Claudio Baglioni: Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo (Columbia Sony Music, 1999)

Baroque pop means dressy arrangements, highfalutin melodies, and a certain amount of pretentiousness. But in the case of this album, the expression gets some additional meanings. Talking about structures, these songs don't reach the puzzling complexity of Battisti's later efforts: no deconstruction here, just verse/chorus/bridge/coda craftmanship taken to masterwork level - the quintessence of baroque aestethics. Lyrics and rhymes are of the most convoluted kind: lines and lines of far-fetched metaphores just to say one small concept, interwoven with elaborate rhyme schemes which always privilege form above content.
The arrangements are layered and affected by a purely baroque form of horror vacui: in any other context, they'd sound overproduced, but here they just fit perfectly. Blending orchestral gusts and trip-hop architectures, Fripp-like curves and abrupt world music meddlings, their amazing sound depth's a stirring counterpoint to the impressive vocal glides propelling the songs.

21th album by pop-rock superstar Claudio Baglioni, the lp is some sort of concept work about midlife and the passing of time. It was produced by Cervello's Corrado Rustici, and the drums were played by longtime Baglioni's collaborator Gavin Harrison, later of Porcupine Tree fame.

Tracklist:

1. Hangar
2. Un mondo a forma di te
3. Si io sarò
4. Stai su
5. Caravan
6. Mal d'universo
7. Chi c'è in ascolto
8. Opere e omissioni
9. Quanto tempo ho
10. A domani
11. Cuore di aliante
12. A Clà

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Similar albums on the blog:

Ivano Fossati: La pianta del tè (CBS, 1988)
Lucio Battisti: Anima latina (Numero Uno, 1975)

Enzo Carella: Vocazione (It, 1977)

Musically speaking, "Vocazione" is just a collection of well-played funky/pop songs. And the singing voice is dim, precarious.
Luckily, there's much more in the album. First of all, lyrics and melodies. The former are an exquisite combination of levity and obliqueness. A whirlwind of gameplays and slighthly puzzling images. The latter are just as zippy and sibylline: tuneful and cosy, but never totally unveiling themselves. They don't let your curiosity slide into unconcerned comfort: there's always some detail you never noticed before, an unexpected dart or pirouette.
So the voice, fleecy, but sprightly, reveals its harmony with the mood of the songs. Discreet, but captivating. Tender, a bit dreamy; even ingenuous, why not? The same goes for the music: unpretentious, elegant and pleasantly old-fashioned, it projects a subtle shade of melancholy, a sweet aftertaste for such a sunny album.

Enzo Carella is a Roman singer/songwriter. This is his first album, with words by will-be Lucio Battisti lyricist Pasquale Panella.

Tracklist:

1. Vocazione
2. Guarda l'uccellino
3. Ballatetta
4. Fosse vero
5. Malamore
6. L'anima pagliacciona
7. La serietà
8. Il sud è un'infanzia sudata

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Similar albums on the blog:
Alberto Fortis: omonimo (1979)
Lucio Battisti: Don Giovanni (Numero Uno, 1986)

Underground Life: Filosofia dell'aria (1987, Target/Emi)

A voluptuos new wave record, blending glam-pop transformism and slight dark/decadent atmospheres together with rock riffs and edges and some out of fashion keyboard weavings and other mid-70s arrangement techniques. The songs are refinate and complex, both from a melodic and lyrical point of view, but most of all the sound is very rich and lush: sparkling guitar jingle-jangle, pounding basslines and rubbery drumming - both with a distinct rock groove, and then mellifluous saxophone lines, harmonica, violin, jigsaw new wave interlocks and omnipresent prog/pop triumphant keyboard circles.
The album might remind anything from XTC to Litfiba, Battiato, Ultravox or cheesy mainstream Italian pop, but actually has a very unique charm.

Underground Life were a band from Monza, Milano. They formed in 1979 and disbanded in the early Nineties. "Filosofia dell'aria" is produced by the well-known guitarist Alberto Radius (of Lucio Battisti/Formula Tre fame), who plays in the record and is most probably the main responsible of the 70s nuances of the record.

Tracklist:

1. Uccidiamo il lavoro di massa
2. Belfagor
3. Lady Von Masoch
4. Il battito
5. L'iperbole/Architettura
6. La rivolta degli infanti
7. Albe atomiche
8. In inverno

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Similar albums on the blog:

Gino D'Eliso: Ti ricordi Vienna

Garbo: Scortati

Gino D'Eliso: Ti ricordi Vienna? (RCA, 1977)

After having released his first record for Lucio Battisti's label Numero Uno, triestinian singer/songwriter Gino d'Eliso got together a full-blown disco orchestra for his second LP.
The music of "Ti ricordi Vienna?" is a very peculiar meeting of the decadent, dandyesque approach of glam-rock, Lucio Battisti's refinate pop, the bombastic grooves of disco music and mild Balkan nuances.

