IO SONO NATO LIBERO

Side A 1. Nomadic Song For A Political Prisoner (15:46). It's the most important song of the album, which traces the theme of freedom starting from a wonderful poem by Giacomo Leopardi. The synth-based beginning is reminiscent of Darwin but the song is less overwhelming, it proceeds with various rhythmic cuts and it lacks a memorable melody. Around 6 minutes there is a good crescendo after which Di Giacomo sings: I was born, born free. Strangely, the best part is the instrumental one that follows the singing: excellent synth progression followed by an acoustic piece with guitars and percussion, truly remarkable; at this point I would expect the return of Di Giacomo's vocals and instead the song ends with some vituosos passages by Nocenzi. Remarkable piece, with a wonderful central part, but the beginning is didactid and the ending is stretched too long. In short, it is prog, for better or for worse. Rating 8+.

2. Don't Break Me (5:09). Bucolic song, led by Di Giacomo's acoustic guitar and celestial voice. It gives off a feeling of lightness and sparklingness. Very fluffy. It became a live workhorse because it is catchy. In my opinion it is a song with a beautiful melody, but which should be developed in three minutes as Here Come the Sun (the two songs are similar, they are a melodic pop folk led by a few and clear acoustic guitar chords). The song after half a minute starts to get repetitive, it's one of the Banco's most pop and superficial things. The instrumental ending tries to ennoble it with a prog guise, but it remains an unassuming ditty that lowers the quality of the album. And it's strange that Di Giacomo sings a very polite verse: "Non mi svegliate, ve ne prego/Don't wake me up, please" but the title implies a vulgar meaning: "Non mi rompete/Don't break me, i.e: Non mi rompete balle/Don't break my balls", Rating 6.5 / 7

Side B 3. The Subtle City (7:13). Excellent piano start with hints of classical music. Nocenzi's piano and Di Giacomo's voice are always, always, the Banco's delight. Avant-garde song, melodically remarkable but which becomes theatrical, with a reciting voice, instead of making Di Giacomo's vocals explode. Partially missed opportunity. We are on high levels, but the potential of the song is not exploited to the fullest, and after an excellent start the piece does not take off, does not explode, indeed, towards the middle, the dissonances in Gentle Giant style arrive. Vote 8.

4. After ... Nothing Is The Same Again (9:55). Main track of the second side, it has a beginning and an end with Nocenzi repeating Minnear's lesson from Gentle Giant. Keyboards that show off phrases of math rock with reminiscences of the Middle Ages: it can be beautiful but it is often affected, cloying, narcissistic, as in this case. After an uncertain beginning, Di Giacomo's singing arrives, at first not very incisive but then comes a melodic aria worthy of a melodrama that remains the peak of the second side. The song proceeds with an instrumental interlude followed by a short, suggestive theatrical piece, but the best music is not the accompaniment of recited voices, then a beatiful sung acceleration before the instrumental ending, almost ugly as the beginning. Very sophisticated song, very prog, which touches notable peaks but which does not fully exploit the melodic inspiration, and it has flaws at the beginning and at the end. Vote 8.

5. Track II (2:39). Short instrumental piece, led by the synth. Vaguely solemn, it was designed just for the finale. Dated and pretentious. Rating 5.5.

Io sono nato libero, in my opinion, is not Banco's masterpiece, even if it is perhaps its most "prog" album, indeed, precisely because it is their most prog album. If we look at the melodies and the clarity and sobriety of the debut album, we see that Banco here has lost almost everything that is immediate, and melodic in a high and memorable sense, to focus on the sophistication of the composition (and this is good) and arrangements (and this is bad if it replaces memorable melodies), as well as virtuosity. Comparing Banco's first three albums with Pfm's first three albums, I see that the debuts were fantastic, because very "Italian", melodic, spontaneous, inspired, the second album veered towards English or American prog, still achieving excellent results in Banco and very good results in Pfm, and finally the third album was contaminated too much and deteriorated in quality in the Pfm, while it held up well in the Banco, but without giving a masterpiece. Overall, Banco beats Pfm clearly, in my opinion.

Rated 8.5. Four star

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