FIGLI DELLE STELLE

Little did I know that when I chose the only album of Sorrenti in my library system with the name Son Of The Stars of an artiste in our precious database, that I would end up with some semi-disco album that is best forgotten or stayed away from. Of course the album had a release date of 77, which might have given a first hint, and the album title had a double entendre and the artwork was doubtful. Nevertheless this fearless music explorer took the object home had was whacked across the head by dumb disco-beat easy listening music not far away from the Bee Gees.

The worst part is that the opening title track does have a semi-proggish intro, raising your expectations up a tad, but soon after, the whole thing collapses as soon as the song proper kicks in an easy two beat. A little further down, the short (very) piano interlude might give you hopes for improvements especially recalling the "stars" thing (Stelle in Italian), as if it might be some kind of concept, but the following track is a boring MOR/AOR song, again ruining the hope. "Meeting in a Elevator" is more GIBBerish from Sorrenti, which has most of his older fans tearing their hairs out in despair. The funk-disco Casablanca doesn't dispels the unease towards this kind of album getting a release, while other artistes' best works are still un-issued. All of the songs really have a stinking disco tinge that makes me want to puke my guts out, but I'd rather listen to this gibberish than early 80's new wave electro-pop.

Well there is a funky bass, some almost acceptable electric piano, a string synth etc. , but all of these were used by everyone back then (except the punk) , even the disco kings & queens. Best avoided really. The only positive thing this experiment brought is that I don't have to worry about finding which other atrocious album I'd have to find to give a stinker of a rating . Max, about that ZERO star rating?????

The first episode of George Lucas' space saga "Star Wars" was released in May 1977. This film was one of the main sources of inspiration for Alan Sorrenti's album "Figli delle stelle" (Children of the stars), released in 1977. The music veers here to disco music and there is almost no trace of prog on it. It marks the birth of a dancing generation "that was vibrating and dreaming together into the bright rhythmic wave of disco clubs". In 1978 was released in Italy "Saturday Night Fever" and the fashion of disco music took off along with the "Travoltismo", the myth of John Travolta. This period is frequently called in Italy "riflusso", people was fed up with politics and with the poisoned atmosphere of the leaden years and tried to escape from the grey days of every day life dancing on Saturdays nights...

"When the fire burns out / There is never a reason / What's left is silence and emptiness / That you can't explain / But believe me, please listen to me / If you cry for love, if you cry for joy / There is always music in the air / Let it enter into you heart / If you are sad and disappointed / If you haven't got somebody who loves you / There is always music in the air / That will give you a bit of love" sings Alan sorrenti in "Musica nell'aria"... Anyway, the album was very successful and featured two hit singles like the title track and "Donna luna". Alan Sorrenti became an icon of this period and "Figli delle stelle" can be considered an important document about the decline and the transformation of the Italian prog movement. For this reason, even if it's only a disco pop album, I think that it could be of some interest for collectors and fan of this artist.

I remember I was just introduced to Alan Sorrenti through his album "Sienteme". It was not my pot but I was still regarding him as an interesting singer-songwrites with a jazzy feel in the vein of Napoli Centrale and the other jazzy-prog acts from Naples of that time.

I remember when I heard the title track for the first time from the TV. The speaker introduced Alan Sorrenti and I was excited to see that kind of artist in a top-of-the-pops-like TV show....

Ther was a reason unfortunately. As well as New Trolls did in the same period, Alan Sorrenti tried to recycle himself and make some more money by attacking the pop mainstream market with a Bee-Gees like falsetto. There is no track on this album of his previous things. The reason why I'm reviewing this album is to make people avoid wasting time and money on it.

As I have written time ago about a Camel album, I think that a bad review can be of help even for the artist. If one thinks that all the Sorrenti's production is like this will surely miss his good debut and the three decent follow-ups. This one is a plastic disco-pop album with very few goodies, mainly in some remains of jazz-blues flavor totally jeopardized by the poorness of the songs. A weak attempt to be mimic of the most successful pop bands of the time and an early anticipation of the poorness that the 80s would bring to the world.

He sold a lot of albums but as it often happens with huge mainstream successes, it was question of just a season then he has been forgotten. I have seen Sorrenti on TV taking part to a "nostalgia" show. He still sings "Figli delle Stelle".

Avoid this album but give some attention to the previous ones, not all his works are good for the waste as this.