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Franco Battiato - Orizzonti Perduti CD (album) cover

ORIZZONTI PERDUTI

Franco Battiato

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

2.33 | 24 ratings

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octopus-4
Special Collaborator
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
2 stars Trying to take advantage of his pop approach of the previous albums, Franco Battiato releases another 30 minutes album which contains the summer's hit single "La Stagione degli Amori" (The Season of Loves) which opens the album. The sounds are very "plastic". The keyboards and the drones sound quite like a MIDI track played by a Commodore64. Effectively this is a totally electronic album without guitars, basses or even the violin of Giusto Pio. Who knows Battiato from his beginnings can catch echoes of the past Krautrock vein, but this is just pop.

"Tramonto Occidentale" (Western Sunset) has some interesting moments in the instrumental interlude and is surely less radio-friendly than the first track. The lyrics are hermetic as usual in this period but the meaning of the song is a bit clearer, at least it appears to have a meaning. The decadence of the western world seen in the eyes of a "blank generation youth".

"Zone Depresse" (Depressed Zones) is a description of the life in the small towns of his Sicily and has a self-biographical mood as other of his songs of this period. Musically it's nothing special. The strange interlude is referred to the sentence "I secretly watched the gymnic exercises of your college".

"Un'Altra Vita"(Another Life) borrows the rhythmic base from Laurie Anderson and would be a nice song if it remained on this mood, but unfortunately the drone drums are back with the usual rhtythm very deeply in the 80s. Not bad in any case, but you must like the 80s electronics to enjoy it as the rest of the album.

"Mal D'Africa" ..well I don't know how to translate it...it's the nostalgic feeling which affects those who have been captured by the African landscapes. Musically speaking it doesn't capture me. The choice of singing a part in English with a strong Italian accent is a bad one IMO also because I think he voluntarily accentuates it. His English is usually better. Not my pot.

"La Musica E' Stanca" (Music Is Tired) sounds like the album's epitaph. Another MIDI track good for a VIC20 on which he sings something absolutely forgettable both from the musical than from the lyrical points of view. A track to skip for me.

"Gente in Progresso" (Progressing People) belongs to the standards of his period but all the passages are almost trivial. Good to listen in background while driving (and chatting with those sit in your car).

The closer is "Campane Tibetane" (Tibetan Bells). Battiato sings with an unusual "vibrato" on his voice, imagine a non-natural Roger Chapman. The song is another typical of the age and not a too bad one, but not a reason good enough to purchase the album.

After having reached the top in terms of sales the destiny of Battiato is changing again. His successful formula is quickly becoming old and somebody is alimenting rumors about him bringing bad luck (in Italy a thing like this can be a disaster for an artist) and in few years he will see his gigs deserted until the new rebirth which will come later.

Not a suggested album.

octopus-4 | 2/5 |

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