LUCIO BATTISTI - "Il mio canto libero"

DOWN MEMORY LANE

DAVID SYLVIAN
"Gone To Earth"

The first time i read about this album was on an italian "alternative" music magazine back in 1986, till then all i knew about Sylvian was a video of "Red Guitar" and that's about it, i was 17 years old so i could be forgiven for not knowing his previous legendary band Japan and the beautiful first solo album (that i later rediscovered) "Brilliant Trees".
Even if "Brilliant Trees" and the third album "Secrets of the Beehive" are fantastic records, this (his second release) for me is special, from the graphic of the sleeve of the gatefold double album, the "fat" box case double cd to the overall sound of these amazing songs, "Gone To Earth" is a personal favorite, one of those records that i never get tired of.
When "Taking The Veil" kicks in with a clean, mid-tempo drums, a creamy bass guitar and luminous electric guitar chords i always feel a shiver down my spine, still trying to figure out how Sylvian managed to have those beautiful synth sounds that have a feeling of a long time gone memory, sort of what you will hear in a dream. And a dream is what "Laughter & Forgetting" sounds like, a piano, a magnificent trumpet and lyrics inspired by Milan Kundera, the song melts into "Before The Bullfight", an epic 9 minutes masterpiece (i'm usually not fond of long song, usually the plot gets lost but not here...) that leaves me speechless everytime i hear it, it's a feast of perfection from Bill Nelson acoustic guitar to the electric one of Robert Fripp, is simply grand, a wave of emotions crashing on you with such force and beauty that when the song is done you'll never look at the room where it's been played in the same way. The last song of the first of the two records (or cds) is "Silver Moon" (that was also released as a single), a ballad with the most romantic lyrics of the album, a beautiful song with a mesmerizing saxophone played by Mel Collins.
The second disc is a collection of ten instrumentals that never bore like a lot of music without words unfortunately do, the tracks are melodic, serene, cinematic pieces of piano, acoustic guitar, "frippertronics" (Robert Fripp's guitar treated digitally) and again, like everyhing else on "Gone To Earth" absolutely memorable.
Not your typical "pop" record then but, thank God, music for the soul, music that sneaks in slowly but stays with you forever. Like the title of a song in here, when you're done listening to this you'll feel like you have reached "The Healing Place".
I will never leave.

DOWN MEMORY LANE

DANNY WILSON
"Meet Danny Wilson"

What can i say about this record without sounding too dramatic?
I love this album deeply, i'm not gonna hide it, i'm a married man father of two that weeps everytime "Lorraine Parade", "Broken China", "You Remain An Angel" or "I Won't Be Here When You Get Home" play, everytime any of the 13 songs fill the air of the room where i'm listening, it's like the world stops, time stops, i'm magically back to 1987, only music, this kind of music have the power to do that, to make you feel alive and grateful for all that you've been gone through, and all thanks to a sequence of notes and chords changes and piano flourishes, strummed guitars, a wonderful voice that sings every word with the strongest passion, meaning everything he's saying so much that we believe him instantly. I'm still singing these songs after 22 years with the same pathos, with the same adrenaline rushing through my veins, i can play them over and over and never get tired of them...
Gary Clark was the vocalist, musician and songwriter of Danny Wilson, his talent still shows today with his wide range of artists he's producing and writing song for but for the nostalgic me he lives in my memory through the two Danny Wilson albums (plus the double collection "Sweet Danny Wilson" with b-sides,live and rarities), a solo, fantastic one called "Ten Short Songs About Love" (and the beautiful, rare to find singles with exclusive extra tracks) and with the King L album "Great Day For Gravity". I own everything he released on vinyl, cassette and cd, jeaulously collecting them like precious jewels (i recently bought japanese cd of "Ten Short Songs..." and especially "Meet Danny Wilson" which, unlike the european and american versions, has the lyrics included!!) perhaps trying to keep the magic alive, with rituals like playing the original vinyl of "Meet..." like the first time many years ago. Gotta go now, side one is over, i have to flip the record and "Spencer-Tracey" is coming up...

RADIOHEAD - "In Rainbows"

