflous thing in Claudio Milano albums. If there's a dash it has a meaning. I don't know which one, but there's one for sure. The song is built around a guitar riff and what seems chaos is only apparent. It sounds like a contemporary classic piece and unexpectedly ends into a sort of gothic choir.

"Incontro - Medley" has a psychedelic opening. Between the instruments I hear maybe a cello, pipes, keyboard and several background voices. It lasts about 2 minutes and half, the Claudio's voice enters. The first part reminded me to the experimental side of Battiato. The second sounds like a sort of pagan missa. Should I suggest a track to get into this album, this is the one. It also quotes a traditional British song. The melody has been used by Blackmore's Night on "One For All" and by Angelo Branduardi" on "Ballo in Fa Diesis Minore".

Also the following track has a folky/medieval start with Claudio's high pitches and Cello or maybe Contrabass. I don't have the lyrics here, but it sounds as Vulgar Latin or archaic Italian. It's a long intro, then it turns into a rhytmic rock track with electric guitar on a 4 major chords progression and a sung melody still folky. A stop and a fuitar riff in AREA style closes the song.

"Surabaya Johnny" comes from Nichelodeon's "Bath Salts". It's a theatrical song written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Translated into Italian and made even more theatrical.

"Il Serpente e Il Bastone" (The snake and the stick) may refer to Aesculapius or to Moses. It has a nice piano base and keyboards layout. Dark but melodic.

"Nella Torre delle Aquile" (Inside the Tower of the Eagles" has a piano opening. There are several towers in Italy with this name. I don't know if the title is referred to an existing one. It sounds like a lament. It might be Rapunzel, the Beauty or Pia de' Tolomei from Dante's comedy. I can't guess it from the lyrics.

The following track is about 20 minutes long. The initial base is a percussion background. There's some spoken German, I can't get all the lyrics, but it's interesting. It's a bit jazzy but the percussion have also a tribal feel. Very nice. The next section makes me think of Soft Machine. A lazy ongoing on a suspended chord, tendentially major and continued acapella by Claudio who uses very low and very high pitches smoothly replaced by a percussion solo. Then it's again percussion and vocals on a fixed rhythm and accompanied by highly tuned acoustic guitar. It proceeds in this way until the end when the acoustic guitar gets into a sort of celtic riff. A very intriguing track.

"Pan's Pot" is another vocal experimental track. There are overdubbed voices, being live it's possible that a loop device has been used. Anyway, the recording is so clean that it coould even have been recorded in studio.

The closing track "SenseNonSex" features what I think is the highest pitch taken by Claudio in the whole album. The voice is overdubbed also on this track and I don't hear looping things, but it's live. I think that the best way to enjoy it consists in letting the various voices enter your mind without paying attention at the single voice. Get it as a whole. Syd Barrett would have likeed it.

Honestly, as almost all the releases by Claudio Milano, this is not for everybody. It's not an album to put in the background while you are driving. It requires attention and can be enjoyed by putting not only your ears on it. As all the challenging things, it can be rewarding.