Though the lyrics aren't brilliant, the songs are all strikingly sophisticated and captivating. Super-funky basslines and energic italo-prog riffs wonderfully fuse with emphatic violin strokes and theatrical Hammond organ blows to create convoluted, multi-layered, mostly upbeat tunes.
Aside from the undeniable quality of the compositions, "Ti ricordi Vienna?"'s a very interesting work for an unique merger of influences configuring it as a bridge between times and places: Italian and Mediterranean pop sounds, the American disco trend, and a more far-seeing continental spleen.

The quality of the rip is very poor, but I really couldn't manage to get a better one.


Tracklist:

1. Bellezza normanna
2. Kajmac Calan
3. Il tamburello e l'eroe
4. Non saremo angeli
5. Fiesta messicana
6. Ti ricordi Vienna?
7. Tanto arriva domenica
8. Non basta la poesia
9. La notte di erasmo

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24 Grana: K Album (La canzonetta, 2001)

24 Grana are one of the most original Italian bands to come out of the late Nineties. Starting for their first album "Loop" back in 1997, they fused dub and trip-hop tendencies with Neapolitan language. Ska/hip-hop influences and their relation with the Centri Sociali anarco-leftist area put them near Almamegretta and 99 Posse as the main representatives of a new "Southern" trend in Italian alternative music. A mild psychedelic mood in their first albums, a decisive rock attitude and a less ideologically-charged stance contributed in distinguishing them firmly nonetheless.

Their third studio album, "K album", marked a shift towards a more lucid pop-rock formula. The sound forsook many of its reggae-drawn elements and took a far-seeing indie electronic direction probably inspired by "Kid A" and Radiohead's new course.
The songs of the album alternate Italian and Neapolitan languages and though their sound had now become very "English" their Mediterranean roots are always present in their harmonies and melodies. The frequent use of melodic minor scales higlights both their link to the Neapolitan tradition and the lead guitarist's appreciation of Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood's style.
Besides all comparisons, "K album" is an impressive collection of perfectly accomplished pop songs. Essential, though deep in their sound. Extremely varied, though always recognizable in style. Intensely inspired, nervous, urban and melancoholic.


Tracklist:

1. Pikkola kanzone per K
2. 'E kose ka spakkano
3. Kanzone doce
4. Kanzoneanarkika
5. Kanzone su un detenuto politico
6. Kanzone su Londra
7. Kanzone del pisello
8. Kevlar
9. Kanzone del fumo

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Max Gazzè: La favola di Adamo ed Eva (Virgin/EMI, 1998)

Max Gazzè's songwriting's very sprightly and tuneful, but his melodies are always elegant and askance. He has a velvety, high-pitched voice which makes impossible not to recognise his style. There are some excellent songs here: tender, airy... But the album's not very balanced and there are some weak tracks. It's not a good reason not to listen to it, though: these are the cases the "skip" button's really useful.


Tracklist:

1. La favola di Adamo ed Eva
2. Una musica può fare
3. Cara Valentina
4. Raduni Ovali
5. L'amore pensato
6. Nel verde
7. Comunque vada
8. Come si conviene (Bon pà)
9. L'origine del mondo
10. Vento d'estate
11. Autoironia
12. Colloquium Vitae
13. Casi ciclici
14. Due apparecchi cosmici per la trasformazione

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Matia Bazar: Tango (1983)

Retro-sounding synth-pop à l'Italienne. Belle Epoque melodies and fake operatic vocals are the key elements of an album which is always in balance between kitsch, pretentiousness and extreme refinedness.
Though "Vacanze romane" is by far the best and most emblematic song in the album, every track is extremely well-crafted and melodically indefectible: "Tango" is a unique album and surely a masterpiece.


Tracklist:

1. Vacanze romane
2. Palestina
   
3. Elettrochoc
4. Intellighenzia
5. Il video sono io
6. Scacco un po' matto
7. Tango nel fango
8. I bambini di poi

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The Rokes: I grandi successi originali (2000)

This is a double antology of the Aglo/Italian band The Rokes, who contended with Equipe 84 the status of most successful beat group.
The style is evidently influenced by The Byrds and The Kinks, but the group is noted mainly for the singer Shel Shapiro's accent. As usual for Italian bands of the Sixties, some songs are cover versions of English originals (eg. "Eccola di nuovo" covers "Here Comes My Baby" by Cat Stevens).
As a collection, "I grandi successi originali" captures the very finest moments in the band's carreer and it is an excellent display of the strong melodic quality of their music.


Tracklist:
CD #1

1. Ascolta nel vento
2. Bisogna saper perdere
3. C'è una strana espressione nei tuoi occhi
4. Cercate di abbracciare tutto il mondo come noi
5. Il vento (When The Wind Arises)
6. E' la pioggia che va
7. Eccola di nuovo
8. Eravamo amici
9. Finché c'è musica mi tengo
10. Grazie a te
11. Che colpa abbiamo noi
12. Io vivrò senza te

CD #2

1. Spegni questa luce
2. Ma che freddo fa
3. Non c'è pace per me
4. Piangi con me
5. Regency Sue
6. Ricordo quando ero bambino
7. 28 giugno
8. Lascia l'ultimo ballo per me
9. Ripe Apples (Mature)
10. Un'anima pura
11. Il primo sintomo
12. La mia città
    

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