Everybody knows by now that you can download this album for as much money as you want to offer from the band website starting from today....
Only for that this record should be rated 10 out of 10, but let's forget about all the things that make Radiohead such an amazing band of special people doing extraordinary things and let's concentrate on the music.
When opening track "15 Step" begins you'll think - "oh no, another "Kid A"!!!" - that is because of the electronic drums that recalls "Idioteque", but 40 seconds later a beautiful jazzy guitar refrain takes you straight to that Radiohead sky where you feel safe and secure. Second song "Bodysnatchers" is the rockiest of the lot, a sharp distorted guitar and fast paced drumming take no prisoners, it's gonna be massive when played live...When "Nude" starts you'll probably be in tears by the line "now that you have found it, it's gone, now that you feel it, you don't", what come out from these new songs is a sense of Thom Yorke being more "human' than we thought, in "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" he claims "why should i stay" and later "i'll be crazy not to fall", words that welcome a vulnerable man not afraid to show his feelings. "All I Need" is another mellow beautiful song with lyrics like "You're all i need, you're all i need, i'm in the middle of this picture..." sang over piano till the last minute crescendo of cymbals and Thom last request for (!?) love...
The pace of "In Rainbows" is the mid tempo, generally songs begin slowly to build into layers of intruments and vocals to reach a very atmospheric finale but the presence of guitars, bass and real drums is prominent; "Faust Arp" is a lovely Nick Drake-ish piece of music with acoustic guitar picking and strings arrangement, "Reckoner" at first reminded me of "Knives Out", which is no bad thing... "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" starts with acoustic guitar than move into "Paranoid Android" territory with a pulsing bass and catchy rhythm (something that our men were avoiding for quite a while...)
The first impression, even after only one play, is that Radiohead have grown into a wonderful band that needed to go through "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" in order to reach levels of songwriting this high, the apparent simple structures of the new songs is the result of combining elements from everything they have released in the past - oh by the way, there's a word to describe that process - experience.
The album closes with a piano led track called "Videotape" where Thom's voice chillingly sings "when i'm at the pearly gate will still be on my videotape?"
The sadness and the tension of the song are similar to his work on "The Eraser", a great way to end an album with a message - will you still be there, listening, when i'll be gone, when we'll be gone?
We will be listening, be it here on this earth, or there, up there, in rainbows.

9/10

INTERPOL - "Our Love To Admire"

I had trouble with the first couple of times i played this, i even didn't listen to it for over a week and then i told myself, 'hey, i used to really like Interpol, i can't dismiss them without giving them another chance...' - i've been rewarded, it might not work for everybody, but after 6/7 plays i honestly think that this album is great, from start to finish (it does tails off a bit towards the end) its an entirely satisfying grand listening, tons of melodies like cascades will leave you amazed if you can focus on the details. There's an oboe (!?) in the majestic opener "Pioneer To The Falls", there are the usual beautiful guitar fireworks of Mr Daniel Kessler, and there is Paul Banks voice, never as powerful and clear as now and even in the lyrics he's putting himself on the pedestal (especially in the wonderfully titled "No I In Threesome"). The sound is tighter probably thanks to hundreds of concerts all over the world and a producer (Rich Costey) that cleaned a bit their "foggy" sound to give the drums a neat metallic beat reminescent of Martin Hannet's production for Joy Division.
Even first single "The Heinrich Maneuver", which i considered 'weak' on first impression, its gonna get gelled to your brain like glue ("cause today my heart swings...") as much as the incredible sequence of "Mammoth", "Pace Is The Trick", "All Fired Up" and "Rest My Chemistry", upbeat adventures in sound, giant choruses and melancholy transformed in something extremely uplifting.
If there's a band you want to see live, don't look any further...

8/10

PRINCE - "Planet Earth"

"3121" was a welcome return to form for Mr Roger Nelson, a deeply funky vibed record that you could/can enjoy even without paying too much attention to it; "Planet Earth" is a bit different, starting with mellow piano chords the title track is a six minute piece that might puzzles you at first with its weird guitar riffs and changes of rhythm, not a catchy start but a grower. Following song and first single "Guitar" plays safe (almost too safe) by basically being an almost exact copy of "Girls & Boys", its as our hero is saying to his longterm fans, "everybody listen up, you have to buy my new album, it sounds like vintage me!!!!".
After "Guitar" drifts by that's when the album begins to make sense with the slow paced "Somewhere Here On Earth" with falsetto vocals, muted trumpet and a jazzy atmosphere not far from "Adore" off "Sign O The Times", very nice indeed, as much as "The One U Wanna C", Prince at his most country & western (!) with a bass guitar that's trying to come out of your speakers... "Future Baby Mama" and "Mr Goodnight" are smooth slices of soul music that only in Prince hands can fly dangerously close to Planet Cheesy without ever landing on it.
"Chelsea Rodgers" is the funkiest, James Brownish track of the lot, a contagious tune you'll simply cannot escape; when "Lion of Judah" begins another huge flashback lays its weight on you like those memories you won't/can't forget, the first three seconds sounds like the "Purple Rain" intro with its minor chord guitar that soon, after you slowly catch your breath, evolves in a pleasant pop melody.
"Resolution" ends the album on a positive note with an optimistic lyric about "we the people", something that Curtis Mayfield would have been proud of. Love it or hate it, the artist back to be named Prince after he was formerly known as Prince has done it again, this record is another brilliant collection of songs, it might not save Planet Earth, but it will uplift a few million souls all over the globe.
I'm one of them.

8/10

3 X 7

THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND - "Forward March"
JOSH ROUSE - "Country Mouse City House"
SOUTHERLY - "Storyteller & The Gossip Columnist"